Long before the Revolutionary War, numerous traditions of Indigenous music flourished in places later incorporated into the United States. European music was heard in the New World from the earliest days of exploration and settlement. Disgruntled colonists in taverns and town squares borrowed British melodies to support new lyrics expressive of a developing national consciousness. After the U.S. became a nation in its own right, Francis Scott Key also pulled from British songs to pen the national anthem.
Over the ensuing decades, the young nation incorporated the musical repertoires, instruments and expressions of immigrants from various European and African groups. While the restless spirit of musical reinvention continues today, it is a challenge to comprehend the full scope of how American music has evolved.
