For many Americans, country is not just a type of music. It's a lifestyle. From sipping sweet tea on the porch, to drinking beer at the tailgate, or driving a pickup truck down the back roads, country music has made its way into the hearts and minds of many Americans. It is one of the few truly home-grown American art forms. Its recognizability and broad appeal have made country music one of the most popular and commercially successful genres in the United States. Using the work of scholars Tichi, Pecknold, and Ellison, I will show how country music grew from its rural Southern roots to become an integral part of American culture. Country music originated in the Appalachian Mountains of the southern United States and has traditional folk roots dating back to the early 20th century. The commercial history of country music began in the Southern United States in the 1920s, during a “period of intense modernization” (Ellison, 1995). It was only at this time that country was considered a viable music genre. It was first identified as “hillbilly” music in 1925 and later became officially known as “country” due to its designation on the Billboard Music charts (Shmoop, 2014). Widely considered the "Mother Church" of the country, Nashville's Grand Ole Opry became the home of many emerging and established artists (Tichi, 1994:21). Along with the rise of radio and barn dance programs, the country's popularity increased dramatically. Ellison (1995) describes country's evolution from "rustic radio shows" to a genre with a "vast national network of fans unmatched in other forms of popular music." During the 1930s, the Great Depression helped spread country music throughout the United States, with many poor, unemployed Southerners migrating north, the... center of paper... culture from hard times to Paradise. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Pecknold, Diane. 2007. The Sound of Selling: The Rise of the Country Music Industry. Durham: Duke University Press.RIAA [website]. RIAA - Best Selling Artists. Accessed May 25, 2014 at: http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-selling-artistsShmoop Editorial Team. Country music history timeline of important dates. Shmoop.com [website]. Accessed May 21, 2014 at: http://www.shmoop.com/country-music-history/timeline.htmlTichi, Cecelia. 1994. High lonesome: American country music culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.World Guides [website]. Nashville tourist information and tourism. Nashville Travel Guide & Tourist Information: Nashville, Tennessee. Accessed May 18, 2014 at: http://www.world-guides.com/north-america/usa/tennessee/nashville/