Rockabilly took much of it's sound from the
country music of the time (as well as
R&B). But it didn't just take, it gave back. Many country musicians of the time made the switch to
rockabilly in the mid-late fifties and some never made the transition back.
Johnny Horton, a great country artist, made some of the best rockabilly there is.
Johnny Cash both contributed and took influence from Rockabilly also. Infact during
Elvis Presley's early years, Cash toured with him as an openning act. Traditionally Country venues like the
Grand 'ol Opry and the
Big D Jamboree also started booking Rockabilly acts when it became popular.
On the other end of Rockabilly is it's R&B influence. This influence is evidenced in many artist's song choices, for example, Carl Perkins conver of MatchBox (an old blues standard), Billy Lee Riley's various covers of Doo-Wop tunes and doo-wop influenced dittys. Also, the presence of a few rockabilly acts on black record labels like Chess and King showed the close relation between rockabilly and the genres which helped to spawn it.
A short list of Rockabilly bands, past and present
* Present