"Western music" is defined as the "trans-Mississippi, folk-based, popular music of extractor and animal husbandry groups, such as trappers, miners, loggers, drifters, and nomadic herders (cowboys). . ." It is distinctive from other rural styles, and (according to the author), western music is particularly responsible for upholding certain values and tenets central not only to the west but to American life in general, such as the image of the free, unfettered individual.

Unlike country music, western music originates from northern occupational folk music and apparently has little African American influence; its topics typically reflect "man's relationship to nature" rather than to society or women within society." In the 1930s, Hollywood's creation of the "singing cowboy" (Ken Maynard, Gene Autry) altered the presentation of the "western" song: changes included the singing style, format of lyrics, broadening of lyric content, and additional of instruments (sometimes including an entire orchestra).

Western swing, which does not follow the "frontier style," became the dance music of the rural Southwest. This for some marks "the End" of western music, although Marty Robbins' recordings in the "Gunfighter Ballads" series marked a continued interest in the Western style. The music of the so-called "Outlaw" movement, while not directly a part of the western tradition, contains some similarities, particularly in the lyrical content. It is probably the best hope, although not a great one, for a revival of interest in western music by the current generation of listeners.