Music of the United States of America

The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. Rock and roll, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, and hip-hop are among the country's most internationally renowned genres. Since the beginning of the 20th century, popular recorded music from the United States has become increasingly known across the world, to the point where some forms of American popular music are listened to almost everywhere.

The earliest inhabitants of the United States were the hundreds of Native American tribes, who played the first music in the area. Beginning in the 17th century, immigrants from the British Isles, Spain, and France began arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and instruments. African slaves brought their own musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants also contributed to a melting pot.

Much of modern popular music can trace its roots to the emergence in the late 1800s of African American blues and the growth in the 1920s of gospel music. African American music formed an important basis for popular music, which also used elements derived from European and indigenous musics. Long a land of immigrants, the United States has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music produced in the ethnic styles of Ukrainian, Irish, Scottish, Polish, Mexican and Jewish communities, among others. Many American cities and towns have vibrant local music scenes which, in turn, support a number of regional musical styles. Aside from cities such as Detroit, New York, Chicago, Nashville and Los Angeles, many smaller cities and regions have produced memorable and distinctive styles of music. The Cajun and Creole traditions in Louisiana music, the folk and popular styles of Hawaiian music, and the bluegrass and old time music of the Southeastern states are but a few examples of the regional diversity of modern American music.