Bill, If I may add to this, not all country music is from the same country. And the Spanish soldiers never quite made to Ireland and Scotland.
I got that book (thank you those on the lute net that helped me with sources) on the Irish and Highland Harp. (It is unavailble, but I got it on a Interlibrary loan - and am in the process of digitally photographing it, as it has to be returned - try that on the facsimile copyright guys - it is a facsimile of a 1900 printing, done in 1972, and the publisher of that can't provide it - so I figure I have the right to personal use and personal non-profit distribution). But the point on the music of the country is this. The instruments may have been primitive, but that is where music started. For every Bruegels of the village scene there must have been many in the countryside who played some instrument before getting drunk at the local tavern. Music isn't a "genious" invention, it is a development. The formal music of the church and the court had its origins in the music of the era. The fine composers were merely the those who were the best. The country music of the US in the Appalachians of the late 1800's and into the 20th century may be a last western example of the "back porch virtuoso", but it is the normal development. Best, Jon
