hillbilly music
Americannoun
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folk music combined with elements of popular music in which the banjo, fiddle, and guitar are principal instruments: a type of music that originated in mountain regions of the southern U.S.
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country-and-western music.
Etymology
Origin of hillbilly music
First recorded in 1950–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So I was learning all this hillbilly music with my uncle, and then I focused on being an awesome guitar player.
From BBC • Aug. 22, 2025
White minstrel performers like Joel Walker Sweeney were credited with popularizing the instrument that inspired a vital part of popular music in the country seen as "hillbilly" music.
From Salon • Feb. 15, 2024
In Their Own Words This new episode of the documentary series profiles guitarist Chuck Berry and how his blend of hillbilly music and R&B helped create the music that became rock ‘n’ roll.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 27, 2021
His 1926 hit, “The Sinking of the Titanic,” recorded in New York, was one of the first big sellers in the emerging hillbilly music market.
From Washington Post • Nov. 4, 2019
Across the pastures, the incredible vulgarity of highly amplified hillbilly music drifted from the cafe on the highway.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
