Suzanne,

A few odds & ends. I don't think anyone mentioned yodelling, which crops up a lot. Where's that from? Were these folks Swiss refugees? Early oddity is Emmet Miller, a mintrel show performer who did the version of "Love Sick Blues" which according to Hank, Jr., inspired the Hank Williams, Sr. classic, which when he debuted it at Grand Ole Opry received multiple standing ovations (he had to keep encoring the song for an insatiable audience). Miller's recordings made in late 20's in NYC were backed by the best Jazz session musicians of the day--Dorsey Brothers, et. al., just as Jimmie Rodgers recorded some sides with Louis Armstrong backing him. Jimmie Rodgers tried all sorts of different combinations of backup musicians. Another persistent element is slide guitar. There was a kind of craze for Hawaiian music which may have been an influence (as with Jimmie Rodgers), and Delta blues musicians had developed a very sophisticated slide guitar style.

Some of the folk songs of the British Isles were still being played in the hills of Appalachia long after they had become extinct in their homeland. Styles mingled of course, and categories are mainly useful as marketing tools. From early on, Black and white musicians influenced each other--"blues" and "country", just as much later Sam Phillips found his "white boy who sings like a black" (Elvis), and Chuck Berry was giving a country twang to R&B.

But check out the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, and lots of earlier stuff that's probably available on Smithsonian and/or Folkways Recordings with descriptive names such as string bands, etc. Lomax went around the country making "field recordings" of this stuff back in the 20's and 30's.

Like deep blues, the best "country" stuff has this thing going on in the soul with God and the devil, the spiritual world and the material, blissful joy and utter despair, acceptance and yearning.

Of course, modern stuff like, "All My Exes Live in Texas" is fun.