78 rpm record sleeve from Vocalion. John Edwards Memorial Collection (#20001), Southern Folklife Collection.

Many of the images that came to define "hillbilly" or country music can be found in the promotional materials that record companies and record dealers used to sell the 78 rpm records at the core of the business. The images were striking, employing easily identifiable characteristics of the "country" persona (not always terribly complimentary) that are still used today.

The images can be accessed by following the "View Images" arrow (below) to the images list, which is indexed by subject.

Contact the Southern Folklife Collection for further information on the images used in this site.