How Vernon Dalhart recorded country music’s first big hit in 1924

Dalhart recorded for many labels under many pseudonyms, and his massive discography defies easy characterization.

Country music’s origin story has been heavily influenced by a romanticized notion of authenticity. Today, celebrations of the genre’s origins tend to focus on one event: recording sessions in late July and early August 1927 in the small Appalachian city of Bristol, located on the Tennessee-Virginia border.