Ask people “What is country music?” and you are likely to get a wide variety of answers. With so many different theories about how the music developed and who the best musicians are, everyone has their own definition of the sound and style of country!
Country music encompasses1 a range of musical styles from “hillbilly2” and “honky-tonk3” to traditional Irish folk music and modern pop. Even rock bands like The Rolling Stones4 have recorded songs which could be classified as country.
Although the traditions of country music can be traced back over the centuries, the term “country” is a relatively modern invention. In 1944, the American popular music magazine, Billboard, started listing the “most played folk records” on Juke-boxes5 in America. By the late 1940s, “folk” was replaced by “country and western” records. The “western” part of the title was dropped in 1962 when the Billboard chart was renamed “Hot Country Singles”. In Britain the music is still referred to as “country and western”. But if you were to use this term in Nashville6, USA, the home of country music, people would wonder where you had been all these years.
Country music owes a lot to the folk songs which were brought across the Atlantic by British emigrants7 and passed down the generations. These songs told stories about love, family life and tragedy. Country songs tell colourful stories about the trials of real life, tragic tales of heartbreak, marital problems, poverty, and even death.
Country stars like Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, have close relationships with their audiences and they have taken country music to new fans all over the world.
若要问人“什么是乡村音乐？”，你很有可能得到各种各样的回答。乡村音乐是如何发展的？谁是最好的乡村音乐家？有关此类问题的说法种类繁多，各不相同。对于乡村音乐及其风格，每个人都有自己的定义！
乡村音乐包含的风格范围很广，从山村小调和酒吧音乐，再到传统的爱尔兰民间音乐和现代流行音乐。甚至像滚石乐队这样的摇滚乐队也录制了可称为乡村音乐的歌曲。
虽然乡村音乐的传统可以追溯到几个世纪以前，然而“乡村音乐”这个术语却是一个比较现代的发明。1944年，美国流行音乐杂志《排行榜》的“点歌栏目”开始在美国公布“播放率最高的民间音乐唱片”排行榜。到了20世纪40年代后期，“民间”音乐又被所谓“乡村和西部”音乐所取代。到了1962年，《排行榜》的排行榜更名为“热门乡村单曲”，于是“西部”这个词也就弃之不用了。在不列颠，这类音乐依然被称为“乡村和西部”音乐。但是，如果你在美国纳什维尔——乡村音乐的故乡使用这个名称，人们就会问这几年你到哪儿去了。
乡村音乐主要得益于英国移民，他们从大西洋彼岸带来了民间音乐，使其代代相传。这些歌曲歌唱的大多是爱情、家庭生活与悲欢离合。乡村歌曲所吟唱的内容丰富多彩：生活的磨难、令人心碎的悲情、婚姻危机、贫困乃至死亡。
乡村音乐明星，如帕西·克莱恩、汤米·威内特、约翰尼·卡什和多莉·帕尔顿，与观众有紧密的联系。他们把乡村音乐带给了世界各地的音乐迷。
1． encompass v． 包围，环绕，包含或包括某事物
2． hillbilly n． 山地人，山地内部的农民
3． honky－tonk n． 下等酒馆
4． The Rolling Stones 滚石乐队（英国继甲壳虫乐队 The Beatles之后风靡一时的摇滚乐队）
5． Juke－boxes n． 自动唱片点唱机
6． Nashville n． 美国田纳西州首府纳什维尔
7． emigrant n． 移居海外的人，移民