Country music as a music industry began to gain momentum in the late 1940s thanks to the success of Hank Williams (1923-53), who not only set the image of a country singer for generations to come, but also identified the typical themes of the genre – tragic love, loneliness and the hardships of working life. By that time there were already different styles in country music: western swing, which took the principles of arrangement from dixieland – here the king of the genre was Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys; bluegrass, dominated by its founder Bill Monroe; the style of such musicians as Hank Williams then called hillbilly.
In the mid-1950s, country, along with elements from other genres (gospel, rhythm and blues) gave birth to rock and roll. It is no coincidence that they all recorded at the same Memphis studio, Sun Records, where such singers as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, and Johnny Cash began their creative journey. With the success of Marty Robbins’ 1959 album Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, the country-western genre, dominated by Wild West stories, emerged.