I think Art Thieme got it. Before country there was oldtime music (folks just called it dance music, mainly fiddle and banjo) and then Bill Monroe took oldtime music sped it and jazzed it up a little and it became bluegrass. Another branch of oldtime became swing fiddle music in Texas and what was later called old time became country, Im sure there were other influences like blues, gospel, cajun, tex-mex, western I believe refers to cowboy music. Thats just my theory. Im not really a country fan myself except for the older stuff. petr/