Progressive country is a subgenre of country music started in the early 1970s in Austin, Texas. The term was coined by programmers at Austin's KOKE-FM in 1972 as a way to differentiate the style of country music in Austin from that being made in Nashville. Progressive country music, also known as "redneck rock," was strongly influenced by a variety of "hard" country music styles, including western swing, honky tonk and the Bakersfield Sound.
Notable performers include songwriters Michael Murphey, Jerry Jeff Walker, the Lost Gonzo Band, B.W. Stevenson, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Steven Fromholz; western swing and honky tonk musicians Alvin Crow, Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel), Marcia Ball (Freda & the Firedogs) and Nashville-based, outlaw country musicians Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, David Allan Coe, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser.
Progressive country music had a significant impact on the emergence of the alternative country movement in the 1980s and early 1990s.
