 As an early popular example of hillbilly boogie, it is a link between 1940s Western swing and honky-tonk and 1950s rockabilly.In the 1950s, rock and roll versions of "Guitar Boogie", usually titled "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" (but credited to Arthur Smith), were recorded.AllMusic critic Bruce Eder describes these renditions as having "new accents and a beat that took it out of country boogie and Western swing".