Beyond the Music Genre Family Tree
Mike BellWhen most people think about music history, they picture a music genre family tree—a diagram that shows how rock evolved from blues, how electronic music splintered into countless subgenres, or how jazz birthed bebop, fusion, and acid jazz.
These family trees are useful for understanding broad stylistic shifts but don’t tell the whole story.
That’s where my work as a music map creator comes in. Instead of mapping how genres relate to each other, I focus on the people behind the sound—the session musicians, guest artists, and collaborators who shaped the music we love.
While a music genre family tree tells you what happened, my maps show you who made it happen.
How a Music Genre Family Tree Works
A music genre family tree typically follows this structure:
Trunk – The big foundational genres (classical, blues, jazz, folk).
Branches – The major offshoots (rock, country, hip-hop, electronic).
Twigs – The smaller, niche subgenres (punk, grunge, deep house, alt-country).
Examples of Music Genre Family Trees:
- Musicmap – An interactive genealogy of popular music genres.
- The American Music Family Tree – A resource exploring the evolution of American music.
These trees simplify complex musical histories, but they don’t capture the full picture.
The Problem with Music Genre Family Trees
While useful, genre family trees have major limitations:
1. They Ignore the Musicians Behind the Music
A genre tree might show that blues led to rock, but it won’t tell you which musicians made that happen.
For example, did the blues turn into rock because of a single movement, or was it because of specific artists like Chuck Berry, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Muddy Waters? What about the session musicians backing them—weren’t they part of the transition, too?
Unlike genre trees, my maps:
- Track every musician on an artist’s studio albums.
- Highlight session players who shaped entire sounds.
- Show where artists’ collaborations created new musical styles.
2. They Treat Genres as Fixed Categories
Most music genre family trees suggest that styles exist in isolated boxes—as if rock is separate from jazz or hip-hop has nothing to do with reggae. But music doesn’t work that way. Genres are fluid, constantly influenced by unexpected collaborations.
Examples of cross-genre influences:
- Hip-hop borrowed from jazz and funk—session musicians like Ron Carter (Miles Davis’ bassist) played on hip-hop records, blending two genres that genre trees often separate.
- The Beatles’ later work was influenced by classical Indian music, thanks to Ravi Shankar’s influence on George Harrison.
- Neil Young playing with Pearl Jam – A perfect example of how classic rock and grunge weren’t separate movements but part of the same musical conversation.
Genre trees don’t show these cross-genre influences, but my maps make them visible.
3. They Don’t Show Guest Musicians and Collaborations
Guest musicians are the glue between genres, yet they’re invisible in most music genre trees.
Key collaborations ignored by genre trees:
- Michael Jackson & Eddie Van Halen's “Beat It” blended pop and hard rock, but a genre tree would just place MJ in pop and Van Halen in rock, ignoring this key collaboration.
- Phil Collins’s drumming on Peter Gabriel’s solo albums – His rhythmic innovations blurred the lines between progressive rock, pop, and world music.
- David Bowie and Luther Vandross – Bowie’s Young Americans album heavily featured Vandross, showing a deep crossover between rock and soul.
Since my maps focus on who played on which records, they highlight these crucial connections that genre trees overlook.
How My Maps Are Different from a Music Genre Family Tree
Instead of mapping genres as abstract categories, my maps visualize the actual musicians who played a role in shaping them.
1. A People-Focused Approach
Rather than saying “punk rock evolved from garage rock”, my maps track:
- Who played on which records
- Session musicians who worked across genres
Examples:
• Steve Gadd (session drummer) played on albums by Steely Dan, Paul Simon, and Eric Clapton, making him a key link between jazz, rock, and folk.
• Herbie Flowers (bassist) played on David Bowie’s Space Oddity, Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side, and countless other iconic tracks, linking multiple genres.
These details give a richer, more human perspective on how music evolves.
2. Collaboration as a Driving Force
While genre trees show that funk and hip-hop are related, my maps show why—by tracking the musicians who connected the two.
Examples:
- James Brown’s horn section went on to play in some of the biggest funk and hip-hop samples of all time.
- Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder’s “Ebony and Ivory” showed how rock and soul were deeply interconnected.
- John McLaughlin, who played with Miles Davis and later led Mahavishnu Orchestra, bridged jazz, fusion, and rock.
These aren’t just trivia—they’re real reasons why music sounds the way it does today.
3. A Visually Stunning, Tube-Style Format
Instead of messy family tree diagrams, my maps use a tube map structure, where:
✅ Albums are “stations.”
✅ Musicians are “lines” that intersect where they worked together.
✅ Genres emerge naturally from collaborations between artists.
This makes complex music histories easier to follow and more engaging to explore.
Why My Maps Provide a Deeper Understanding of Music History
If you’re interested in music history, my maps offer:
- A deeper look at session musicians and guest artists.
- A clear visualization of how artists influence each other across genres.
- A beautiful, frame-worthy piece of music history.
While music genre family trees help us understand broad trends, my maps provide a more detailed and human-centered view.