Western music is a form of music composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Western music celebrates the lifestyle of the cowboy on the open range, along the Rocky Mountains, and among the prairies of Western North America. The genre grew from the mix of cultural influences in the American frontier and what became the Southwestern United States at the time, it came from the folk music traditions of those living the region, those being the hillbilly music from those that arrived from the Eastern U.S., the corrido and ranchera from Northern Mexico, and the New Mexico and Tejano endemic to the Southwest. The music industry of the mid-20th century grouped the western genre with that of similar folk origins, instrumentation and rural themes, to create the banner of country and western music, which was simplified in time to country music.

Western music covers an array of styles and experiences that reflect the various communities that were present along the 19th century U.S frontier. Some songs were developed by cowboys working on isolated cattle ranches. The mundane, lonely life on the ranches gave way to musical expression and cowboys would often make use of repurposed folk and popular songs to further convey their lifestyle through music. In addition to portraying life on the cattle ranches and trails, the genre of western music also encompasses songs about Texas Rangers, pioneers, outlaws, Native Americans, nature, Mexican/American experiences, and miners rushing for gold.

Otto Gray, an early cowboy band leader, stated authentic western music had only three rhythms, all coming from the gaits of the cow pony: walk, trot, and lope. Gray also noted the uniqueness of this spontaneous American song product, and the freedom of expression of the singers.

The choruses of cowboy songs often contained various cries, whoops, and yells that were infused with lyrics. These calls reflected the solitude of cowboys on the ranch and were said to have a calming effect on the restless cattle under their watch; songs with this vocal characteristic were referred to as "dogie songs."

In addition to taking rhythmic inspiration from the movement of horses, multiple cowboy songs like "Home on the Range" and "The Strawberry Roan" made use of a three-quarter time signature. The more waltz-like nature of these songs differs from the actual rhythms found in cowboy life, and instead, works to embellish the sentimental, humorous, and mythologized nature of popular frontier stories. Oftentimes, such influences derived from older European folk songs and traditions.

Accordions brought to North America by German and Bohemian immigrants were utilized by Mexican musicians to adapt waltzes and polkas into a style of dance music associated with the Old West. Other instruments that would have been used on the frontier and incorporated into western music include the fiddle, harmonica, banjo, guitar, and mandolin.

Western music is said to be influenced by the folk music traditions of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and cowboy songs sung around campfires in the 19th century, such as "Streets of Laredo", can be traced back to European folk songs.

Additionally, western music was impacted by the Blues, among other African-American folk traditions. Cowboy songs and the rural, early iteration of the Blues emerged around the same time and influenced each other as they developed. A significant figure who characterized the convergence of both musical traditions was Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, born in 1888 along the Texas/Louisiana border. Conventionally described as a songwriter who wrote the Blues and Western music, Leadbelly was associated with the African-American cowboys in eastern Texas. They impacted the genre by introducing a three chord ballad song structure, as well as their individualized experiences, which were reflected in the bluesy content of their lyrics.