15 Different Types of Country Music

Country music was one of the first genres of modern popular music, that originated in the Southern United States in the 1920s. It draws influences from styles such as Appalachian folk music, blues, gospel, and traditional Celtic music.

Country music is known for its simple form and harmony and usually includes ballads and foot-stomping dance tunes. This specific genre is typically played on instruments such as banjos, electric and acoustic guitars, dobros, fiddles, harmonicas, drums, and more.

Country music has many different sub-genres and it would be difficult to list all of them in one place. However, over the years, country music has been generally grouped into a bunch of different categories. Let’s examine some of the most popular country music genres in more detail below:

1. Bluegrass

Bluegrass, which has its roots in Appalachian folk music, has risen to prominence on its own. Jazz-like solo exchanges and improvisation help distinguish it from much older string-band music. Players take turns on instrumental breaks while the others support the tune’s rhythm and chords, with singing often alternating with those solos.

To this day, bluegrass continues to be popular worldwide and it’s no wonder: there are renowned festivals like Telluride Bluegrass Festival and RockyGrass. Bluegrass artists also play at some of the largest and most prestigious music venues like Red Rocks and The Gorge.

2. Bakersfield Sound

A subgenre of country music, Bakersfield Sound emerged around Bakersfield, California, in the 1950s. Its sharp electric guitars, steel guitar and strong backbeat drew on honky-tonk and rock’n’roll, offering a contrast to smoother Nashville productions. Country music predates rock’n’roll, and Bakersfield was not the first country style to use amplified instruments.

The Bakersfield Sound sparked a renaissance in honky-tonk music in the 1960s and influenced later generations of country rock and outlaw country artists.

3. Early Country & Western

In the early 20th century, remote regions of the South and West were home to a genre of American music known as country and western. Since hillbilly music had been deemed demeaning by the music business, the phrase country and western music has been used to define this specific sub-category.

Folk songs and melodies of the English, Scottish, and Irish inhabitants of the Appalachian Mountains, and a few sections of the Deep South are at the heart of the country genre’s history.

While popular music was frequently cliched and nostalgic, rural songs possessed a liveliness and authenticity making them substantially different from similar categories.

4. Western Swing

Western swing took shape in Texas and Oklahoma in the late 1920s and early 1930s, with Bob Wills and Milton Brown among its important early figures. Dance bands combined country string-band sounds with jazz, blues and popular songs.

It attracted large crowds to dance halls and clubs during the 1930s and 1940s. Wartime restrictions and changing entertainment habits later put pressure on large touring dance bands, although Western swing continued beyond that period.

Jazz was a significant influence on the movement. A hot string band plays a mix of Dixieland, jazz, cowboy, rural, and blues, infused with a swing. Stringed instruments, mainly the steel guitar, are amplified to produce a distinct sound.

5. Country Pop

A country-pop crossover is when a country artist tries to make it big in the pop world by adopting a more commercial sound. You can often find pop-country songs in the mainstream Billboard Top 40.

Television competitions such as American Idol later gave country-pop singers another route to a wide audience, but country and pop had been crossing over for decades. Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes, Lee Ann Womack, Taylor Swift, and Rascal Flatts have all made recordings that appeal beyond a traditional country audience.

6. Alternative Country

It is a mix of country and alternative rock. Jason and the Scorchers helped pave the way in the early 1980s by bringing punk energy to country roots, rather than simply imitating a later 1980s sound. That combination offers a good starting point for hearing how the styles fit together.

Its punk rock aesthetic can bring a rougher, less polished sound than mainstream country production. Blood Oranges, Blue Mountain, and Drive-By-Truckers are just some of the artists who fit this broad description, although their records differ in how strongly they lean toward country or rock.

7. Rockabilly

Rockabilly is what defined early rock and roll music. In the United States, especially in the South, it dates back to the early 1950s. The result is known as “classic” rock and roll, which combines the sound of Western musical styles like country with rhythm and blues.

Country music played an essential role in shaping the style. These include boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues, as well as western swing.

Strong rhythms, twangy vocals, and regular use of the tape echo were hallmarks of the rockabilly sound. The gradual addition of new instruments and vocal harmonies, according to music enthusiasts, has led to its “dilution”.

8. Country Folk

In Country-Folk, as in most other hybrid genres, the proportions of each side vary, primarily due to the performer’s preferences. For the most part, country-folk artists write and perform most of their material, closely resembling folk artists.

Many people also appreciate country-folk performers for their songwriting. A song can reach listeners through its writer’s own performance or through another country singer’s version, so writing and performing are connected without being a requirement for every artist.

The singer/songwriter tradition established by folk-rock artists like Bob Dylan can be traced back to country folk artists who write their material, focusing on lyrical complexity and thoughtfulness.

9. Nashville Sound

Country music’s Nashville Sound began in the mid-1950s when “smooth strings and choruses,”  “sophisticated background vocals,” and “smooth tempos” associated with traditional pop replaced rough honky-tonk music’s dominance on the charts in the 1940s and 1950s.

What became known as Countrypolitan was the result of Nashville’s pop song structure becoming more prominent.

It has a mellower, more enveloping sound characterized by orchestral strings and choir accompaniment. Countrypolitan’s music sold well in the late 1960s and early 1970s because it targeted mainstream audiences.

10. Country Rock

In popular music, country rock is a subgenre that blends rock and country. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, rock musicians began to record country-flavored records, which spawned the genre. It was common for these artists to incorporate country themes, vocal styles, and additional instruments, most notably pedal steel guitars, into their rock albums.

It all started with artists like Bob Dylan and The International Submarine Band and culminated in the 1970s with Pure Prairie League and other country artists. As a result, country music has had a significant impact on Southern rock as well as different genres of music.

11. New Traditionalists 

Also known as neo-traditional music, the instrumental background and a classical country vocal style are the identifiers of this category. Neo-traditional country artists often dressed in 1940s – 60s era attire for added effect. 

Americana and alternative country sometimes overlap with the new traditionalists. The neotraditional country revival became prominent in the 1980s as an alternative to the pop-oriented sounds associated with the urban cowboy era. It was a renewed emphasis within country music, rather than the birth of contemporary country as a whole.

12. Appalachian Folk

Whenever you hear the mention of country music, you can’t help but notice its roots in Appalachian Folk Music. Traditional African American, Scottish and Irish melodies are among the many influences you can find in these types of country music.

These traditions helped shape both early country and, later, bluegrass. Fiddle and banjo were central instruments, while guitar became an important part of old-time and recorded country ensembles too. The balance varied by place and period, so a general claim that musicians rarely used guitars misses much of the music.

13. The Honky Tonk

Many places play country music in honky-tonks as a form of entertainment for the establishment’s customers.

The name can also describe a barroom piano sound, including the bright, percussive tone of a tack piano. These bars are common in the American South and Southwest. Country honky-tonk music typically has a firm dance rhythm, with steel guitar and fiddle among the popular instruments alongside guitars, bass and drums.

In country music, honky-tonk developed around the songs and bands heard in those bars. It is different from the ragtime-related piano styles that can also be described as honky-tonk, even though the two share a name and a barroom association.

14. Progressive Country

Early 1970s progressive country music was a new subgenre of country music that became popular in the US. The slick Nashville sound dominated mainstream country music and the rock-influenced Bakersfield style of artists like Merle Haggard in the late 1960s and early 1970s, respectively.

Influenced by contemporary rock music and singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, a new generation of country artists emerged.

Musicians were the driving force behind the progress of country music. Writing for themselves, many artists found that they were more concerned with expanding country music than making a hit record.

15. Western / Cowboy

Cowboy and Western song traditions grew alongside nineteenth-century ranching and cattle drives across the American West. Cowboys from different backgrounds shared and adapted songs about their work, especially during the long drives from Texas toward railroad towns after the Civil War. Those long journeys helped songs spread between ranching communities and different regions.

They reworked familiar songs and popular melodies, adding serious or humorous verses about their jobs and lives. Calls used to handle cattle were another part of the working soundscape. Songs, stories and poetry also helped crews pass the time on journeys that could last for months.

As cowboys moved between ranches, cattle trails and railheads, the songs traveled with them. Later singers and collectors helped carry this repertoire beyond the cattle camps, so the Western tradition includes both working songs and their later performance and recording history.

The Bottom Line

The country music genre continues to evolve each decade as musicians and songwriters adapt to the changing taste of the entertainment world. It has, however, not lost its foundation and continues to have the same flavor that it is known for. It has been combined with hip hop, rock, or rap, with the original instruments, and yet continues to bring home the authentic country feel.