Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll, a fast blend of country music and rhythm and blues from the American South in the early 1950s.
The classic line-up is a twangy electric guitar, an acoustic rhythm guitar and an upright bass played by slapping the strings, often without drums at first. Vocals are energetic, with hiccups and echo added in the studio. The name joins 'rock' and 'hillbilly'. It is more country than other early rock and roll and was revived around 1980.
Artists it is known for: Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Stray Cats.
- Family
- Rock
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- Southern United States, early 1950s
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 2%
About 1,400 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have rockabilly among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Rockabilly artists
Elvis Presley
The Cramps
Chuck Berry
Bobby Darin
Roy OrbisonThe rockabilly artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.