Musical scholars have traced the style's affinity for percussion to influences from West Africa, brought to the American colonies by African slaves.
David Evans, an anthropologist who has done extensive fieldwork in the hill country of northern Mississippi, recorded black families there who play polyrhythmic music in their homes on chairs, tin cans, and empty bottles.
McDowell's performances helped define the Hill Country blues sound, influencing later artists, such as R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough.
Banjo player Lucius Smith, fife and drum musicians Ed Young and Napoleon Strickland, and guitarist and singer Rosa Lee Hill also influenced this style.
Others, such as Terry "Harmonica" Bean, Cedric Burnside, and Kenny Brown carry on the hill country blues tradition today.