Mia Shulte, age 13, of Johnson City, Tenn., for her question:

WHEN DID COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC START?

Country and western music is the traditional music of whites of the rural southern United States. The music first appeared during the 1800s among the pioneers in such areas as Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Before 1920, country music existed almost entirely in the South. Performers sang their own songs and played such traditional instruments as the autoharp, dulcimer, fiddle, guitar and mandolin.

The development of the broadcasting and recording industries hastened the spread of country music during the 1920s and 1930s. Radio stations throughout the Midwest, South and Southwest broadcast country barn dances and jamborees.

The most important early radio program was    and still is  ¬"Grand Ole Opry." It was broadcast regularly from Nashville, Tenn., from 1925 to 1974, when the program moved to Opryland, an entertainment park near Nashville.

World War II brought population shifts that helped spread interest in country music to all parts of the entire nation. Today it is often difficult to separate country music from popular music or from rock music. Each of these forms has influenced the others.