Page "East Tennessee" Paragraph 82

In 1927, the Victor Talking Machine Company conducted a series of recording sessions in Bristol that saw the rise of musicians such as Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, and are thus often called the " Big Bang " of country music.

Subsequent recording sessions, such as the Johnson City sessions in 1928 and the Knoxville St. James Sessions in 1930 proved lucrative, but by the late 1930s, the success of the Grand Ole Opry had lured much of the region's talent to Nashville.

In the 1940s, the Grand Ole Opry and associated music labels began using " country " instead of " hillbilly " for their genre, hoping to attract a wider audience.