COUNTRY MUSIC

  
     

 

   
 
Country music, the first half of Billboard's country and western music category, is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, blues, gospel music, hokum, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s.[1] The term country music began to be used in the 1940s when the earlier term hillbilly music was deemed to be degrading, and the term was widely embraced in the 1970s, while country and western has declined in use since that time.[1]

In the Southwestern United States a different mix of ethnic groups from Mexico, the British Isles, Germany, and the Czech Republic created the music that became the Western music of the term Country Western. [1]

Country music has produced two of the top selling solo artists of all time. Elvis Presley, “The Hillbilly Cat”, appeared on the Louisiana Hayride for three years,[2] went on help define rock ‘n’ roll, and became known as “The King.” Garth Brooks, except for a short foray into non-country near the end of his recording career, recorded and performed country music and is the other top selling solo artist.

As of 2007, country is the most popular radio format in America, reaching 77.3 million adults--almost 40 percent of the adult population--every week. [3]

Many songs have been adapted to different country music styles. One example is the tune "Milk Cow Blues," an early blues tune by Kokomo Arnold that has been performed in a wide variety of country styles by many artists including Patsy Cline, Ricky Nelson, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley,[4] George Strait, and Bob Wills.

 

  
 
Country music is a catch-all category that embraces several different music genres. Each style is unique in its execution, use of rhythms, and its chord structures. Country music subgenres include:

 

 Early History

Immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North American brought the music and instruments of the Old World along with them for nearly 300 years. The Irish fiddle, the German derived dulcimer, the Italian mandolin, the Spanish guitar, and the African banjo[5] were the most common musical instruments. The interactions among musicians from different ethnic groups produced music unique to this region of North America. Appalachian string bands of the early 20th century primarliy consisted of the fiddle, guitar, and banjo. [[6]] This early country music along with early recorded country music is often referred to as Old-time music.

 

Early Recorded History

Columbia Records began issuing records with "hillbilly" music (series 15000D "Old Familiar Tunes") as early as 1924.[7] A year earlier on June 14, 1923 Fiddlin' John Carson recorded "Little Log Cabin in the Lane" for Okeh records.[8] Vernon Dalhart was the first country singer to have a nationwide hit in May of that same year with "The Wreck of Old '97". [9][10] Other important early recording artists were Riley Puckett, Don Richardson, Fiddlin' John Carson, Ernest Stoneman, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers and The Skillet Lickers.[11]The steel guitar entered country music as early as 1922, when Jimmie Tarlton met famed Hawaiian guitarist Frank Ferera on the West Coast.[2]

The origins of modern country music can be traced to two seminal influences and a remarkable coincidence. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family are widely considered to be the founders of country music, and their songs were first captured at a historic recording session in Bristol, Tennessee/Bristol, Virginia on August 1, 1927, where Ralph Peer was the talent scout and sound recordist.

It is possible to categorize many country singers as being either from the Jimmie Rodgers strand or the Carter Family strand of country music:

 

 Jimmie Rodgers' influence

Jimmie Rodgers built on the traditional ballads and musical influences of the South, and wrote and sang songs that ordinary people could relate to. He took the experiences of his own life in the Meridian, Mississippi, area and those of the people he met on the railroad, in bars and on the streets to create his lyrics. He used the musical influences of the traditional ballads and the folk to create his tunes. Since 1953, Meridian's Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival has been held annually during May to honor the anniversary of Rodgers' death. The first festival was on May 26, 1953.

Pathos, humour, women, whiskey, murder, death, disease and destitution are all present in his lyrics and these themes have been carried forward and developed by his followers. People like Hank Williams, Sr., Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Townes van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash have also suffered, and shared their suffering, bringing added dimensions to those themes. It would be fair to say that Jimmie Rodgers sang about life and death from a male perspective, and this viewpoint has dominated some areas of country music. It would also be fair to credit his influence for the development of honky tonk, rockabilly and the Bakersfield sound.

 The Carter Family's influence

The other Ralph Peer discovery, the Carter family, consisted of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara and their sister-in-law Maybelle. They built a long recording career based on the sonorous bass of A.P., the beautiful singing of Sara and the unique guitar playing of Maybelle. A.P.'s main contribution was the collection of songs and ballads that he picked up in his expeditions into the hill country around their home in Maces Springs, Virginia. In addition, being a man, he made it possible for Sara and Maybelle to perform without stigma at that time. Sara and Maybelle arranged the songs that A.P. collected and wrote their own songs. They were the precursors of a line of talented female country singers like Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Skeeter Davis, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and June Carter Cash, the daughter of Maybelle and the wife of Johnny Cash.

 Hank Williams

Jimmie Rodgers is a major foundation stone in the structure of country music, but the most influential artist from the Jimmie Rodgers strand is undoubtedly Hank Williams, Sr. In his short career (he was only 29 when he died), he dominated the country scene and his songs have been covered by practically every other country artist, male and female. Indeed, his songs were covered by jazz, pop, and rhythm and blues performers from early in his career. Songs like "Cold, Cold Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" have long been pop standards.

Williams had two personas: as Hank Williams he was a singer-songwriter and entertainer; as Luke the Drifter, he was a songwriting crusader. The complexity of his character was reflected in the introspective songs he wrote about heartbreak, happiness and love (such as "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Your Cheating Heart"), and the more upbeat numbers about Cajun life ("Jambalaya") or cigar store Indians ("Kaw-Liga"). He took the music to a different level and a wider audience.

Country artists have included Williams in their compositions. Waylon Jennings pondered whether his career matched up with Hank's in "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" and Hank Williams Jr. recounts the uproarious conditions in his and his father's bands in "A Family Tradition". David Allan Coe boasts in "Longhaired Redneck", "I can sing you every song Hank Williams ever wrote".

Both Hank Williams, Jr. and his son Hank Williams III have been innovators within country music as well, Hank Jr. leading towards rock fusion and "outlaw country", and Hank III going much further in reaching out to death metal and psychobilly soul.

 

The Nashville sound

During the 1960s, country music became a multimillion-dollar industry centered on Nashville, Tennessee. Under the direction of producers such as Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley, and later Billy Sherrill, the Nashville sound brought country music to a diverse audience and helped revive country as it emerged from a commercially fallow period. [12] This sound was notable for borrowing from 1950s pop stylings: a prominent and 'smooth' vocal, backed by a string section and vocal chorus. Instrumental soloing was de-emphasised in favor of trademark 'licks'. Leading artists in this genre included Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, and later Tammy Wynette and Charlie Rich. The "slip note" piano style of session musician Floyd Cramer was an important component of this style. Although country music has great stylistic diversity, some critics say this diversity was strangled by the formulaic approach of the Nashville Sound producers. Others point to the commercial need to re-invent country in the face of the dominance of '50s rock'n'roll and subsequent British Invasion. Even today the variety of country music is not usually well reflected in commercial radio airplay and the popular perception of country music is fraught with stereotypes of hillbillies and maudlin ballads.


 

 

 Not Nashville

The supposedly "vanilla"-flavored sounds that emanated from Nashville led to a reaction among musicians outside Nashville, who saw that there was more to the genre than "the same old tunes, fiddle and guitar..." (Waylon Jennings).[citation needed]

"After I left Nashville (the early 70s), I wanted to relax and play the music that I wanted to play, and just stay around Texas, maybe Oklahoma. Waylon and I had that outlaw image going, and when it caught on at colleges and we started selling records, we were O.K. The whole outlaw thing — it had nothing to do with the music, it was something that got written in an article, and the young people said, "Well, that's pretty cool." And started listening." (Willie Nelson)[3]

Dwight Yoakam helped lead a revival of the Bakersfield Sound in the 1980s and Brad Paisley incorporates it in much of his music today.

Within Nashville in the 1980s, Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs and others brought a return to the traditional values. Their musicianship, songwriting and producing skills helped to revive the genre momentarily. However, even they, and such long-time greats as Jones, Cash, and Haggard, fell from popularity as the record companies again imposed their formulas and refused to promote established artists. Capitol Records made an almost wholesale clearance of their country artists in the 1960s.

Country music radio stations are the most popular genre of music in the United States of America.

 

 Other developments

The two strands of country music have continued to develop since 1990s. The Jimmie Rodgers influence can be seen in a pronounced "working man" image promoted by singers like Brooks & Dunn and Garth Brooks. On the Carter Family side, singers like Iris DeMent and Nanci Griffith have written on more traditional "folk" themes, albeit with a contemporary point of view.

In the mid 1990s country western music was influenced by the popularity of line dancing. This influence was so great that Chet Atkins was quoted as saying "The music has gotten pretty bad, I think. It's all that damn line dancing." [4] By the end of the decade, however, at least one line dance choreographer complained that good country line dance music was no longer being released.

In the 1990s a new form of country music emerged, called by some alternative country, neotraditional, or "insurgent country". Performed by generally younger musicians and inspired by traditional country performers and the country reactionaries, it shunned the Nashville-dominated sound of mainstream country and borrowed more from punk and rock groups than the watered-down, pop-oriented sound of Nashville.

One infrequent, but consistent theme in country music is that of proud, stubborn independence. "Country Boy Can Survive",[13] and "Copperhead Road" [14] are two of the more serious songs along those lines; while "Some Girls Do",[15] and "Redneck Woman" [16] are more light hearted variations on the theme.

 Traditional country

In the 1990s a new form of country music emerged, called by some alternative country, neotraditional, or "insurgent country". Performed by generally younger musicians and inspired by traditional country performers and the country reactionaries, it shunned the Nashville-dominated sound of mainstream country and borrowed more from punk and rock groups than the watered-down, pop-oriented sound of Nashville.

One infrequent, but consistent theme in country music is that of proud, stubborn independence. "Country Boy Can Survive",[17] and "Copperhead Road" [18] are two of the more serious songs along those lines; while "Some Girls Do",[19] and "Redneck Woman" [20] are more light hearted variations on the theme.

There are at least three U.S. cable networks devoted to the genre: CMT (owned by Viacom), VH-1 Country (also owned by Viacom), and GAC (owned by The E. W. Scripps Company). The original American country music video cable channel was TNN (The Nashville Network). The channel was launched in the early 1980s. In 2000, the channel was renamed and reformated to TNN (The National Network), which was a general interest network to compete with USA Network, TNT, and Superstations, such as TBS and WGN. Subsequently, The National Network became SpikeTV, the first network for men.

 Performers

Main article: List of country music performers

Below is a list of notable country performers alphabetically by period, with each listing followed by a description of the artists' work.

 Early innovators

The Golden Age & Country Pop In the 60s, 70s & 80s


 Country Rock

Straight Shooter Oklahoma Country Band of The Year featuring Bud Kurtz , The Duggins Brothers ( Kin of Conway Twitty ) Mike Munholland and Hotrod Hutson

 

 Contemporary country stars 1981-2007