Traditional C&W has roots in Europe and, with country swing in the ‘40s, blues and jazz mixed in. Jazz is the only music that’s truly American.
Problem is country swing and country are different..... musically. Country swing is swing done by country artists. Different chord structures etc. Calling country swing “country” is no different than calling today’s country pop “country”. Just my opinion.
>> Jazz is the only music that’s truly American <<
Jazz combines African-derived rhythms with European harmony. You could say that the combination occurred only here, so that qualifies as “truly American.”
But you can say pretty much the same thing about another quintessential American musical form, the Broadway show. It happened only here, but yet it combined European dramatic and operatic conventions with jazz, ragtime and American “pop music” influences.
Or what about the Delta Blues? The original performers and creators were all African-descended plantation sharecroppers. But their ancestors had left Africa centuries earlier, and their blues music shows almost no trace of African influence except maybe for the use of flatted thirds and sevenths in the melodies.
(Even African-style rhythms are not much used in Delta Blues.)
Finally, what music is more American than the marches of John Phillip Sousa? True enough that his ancestors were Portuguese. But his music? Not American? You gotta be kidding.
“Traditional C&W has roots in Europe and, with country swing in the ‘40s, blues and jazz mixed in. Jazz is the only music that’s truly American.”
“Everything” has it’s roots somewhere else. The blues are definitely African in their roots. And more specifically in the Black Churches. One of our daughters “who is White.” was in the UC Berkeley Gospel Choir when she went to school there. All you have to do is visit a Black Church for Sunday Services to understand where it came from. If you want a unique musical experience, go to a Black Church. God surely “hears” them. They have a unique sprit that moves you.
Blues was born in America. Jazz was its child.