Country music became nationally established and spread all over the world through Hollywood movies featuring singing cowboys with guitars. One of the first popular films, In Old Santa Fe (1934), featured Gene Autry (1907-98), who went on to have a long and successful career. Individuals with widely differing backgrounds started to play country, and musicians from regions such as Texas brought their own distinctive cultural strands. Blues, jazz, and the broadcasts of figures such as the early electric guitarist George Barnes influenced a younger generation who saw themselves as moving on from the old-time songs. The advent of electrified instruments, including steel guitar, and hits such as "It Makes No Difference Now" (1938) by The Texas Wanderers were part of changes and developments that would alter the character of country music. Amplification and new techniques gave the guitar a stronger role.

Honky tonk & blues

The word "honky tonk" was originally used to describe rough-and-ready bars where there was music and dancing. Honky tonk became a vehicle for music with a powerful lyrical, emotional edge, dealing with the problems of everyday life; the music had a strong blues influence and was played with more volume and a strong beat. Texas singer and guitarist Ernest Tubb (1914-84) is an important figure in the development of a honky-tonk style. He took up the guitar after listening to Jimmie Rodgers and had his first radio date in 1934. An important breakthrough came with his composition "Walking the Floor over you," a popular honky-tonk style hit recorded in 1941 with Fay Smitty Smith on electric guitar. This opens with the electric guitar introducing and embellishing the melody with a catchy feel. Tubb plays acoustic chords and Smith contributes solo breaks using the melody and adding a bluesy edge with a loud raucous sound. After this recording, Tubb and his group, The Texas Troubadors, had a long run of successful records that helped to define the sound of modern country. Tubb became a major Nashville figure and, in 1943, was one of the first people to introduce the electric guitar at The Grand Ole Opry.

Western swing

A style of overtly jazz-influenced country music became established in Texas in the 1930s. The major figure in what has come to be termed western swing was bandleader Bob Wills, who formed Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys and started recording in 1935. His music is essentially dance music with vocals in the style of swing jazz bands, arrangements with a country flavor, and instrumentation mixing brass with string instruments. Eldon Shamblin joined the Texas Playboys in 1937 and was the main guitarist associated with the group. Early recordings feature acoustic guitar playing a strong rhythmic role with a four-in-the-bar swing style. Recorded in Dallas in 1938, "Whoa Baby" and "That's what I like about the South" have Shamblin taking short solos that have strong affinities with the styles of both Eddie Lang and Django Reinhardt. On "Bob Wills' Special" (1940), Shamblin is joined by a second guitarist and harmonized; two-part bluesy phrases characterize the track. When the electric guitar came along, Shamblin quickly adopted the instrument, becoming one of the few high-profile electric players in country music. After 1945, the group showcased the guitar more heavily, with prominent electric solos by Jimmy Wyble (b. 1922), a particularly talented jazz-influenced guitarist.

The delmore brothers

Guitarist and singer Alton Delmore (1908-64), and his brother Rabon Delmore (1916-52), played a key role by integrating blues boogies with country. Alton Delmore had originally been inspired by Blind Boy Fuller, and from 1946 the brothers' group often features acoustic and electric guitar playing twangy repeating boogie figures. Alton on guitar and Rabon on tenor guitar remain in the background, adding studio guitarists and creating music that anticipated the role of boogies in the popular music of the 1950s. The Delmore Brothers developed hard-driving, uptempo numbers, such as the acoustic "Hillbilly Boogie" recorded in 1946 with added guitarists Merle Travis and Louis Innis. This became a formula that was used for other tracks, such as "Freight Train Boogie" (1946). In this piece, the fast electric boogie figures played by Jethro Burns run alongside acoustic guitars to simulate a train whistle. Another number, "Boogie Woogie Baby" (1947), has tremendous energy, with electric guitar playing riffs and solos using string bends. The Delmore Brothers became famous for "Blues Stay Away From Me" (1949), which has a memorable guitar riff. The Delmores were not the only people producing country boogies at this time, however, and in 1948, Arthur Smith had an influential hit with "Guitar Boogie Shuffle."

Electric guitar

In the early 1940s, the electric guitar started to become part of country music. Players could be clearly heard for the first time and the new sound started to affect approaches and styles. Merle Travis first heard studio guitarist George Barnes playing electric guitar on the radio and had a DeArmond pickup fitted to his Gibson L-10 arch-top. This solid-body guitar, made for Travis by Paul Bigsby in 1948, was ahead of its time in design and construction.

Hank Williams

The Alabama singer and guitarist Hank Williams (1923-53) forged a style with a forward-looking modern country backing group that had wide popular appeal and established him as one of the innovative figures in popular music. He formed his own group, The Drifting Cowboys, and started recording in Nashville in 1946. An important early track was his composition "Move It on Over," recorded in May 1947, which became one of his many hits. It features Bob McNett (b.1925) on electric guitar and Don Helms on steel guitar. On this influential track, Williams plays simple steel-string acoustic strumming. McNett creates a showy solo full of complex melodic turns of phrase with a shining tone. The sound was a precursor to the rock 'n' roll of the 1950s. Another outstanding track, "Mind Your Own Business" (1949), has a lilting melodic guitar playing solos and passages under the vocal with a jazzy style. Both McNett and guitarist Sammy Pruitt worked with the group and can be heard on songs in which electric guitar breaks, riffs, and fills are woven around the vocals.

Despite a short career, Williams and his band were a major force in country music, and helped to set the scene for 1950s rock 'n' roll.

Bluegrass

Bluegrass is a virtuoso acoustic string-band style, often played at fast tempos. With its breakneck speed and relentless driving rhythm, it was a complete departure in style and led to an important movement in country, becoming the vehicle for a new style of guitar playing. In bluegrass, the guitar initially functioned as part of the basic rhythm and harmony. Over a period of time, it gradually absorbed the vocabulary and technique of the frontline bluegrass instruments: banjo, mandolin, and violin. The architect of bluegrass was mandolin-player Bill Monroe. In the 1930s he started out in a duo with his brother Charlie Monroe on guitar. In 1945 he put together a group with Lester Flatt (1914-79) on guitar and Earl Scruggs (b. 1924) on banjo. They left to form their group The Foggy Mountain Boys in 1948. On most numbers, including "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (1949), Lester Flatt plays tight rhythm chords in the background. But on "Salty Dog Blues" (19S0), his offbeat guitar rhythms are distinct and he plays short runs connecting his strummed chords which are later called Flatt runs. His instrumental skills can be heard on "Preachin' Prayin' Singin'" on which he uses slides, and plays lines and melodic chordal figures.

Merle Travis

An exceptional individualist with a unique approach to playing the guitar, Merle Travis (1917—83) grew up in Kentucky, absorbing ideas from guitarists such as Mose Rager and Ike Everly, father of the Everly Brothers. Travis adapted ragtime and bluegrass banjo techniques for the guitar, developing his own remarkable physical approach, which came to be known as "Travis picking." With an effortless grace and smoothness that astonished his contemporaries, he used his thumbpick to play independent bass lines and partial chords and his index finger to play chords, arpeggios, and melodies with an astonishing variety of color and effects. He was first heard using his idiosyncratic style on the Cincinnati radio station WLW from 1937.

Travis established himself in Los Angeles in 1944. The bouncy "Lost John," recorded in Hollywood in 1945, features fast bass lines and rolling arpeggiated fills. On his deceptively light debut album, Folk Songs of the Hills (1947), he sings jocular songs, talks, and tells stories. Underneath, he plays sparkling rhythmic acoustic-guitar accompaniment and takes instrumental breaks. His revolutionary approach can be heard on tracks such as the traditional song "John Henry." Travis went on to record instrumental displaying his characteristic way of playing the blues and introducing jazzy harmonies that support sentimental melodies. He was equally at home on electric guitar and recorded using a clipped tone and a tremolo bar to add Hawaiian steel-guitar effects, such as moving the pitch up and down slightly. His 1950s numbers vary considerably. On "Walkin' the Strings" there are surging arpeggios with a punchy staccato and slides, while "Blue Smoke" features a jaunty fast rhythm, with muted bass and melodic chords, and moves through cascading arpeggios and single lines without losing momentum. On "Saturday Night Shuffle," Travis creates a ragtime feel with an incisive rhythm. "Bugle Call Rag" becomes a wildly elliptical development built in the form of a bugle call, with fast lines shooting off at tangents. In contrast, the delicate number "Bluebell" start with impressionistic chords with harmonics before the rhythm enters, altering the character completely. Travis changed the approach to guitar playing, showing how it was possible to play with variety and innovative techniques. Using his thumb to stop the bottom two strings enabled him to build mobile upper chords and, with his jazzy voicing, open strings, and rolled fast arpeggios, his mesmerizing style inspired many players.