<P> In the 1930s, jazz, and particularly swing, both in urban - based dance bands and blues - influenced country swing (Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican and other similar singers), were among the first music to present African - American sounds for a predominantly white audience . One particularly noteworthy example of a jazz song with recognizably rock and roll elements is Big Joe Turner with pianist Pete Johnson's 1939 single Roll' Em Pete, which is regarded as an important precursor of rock and roll . The 1940s saw the increased use of blaring horns (including saxophones), shouted lyrics and boogie woogie beats in jazz - based music . During and immediately after World War II, with shortages of fuel and limitations on audiences and available personnel, large jazz bands were less economical and tended to be replaced by smaller combos, using guitars, bass and drums . In the same period, particularly on the West Coast and in the Midwest, the development of jump blues, with its guitar riffs, prominent beats and shouted lyrics, prefigured many later developments . In the documentary film Hail! Hail! Rock' n' Roll, Keith Richards proposes that Chuck Berry developed his brand of rock and roll, by transposing the familiar two - note lead line of jump blues piano directly to the electric guitar, creating what is instantly recognizable as rock guitar . Similarly, country boogie and Chicago electric blues supplied many of the elements that would be seen as characteristic of rock and roll . Inspired by electric blues, Chuck Berry introduced an aggressive guitar sound to rock and roll, and established the electric guitar as its centrepiece, adapting his rock band instrumentation from the basic blues band instrumentation of a lead guitar, second chord instrument, bass and drums . </P> <P> Rock and roll arrived at a time of considerable technological change, soon after the development of the electric guitar, amplifier and microphone, and the 45 rpm record . There were also changes in the record industry, with the rise of independent labels like Atlantic, Sun and Chess servicing niche audiences and a similar rise of radio stations that played their music . It was the realization that relatively affluent white teenagers were listening to this music that led to the development of what was to be defined as rock and roll as a distinct genre . Because the development of rock and roll was an evolutionary process, no single record can be identified as unambiguously "the first" rock and roll record . Contenders for the title of "first rock and roll record" include "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino (1949), Sister Rosetta Tharpe's "Strange Things Happening Everyday" (1944), Goree Carter's "Rock Awhile" (1949), Jimmy Preston's "Rock the Joint" (1949), which was later covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952, "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (Ike Turner and his band The Kings of Rhythm), recorded by Sam Phillips for Sun Records in March 1951 . In terms of its wide cultural impact across society in the US and elsewhere, Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock", recorded in April 1954 but not a commercial success until the following year, is generally recognized as an important milestone, but it was preceded by many recordings from earlier decades in which elements of rock and roll can be clearly discerned . </P> <P> Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gene Vincent . Chuck Berry's 1955 classic "Maybellene" in particular features a distorted electric guitar solo with warm overtones created by his small valve amplifier . However, the use of distortion was predated by electric blues guitarists such as Joe Hill Louis, Guitar Slim, Willie Johnson of Howlin' Wolf's band, and Pat Hare; the latter two also made use of distorted power chords in the early 1950s . Also in 1955, Bo Diddley introduced the "Bo Diddley beat" and a unique electric guitar style, influenced by African and Afro - Cuban music and in turn influencing many later artists . </P> <P> "Rockabilly" usually (but not exclusively) refers to the type of rock and roll music which was played and recorded in the mid-1950s primarily by white singers such as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, who drew mainly on the country roots of the music. Rockabilly at AllMusic . Retrieved August 6, 2009. </ ref> Many other popular rock and roll singers of the time, such as Fats Domino and Little Richard, came out of the black rhythm and blues tradition, making the music attractive to white audiences, and are not usually classed as "rockabilly". </P>

How did country and western music influenced rock