Musical influences on hillbilly music were many and varied, ranging from 19th century popular songs, minstrelsy, religious hymns and African-American blues to traditional British ballads. Record companies as well as radio stations, such as WSM Nashville with their Grand Ole Opry program, scouted for and promoted this music, which reached audiences not only in the south but across the country. “Hillbilly Records” – music that was marketed to rural, white southern audiences – had emerged as early as 1923, when Ralph Peer recorded Fiddlin’ John Carson of Georgia for Okeh Records. However, the roots of country can be traced earlier, with a variety of musical and non-musical influences. Out of these Bristol Sessions, the Carter Family (from the Clinch Mountains of Virginia) and Jimmie Rodgers (originally from Meridian, Mississippi) became superstars, with many subsequent country musicians imitating their style and furthering their legacy. Many scholars and musicians consider the beginning of country music to have started in July-August 1927, in Bristol, Tennessee (on the Virginia border), when record executive Ralph Peer spent two weeks scouting and recording local talent for Victor Records. The various influences on hillbilly music, including diverse musical styles, had lasting effects on later country music and folk revivals. From the work of folk music collectors searching for traditional music and record executives scouting for marketable talent in the rural South and West, a new category of music – Hillbilly Records – emerged. In the 1920s and ‘30s, a number of factors came together to indelibly shape American popular music. Hillbilly Records & Early Country Music Overview

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