Country Music Trivia Questions

Where country music comes from

Country music grew out of the ballads, fiddle tunes and hymns that settlers brought to the Southern mountains, blended with blues, gospel and the banjo, an instrument with African roots. When record companies and radio stations discovered that rural audiences would buy and tune in to this music in the 1920s, it went from front porches to a national industry. Early on it was often sold as hillbilly music before the friendlier label of country and western took over.

Over the decades the genre kept reinventing itself. Western swing brought big-band rhythms to Texas dance halls, honky-tonk added electric guitars and heartbreak, a polished, string-heavy style chased pop radio, and the Bakersfield Sound in California answered with twangy Telecasters. Later waves blended in rock, pop and even hip-hop.

Country is a great trivia topic because its stories are so personal. Songs about hometowns, hard work, heartbreak and family make the artists feel like neighbors, and fans tend to know their favorite singers' life stories as well as their hits. If you get stuck, think about the decade: the sound of the music, from crackly string bands to glossy arena country, often tells you when a star rose to fame.