1900 The expression "hillbilly" is coined in an article in the NEW YORK JOURNAL; the phrase "hillbilly music" becomes synonymous with music popular in the rural South. Other names for this sound include mountain music, old-time music, or country music. 1911 Bill Monroe, who is later credited with creating bluegrass music, is born on September 13 in western Kentucky. 1922 In New York, the Victor Talking Machine Company makes the first recording of "authentic" country music performed by "real" country folks (formalized versions of folk songs had been recorded by military bands and pop musicians since the turn of the century) fiddlers Eck Robertson and Henry C. Gilliland. 1924 The NATIONAL BARN DANCE radio program debuts on WLS in Chicago to provide country music to rural and urban listeners who have recently migrated to the city from the South. Radio station sponsor Sears,Roebuck complains about the show's "disgraceful low-brow music" until it becomes obvious that the program is immensely popular. 1925 George D. Hay, former voice of WLS' NATIONAL BARN DANCE (known on-air as the Solemn Old Judge), becomes the program manager for the WSM BARN DANCE radio show in Nashville, TN, which Hay later names the GRAND OLE OPRY. The show's first performer is 77-year-old fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson. 1927 Victor Records talent scout Ralph Peer visits Bristol, TN to record hillbilly musicians and string bands. There, he records Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, some of country music's first national stars. 1929 Bill Monroe moves to East Chicago, IN, to join his brothers, Birch and Charlie, who are working in an oil refinery. The three siblings form a string band called the Monroe Brothers and earn spots as dancers on WLS' NATIONAL BARN DANCE radio show. 1934 The Texas Crystals Company, which makes laxatives, asks the Monroes to perform on several radio programs they sponsor. Birch stays in Indiana, while Charlie and Bill Monroe continue on as the Monroe Brothers, playing on radio stations in Iowa, Nebraska, and, for the rest of their career together, in Georgia and the Carolinas. The brothers gain a reputation for singing higher and playing faster than any of the other "brother duet" country music acts that are popular at the time. Over the course of two years and several sessions, they record 60 songs for RCA Victor. 1938 The Monroe Brothers break up. Charlie starts a band called the Kentucky Pardners, while Bill moves to Atlanta, where he forms a new band -- the Blue Grass Boys, named in honor of his home state of Kentucky. 1939 Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys perform a Jimmie Rodgers tune, "Mule Skinner Blues," on the GRAND OLE OPRY. Their rendition is so fast and exciting that, according to Monroe, it's the first song to receive an encore in OPRY history. 1940s Bill Monroe becomes popular around the Southeast, hitting the road non-stop with the Blue Grass Boys and a traveling tent show that includes musicians, comedians, and even features baseball games, with the team made up of band members. Photo: Bill Monroe (top), Photofest.