Country music came from humble origins. It came to America in
pieces of folk tradition from England and on slave ships from
Africa. It grew up poor and isolated in the mountains of
Appalachia, and it grew up sun baked and worn down in the rural
South. It blew across the plains and deserts of Texas, and it
rode the rails from coast to coast. The music sounded a little
different from place to place, but it was decidedly rural and
tied to the past wherever you went. It was tradition. Then in
1923, tradition went into business. A record company man with an
ear for talent and a head for new markets recorded a champion
fiddler down in Georgia on the suggestion of a local enthusiast.
"Little Log Cabin in the Lane" by Fiddlin' John Carson became a
regional hit for Okeh records, and Okeh's A&R (artist and
repertory) man Ralph Peer became convinced that a market for
"hillbilly" music existed. Peer made it his work over the next
decade to find and record this music, and he deserves
considerable credit for introducing se