Editing Hillbilly (section)

===Music===
{{Main|Appalachian music|Cajun music|Country music|Old-time music|Western music (North America)}}
[[File:HillbillyFamilyBandDLange.jpg|thumb|Migrant family from [[Arkansas]] playing hill-billy songs (1939)]]
''Hillbilly music'' was at one time considered an acceptable label for what is now known as [[country music]]. The label, coined in 1925 by country pianist [[Al Hopkins]],<ref name=Sanjek>{{cite book |first=David |last=Sanjek |chapter=All the Memories Money Can Buy: Marketing Authenticity and Manufacturing Authorship |editor=Eric Weisbard |title=This is Pop |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-674-01321-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/thisispopinsearc00weis/page/156 156–157] |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/thisispopinsearc00weis/page/156}}</ref> persisted until the 1950s.

The "hillbilly music" categorization covers a wide variety of musical genres including bluegrass, country, western, and gospel. Appalachian folk song existed long before the "hillbilly" label. When the commercial industry was combined with "traditional Appalachian folksong", "hillbilly music" was formed. Some argue this is a "High Culture" issue where sophisticated individuals may see something considered "unsophisticated" as "trash".<ref name="Hillbilly Music: Source and Symbol"/>

In the early-20th century, artists began to utilize the "hillbilly" label. The term gained momentum due to [[Ralph Peer]], the recording director of [[Okeh Records|OKeh Records]], who heard it being used among Southerners when he went down to Virginia to record the music and labeled all Southern country music as so from then on.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Pop, Rock and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates|last=Brackett|first=David}}</ref> [[The York Brothers]] entitled one of their songs "Hillbilly Rose" and [[the Delmore Brothers]] followed with their song "Hillbilly Boogie". In 1927, the [[Gennett Records|Gennett]] studios in [[Richmond, Indiana]], made a recording of black fiddler [[Jim Booker]]. The recordings were labeled "made for Hillbilly" in the Gennett files and were marketed to a white audience. Columbia Records had much success with the "Hill Billies" featuring [[Al Hopkins]] and [[Charlie Bowman|Fiddlin' Charlie Bowman]].

By the late-1940s, radio stations started to use the "hillbilly music" label. Originally, "hillbilly" was used to describe fiddlers and [[string band]]s, but now it was used to describe traditional Appalachian music. Appalachians had never used this term to describe their own music. Popular songs whose style bore characteristics of both hillbilly and [[African American]] music were referred to as ''[[old-time music|hillbilly boogie]]'' and ''[[rockabilly]]''. [[Elvis Presley]] was a prominent player of rockabilly and was known early in his career as the "Hillbilly Cat".

When the Country Music Association was founded in 1958, the term ''hillbilly music'' gradually fell out of use. The music industry merged hillbilly music, [[Western swing]], and [[Western music (North America)|Cowboy music]], to form the current category C&W, [[Country and Western]].

Some artists (notably [[Hank Williams]]) and fans were offended by the "hillbilly music" label. While the term is not used as frequently today, it is still used on occasion to refer to [[old-time music]] or [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]]. For example, [[WHRB]] broadcasts a popular weekly radio show entitled "Hillbilly at Harvard". The show is devoted to playing a mix of [[old-time music]], [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]], and traditional [[country music|country and western]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Potier |first=Beth |title='Hillbilly at Harvard' hosts heady hoedown weekly |url=http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/01.10/14-hillbilly.html |work=Harvard University Gazette |publisher=Harvard University |access-date=19 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716181047/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/01.10/14-hillbilly.html |archive-date=16 July 2012}}</ref>