When where how and by who did country music get its start or originate?

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  • Hi, I would say it started in the Appalachian mountain region and originated from the old ballads which were mainly Scots/Irish plus British and slowly transformed through the years into what we know as modern country music. Ralph Peer recorded the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, & others in 1927 starting country music. The official home of country music is not Nashville as many people think it is. Links below.

    The official home of country music and it’s even recognized by the US government is Bristol Virginia/Bristol Tennessee. You walk across the street and your in Tennessee and back across the street your in Virginia. Otherwise known as the crooked road, has all the popular stops along the crooked road where country music started.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XBcr49-R… (Little Margaret – Sheila Kay Adams 1982) This is an example of one of these old ballads. Sheila has many more ballads on youtube. Also look-up up the movie “Songcatcher” which was made in 20, it has many accurate ballads.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_mVcpIvW… (Crooked Road Tribute – Ike Mumpower) Shows scenery & some of the places where country music started.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWdnN-R8v… (Down On The Crooked Road – The Dixie Bee Liners official video) A tribute song about the crooked road, a very good song actually.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10ZolAdI… (A short story about the birth of country music.)

    They have been trying to bring more attention & tourists to the crooked road area in recent years.
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    In my personal opinion, Bascom Lamar Lunsford is really the true father of country music, he recorded in 1924 for the library of congress which was 3 years before the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. (Most people consider Jimmie Rodgers the father of country music.)

    Only reason Bascom Lamar Lunsford isn’t credited for it they were not his songs, he traveled all throughout the Appalachian mountains collecting the songs and he always credited the song to the person he learned it from. He’s older than the Carters, and Jimmie Rodgers. He was born in 1882 died in 1973.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HopNyR4Vt… (A rare clip of Bascom on the porch in 1964.) Bascom was famous for the “Good Ole Mountain Dew” song. (They call it that old mountain dew and them that refuse it are few)

    I hope this helps you out. Good luck!

    EDIT: Thanks to both Jonathan & stick. Stick your answers are always helpful and informative! I forgot to mention that In 1922 Frank C. Brown who was a song collector, recorded 32 songs on wax cylinders of Bascom.

  • Some recognition should also be given to fiddler Gid Tanner and vocalist Riley Puckett, who together made their first recordings in March 1924, “Fiddlin” John Carson, who made his recording debut in June, 1923, and fiddle player Clayton McMichen.

    All of these artists were members of the Skillet Lickers between 1926 and 1931.

  • I’ve too agree with Ramblin Man. If you listen to Irish/ Scottish folk music from over the bay, you’ll see where country and blue grass get it’s roots.

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