Directly related to the old English, Scottish, and Irish folk ballads, Western music was originally composed by and about the people settling and working in the American West and western Canada. Mexican music, especially in the American Southwest, also somewhat influenced its development. Country music had similar origins but developed in the Appalachians to suit the people of that region.

In the Southwestern USA, mix of ethnic groups from Mexico, the British Isles, Germany, and the Czech Republic created the music that became the Western music of the term 'country and western'. Guitars, fiddles and the accordion are the most common instruments used in traditional Western music, but rarely any percussion. Many traditional performers tried to create the image of a working cowboy and therefore avoided instruments that could not be carried on a horse. However, modern Western music pays more heed to time signatures, emphasis and beat and is sometimes referred to as Western swing.

Western music became popular with the romanticisation of the cowboy image in the early 20th century. Film producers in began incorporating fully orchestrated four-part harmonies into their motion pictures and recordings, something far from its folk roots but still Western.

In its heyday, the 1930s and 1940s, the most popular recordings and musical radio shows such as the National Barn Dance of the era were of Western music.

By the 1960s, Western music was in decline and became blurred into a country and western genre which was promoted by Nashville. In the process, the regionalisation and much of the style found in Western music was lost and much of the music was indistinguishable from rock and roll or pop.