Featured Genres
Alternative music is a broad term for music that’s not mainstream, and is often considered to be more original and challenging than popular music. It can be found in many genres, including rock, hip-hop, and folk.
Americana is a genre of music that blends traditional American styles like blues, folk, country, and bluegrass. It’s known for its storytelling, symbolic lyrics, and often acoustic instruments.
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it largely developed out of old-time music. Unlike country, it is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments from Africa and Europe. Bluegrass has roots in traditional North European music, such as Irish ballads and dance tunes, as well as African American genres like blues and jazz.
Blues is a genre of popular music that originated in the American South in the 1800s. It’s a vocal form that’s characterized by a call-and-response pattern, specific chord progressions, and the blues scale.
Country music is a style of American music that originated in the Southern Appalachian Mountains in the 1920s. It’s characterized by simple harmonies, stringed instruments, and lyrics about rural life.
Folk music is a traditional style of music that originated in popular culture and is often passed down orally through generations. It’s characterized by its use of traditional acoustic instruments and its focus on the culture and history of a region.
Funk is a style of dance music that originated in the 1960s from Black R&B, soul, and jazz. It’s characterized by syncopated bass lines, steady drum grooves, and a focus on musicians’ interplay.
Indie music, also known as independent music, is a broad style of music that emphasizes creative freedom and a DIY ethic. It’s characterized by low budgets and a variety of genres, including indie rock, indie folk, indie pop, and more.
Jazz is an American style of music that’s characterized by improvisation, syncopated rhythms, and complex harmony. It’s also known for its “swing” and “blue” notes.
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. During the 1950s and 1960s, pop music encompassed rock and roll and the youth-oriented styles it influenced. Rock and pop music remained roughly synonymous until the late 1960s, after which pop became associated with music that was more commercial, ephemeral, and accessible.
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R’n’B, is a genre of popular music that originated within the African-American community in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to African Americans, at a time when “rocking, jazz based music … [with a] heavy, insistent beat” was starting to become more popular.
Reggae is a popular music genre that originated in Jamaica in the 1960s. It’s characterized by a strong, syncopated rhythm, and lyrics that often address social justice and Rastafari spiritual themes.
Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as “rock and roll” in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the black musical genres of blues, rhythm and blues, and country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles.
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered “classic” rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term “rockabilly” itself is a portmanteau of “rock” (from “rock ‘n’ roll”) and “hillbilly”, the latter a reference to the country music (often called “hillbilly music” in the 1940s and 1950s) that contributed strongly to the style. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues.