&gt; A shitty thing about standard histories of rock and roll – ones that tell us that the music is half country and western, half rhythm and blues – is that they always slight jazz<p>Kind-of. Thing is, &quot;country and western&quot; as a genre can itself be seen as &quot;one half traditional folk, one half jazz.&quot; The &quot;father of country music,&quot; Jimmie Rodgers, was a vaudeville performer&#x2F;hobo who knew the traditional songs from the railroad workers, but who aspired to be a jazz performer. The result was a fusion of &quot;hillbilly music&quot; and jazz. He even worked with Louie Armstrong in 1930: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=9BFbY9Vw8DM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=9BFbY9Vw8DM</a><p>Western Swing would spring up a few years later, which is clearly part-jazz just looking at its name, and would remain popular through the 1940s. This was the &quot;country and western&quot; that Elvis was listening to. If you check out some of the tracks from the 40s, the electric guitar solos are eerily pre-rock-and-roll, see 2:05 in this recording from around 1946: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=aChNp0ePdMg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=aChNp0ePdMg</a>