It's the same, whether you just follow a drum beat like in Africa or surround it with a lot of instruments. But it's just basic rhythm and has gone by a lot of different names in my time. Wills is quoted as saying 'Rock and Roll? Why, man, that's the same kind of music we've been playin' since 1928!. Recordings of Wills's from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s include 'two beat jazz' rhythms, 'jazz choruses', and guitar work that preceded early rockabilly recordings. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys were the leading proponents of Western Swing, which combined country singing and steel guitar with big band jazz influences and horn sections Wills's music found massive popularity. ĭuring the 1930s and 1940s, two new sounds emerged. Jimmie Rodgers, the 'first true country star', was known as the 'Blue Yodeler', and most of his songs used blues-based chord progressions, although with very different instrumentation and sound from the recordings of his black contemporaries like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Bessie Smith. The first nationwide country hit was ' Wreck of the Old 97', backed with 'The Prisoner's Song', which also became quite popular. There was a close relationship between blues and country music from the very earliest country recordings in the 1920s. Rockabilly has spawned a variety of sub-styles and has influenced the development of other genres such as punk rock. An interest in the genre endures even in the 21st century, often within musical subcultures. Nonetheless, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, rockabilly enjoyed a revival. Initially popularized by artists such as Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Burnette, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash and others, the rockabilly style waned in the late 1950s. ĭefining features of the rockabilly sound included strong rhythms, boogie woogie piano riffs, vocal twangs, doo-wop a cappella singing, and common use of the tape echo and eventually came to incorporate different instruments and vocal harmonies. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues.

The term 'rockabilly' itself is a portmanteau of 'rock' (from 'rock 'n' roll') and ' hillbilly' the latter is a reference to country music (often called ' hillbilly music' in the 1940s and 1950s) that contributed strongly to the style. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered 'classic' rock and roll. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. Rockabilly is an early style of rock and roll music.

Hillbilly rock hillbilly roll chords