Country music can be traced back as early as the 1800s to immigrants who played the earliest forms of the music style. Because they had brought over their instruments, such as the banjo, from their native country, the music was completely new to the United States.
During the late 1800s until the early 1900s, this musical style could be found in the Appalachian Mountains but rarely anywhere else. It wasn’t until the 1920s that country music got its first break. A producer heard a small Appalachian mountain band; he liked it so much that he decided to give them a gig on his radio program. This greatly widened the awareness of the music style. With the dawn of television the popularity grew even more. Variety shows featured country music singers on a regular basis. Big cities, such as New York City, were now listening to country music. Most country music fans thought that New York City would never be acquainted with country music.
The 1950s brought a new rock and roll generation. Famous singers, such as Elvis Presley, took traditional country music and mixed it with the new sound of rock and roll. This hybrid style of country music was a runaway success. Unfortunately, the success of the country rock was short lived. In the late 1960s and early 1970s there was a group of people who wanted country music to revert back to its purest form, without being in combination with anything else. Country then went back to its truest forms. An example of this true form would come from John Denver. In the middle of the 1980s, this music style took another hybrid form. Dolly Parton helped make country pop popular with her hit “9-5.” Nearly all country music found today is of the country pop form, although there is still music to be had in its purest form.