Record-store Clerk: American Rural Traditions

Johnny Cash called the Bristol sessions of 1927 "the most important event in the history of country music." This open-mike recording session for Appalachia's "hillbilly" musicians was the commercial debut of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family.

Dating back to 1930s, these are some of the earliest recordings of blues music. Though it had humble beginnings, the blues music of the Mississippi Delta paved the way for rock & roll.

This playlist includes all of the early Texas blues pioneers, some of whom were the first to play the blues with an electric guitar.

Strictly adhering to its heritage, traditional bluegrass is music performed in the style of the genre's founding father Bill Monroe -- that is, fast tempos, tight harmonies, and virtuosic banjo, mandolin, and fiddle playing.

Western swing was developed in the dance halls of America's lower Great Plains during 1920s and '30s. Derived predominantly from swing jazz, Western swing laid the sonic foundation upon which country music was later built.

A disturbed sibling of traditional folk ballads, murder ballads detail the motivation, execution, and aftermath of killings.

Some of the heaviest hitters ever to hoist a bluegrass axe, from the old school (Bill Monroe) to the new crew (Chris Thile).

Classic female blues singers from the 1920s through the '50s, from the lowdown dirty Beale Street blues to the sanctified gospel of the storefront churches.

Praise is at the heart of the south's black gospel tradition. Spirituals blend with blues and jazz, sung with soul as solos, trios, and quartets. Testify!

Long before the blues went electric and urban, these rural pioneers were laying down the foundations of the genre, usually with no more than a voice and acoustic guitar.

The yearning, folk/country-tinged feel of Cajun music and the blues-based, party-starting grooves of zydeco are at the core of Louisiana's musical tradition. These are the old-school Cajun and zydeco artists who built the sound from the ground up.

A collection of classics and lesser-known gems from the beginning of rock & roll, with an emphasis on country-leaning "hillbilly rock," or rockabilly

Bluegrass is a genre of country music that emerged from Appalachia in the 1940s as a faster, more complex take on traditional string band music. Listen to the songs that have helped define this rich, and surprisingly diverse, musical tradition.