Appalachian folk, sometimes called 'old-time' or 'hillbilly' music, grew up in the rugged hills of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee during 18th and 19th centuries, particularly amongst the semi-isolated English and Scots/Irish communities colonising the area, but also within other European immigrant groups. Quite naturally they brought with them the ballads, hymns, sea shanties, parlour songs and dance tunes of their native lands, and these form the basis of the gritty, down-to-earth music that developed, infused as it became with the hardships, sorrows and joys of life in this difficult terrain.

Initially the most common musical forms were jigs and reels, usually accompanied by a fiddle. Gradually the structures became more sophisticated as guitars, mandolins, dobros, dulcimers, bass and drums were introduced, and also the banjo, originally an African instrument, which infiltrated into the mountains from the Deep South. On the other hand a mountain song may amount to no more than a ballad sung unaccompanied, or a mixture of voices as accompaniment, perhaps in the vocal harmonies derived from the accapella singing traditions of the Baptist church.

Among the songs imported into Appalachia and the Ozark mountains were Frog Went A-Courting, a 16th century English satirical song which became a children's favourite; 17th and 18th century ballads such as Barbara Allen and Lord Rendall, and the 18th century English song Black Is The Colour Of My True Loves Hair. From songs such as these came many variations as they were passed down through the generations. The Wagoner's Lad, Pretty Saro and Wildwood Flower are examples.

As the fur trappers, 'sod busters', railroaders, '49-ers and cowboys pushed westward, many of these songs went with them, mixing as they went with French, Scandinavian, Mexican, Spanish, native American and even Chinese influences, forming a new and diverse body of music. The beautiful river shanty Shenandoah is a song from this period, as are Old Paint, Rock Island Line and 900 Miles. These wider influences then went on to form a major component of what used to be called country & western, now more commonly referred to as just country music. Appalachian folk does however have a pureblood offspring in the 'high, lonesome' sound of Kentucky bluegrass, although this particular genre only came into being in the 1940's.

American history has seen its fair share of conflict, producing many famous popular songs. The Revolutionary War gave rise to Johnny's Gone For A Soldier, which probably derives from an Irish folk song, and Yankee Doodle, written to the tune of a broadside ballad originally used in John Gay's THE BEGGAR'S OPERA. The tragic Civil War of the mid-19th century was fought to the strains of John Brown's Body, a derivation of The Battle Hymn Of The Republic; When Johnny Comes Marching Home, which is based on an older Irish song, and Daniel Decatur Emmett's anthem of the Confederacy, Dixie.

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