Today a commercially successful, internationally appreciated genre of American music, country music was first commercially recorded in the early 1920s. Since then, it has been strongly influenced by traditional and popular music genres from several regions of the United States--by gospel and blues from the South, cowboy music from the West, and Tin Pan Alley music from the North. Granted these influences, Appalachian music and Appalachian musicians have played a central role in the creation and evolution of country music.

Shortly after World War I, technological developments in sound recording led to the proliferation of commercially distributed disks, which showcased opera, Tin Pan Alley pop, marching band, and dance music. African-American audiences preferred recordings of blues music (generally referred to by the record industry at the time as "race music"). The first recording sessions of country music were conducted in the early 1920s, in such cities as New York and Atlanta.