Country music (or country and Western) is a blend of traditional and popular musical Music intertwines with aspects of American social and cultural identity, including through social class, race and ethnicity, geography, religion, language, gender and sexuality. The relationship between music and race is perhaps the most potent determiner of musical meaning in the United States. The development of an African American musical forms traditionally found in the Southern United States The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. Because of the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, including Native Americans, early European settlements of English, Ulster Scots, and the Canadian Maritimes that evolved rapidly in the 1920s.[1]
Country music has produced two of the top selling solo artists of all time. Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presleya was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King", who was known early on as “the Hillbilly Cat” and was a regular on the radio program Louisiana Hayride Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music. Elvis Presley performed on the radio version of the program in 1954, and,[2] went on to become a defining figure in the emergence of rock and roll Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of the blues, country music and gospel music. Though elements of rock and roll can be heard in country records of the 1930s, and in blues records from the 1920s, rock and roll did not. Contemporary musician Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist that helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon.. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at #2 in the US country album chart while climbing to #13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart. Brooks' integration of rock elements into his, with 128 million albums sold, is the top-domestic-selling solo U.S. artist in U.S. history.[3]
While album sales of most musical genres have declined since about 2005, country music experienced one of its best years in 2000, when, during the first six months, U.S. sales of country albums increased by 17.7 percent to 36 million. Moreover, country music listening nationwide has remained steady for almost a decade, reaching 77.3 million adults every week, according to the radio-ratings agency Arbitron Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s. The company's initial business was the collection of television broadcast ratings, Inc.[4][5]
The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s when the earlier term hillbilly Hillbilly is a term referring to people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily Appalachia. Due to its strongly stereotypical connotations, the term is frequently considered derogatory, and so is usually offensive to those Americans of Appalachian heritage. However, the term is also used in celebration of their music came to be seen as denigrating. Country music was widely embraced in the 1970s, while country and Western has declined in use since that time, except in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land and Ireland Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɾlənd],; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann) is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the northwest of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is Great Britain, separated from, where it is still commonly used.[1] However, in the Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. Narrowly defined, the "core" Southwest might include only Arizona and New Mexico, with parts of a different mix of ethnic groups The ancestry of the people of the United States is widely varied and includes descendants of populations from around the world, some presumably extinct elsewhere. In addition to its variation, the ancestry of people of the United States is also marked by varying amounts of intermarriage between ethnic and racial groups created the music that became the Western music Western music originated as a form of folk music. Originally composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Directly related musically to old English, Scottish, and Irish folk ballads, Western music celebrates the life of the cowboy on the open ranges and prairies of Western North of the term country and Western. The term country music is used today to describe many styles A-F · G-M · N-R · S-Z · Cultural and regional and subgenres.
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Early history
Immigrants Immigration is the introduction of new people into a habitat or population. It is a biological concept and is important in population ecology, differentiated from emigration and migration to the Maritime Provinces The Maritime provinces, also called the Maritimes or the Canadian Maritimes, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. On the Atlantic coast, the Maritimes are a subregion of Atlantic Canada. The population of the Maritime provinces was 1,826,896 in 2008 and Southern Appalachian Mountains Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama of North America brought the music and instruments of the Old World along with them for nearly 300 years. They brought some of their most important valuables with them, and to most of them this was an instrument: “Early Scottish settlers enjoyed the fiddle because it could be played to sound sad and mournful or bright and bouncy”[6] The Irish fiddle The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, usually the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music. Fiddle playing, or fiddling, refers to various styles of music, the German derived dulcimer The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic, the Italian mandolin A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard (the top) comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single round or oval sound hole. A round or oval, the Spanish guitar The guitar is a plucked string instrument, played either with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number but sometimes more, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with either nylon or steel strings, and the West African banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with, typically, four or five strings, which vibrate a membrane of plastic material or animal hide stretched over a circular frame. Primitive forms of the instrument were fashioned by enslaved Africans in Colonial America, adapted from several African instruments. There are several ideas on where the name banjo[7] were the most common musical instruments. The interactions among musicians from different ethnic groups produced music unique to this region of North America North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocean; South America lies to the southeast. Appalachian Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama string bands of the early twentieth century primarily consisted of the fiddle, guitar, and banjo.[8] This early country music along with early recorded country music is often referred to as old-time music Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also encompasses ballads and other types of folk songs. It is.
According to Bill Malone in Country Music U.S.A, country music was “introduced to the world as a southern phenomenon."[9] In the South, folk music was a combination of cultural strains, combining musical traditions of a variety of ethnic groups in the region. For example, some instrumental pieces from Anglo-Celtic immigrants were the basis of folk songs and ballads that form what is now known as old time music Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also encompasses ballads and other types of folk songs. It is, from which country music descended. It is commonly thought that British and Irish folk music influenced the development of old time music. British and Irish arrivals to the Southern U.S. included immigrants from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and England.
Often, when many people think or hear country music, they think of it as a creation of European-Americans. However, a great deal of style—and of course, the banjo, a major instrument in most early American folk songs—came from African Americans. One of the reasons country music was created by African-Americans, as well as European-Americans, is because blacks and whites in rural communities in the south often worked and played together, just as recollected by DeFord Bailey DeFord Bailey was an early country music star and the first African American performer on the Grand Ole Opry. Bailey played several instruments but is best known for his harmonica tunes. He was one of the few notable African-American stars in country music[10] in the PBS documentary, DeFord Bailey: A Legend Lost.[11]
Throughout the 19th century, several immigrant American immigration refers to the movement of non-residents to the United States. Immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of American history. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non -immigrants, groups from Europe Europe is one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus region (Specification of borders) and the Black Sea to the southeast. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and, most notably from Ireland Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɾlənd],; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann) is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the northwest of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is Great Britain, separated from, Germany A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state,, Spain Spain (pronounced /ˈspeɪn/ spayn; Spanish: España, pronounced [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.[note 6] Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for, and Italy Italy (pronounced /ˈɪtəli/ ; Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a country located partly on the European Continent and partly on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine moved to Texas Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and sixth largest United States metropolitan areas, respectively. Other major cities include El Paso and Austin—the. These groups interacted with Mexican Spanish, American English, Spanglish, and a minority of Indigenous Mexican languages and Native American Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as intact political communities. The terminology used to, and U.S. communities that were already established in Texas. As a result of this cohabitation and extended contact, Texas has developed unique cultural traits that are rooted in the culture of all of its founding communities.[12]
1920s
Local performers from Atlanta and Fort Worth were being played on radio stations in 1922. Along with local performers, barn-dance programs became popular among radio stations as well. Some record companies in Georgia turned away early artists such as Fiddlin' John Carson; while others realized that his music would fit perfectly with the lifestyle of the countries agricultural employees.[13] The first commercial recording of what was considered country music was "Sallie Gooden" by fiddlist A.C. (Eck) Robertson Alexander "Eck" Robertson was an American fiddle player, mostly known for being the first country musician to be commercially recorded in 1922 in 1922 for Victor Records. Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment, and operates as an imprint of the Columbia/Epic Label Group. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound, began issuing records with "hillbilly" music (series 15000D "Old Familiar Tunes") as early as 1924.[14]
Vernon Dalhart Vernon Dalhart , born Marion Try Slaughter, was a popular American singer and songwriter of the early decades of the 20th century. He is a major influence in the field of country musicA year earlier on June 14, 1923, Fiddlin' John Carson Fiddlin' John Carson was an American old time fiddler and an early country musician recorded "Little Log Cabin in the Lane "The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane" is a popular song written by Will S. Hays in 1871 for the minstrel trade. Written in dialect, the song tells of an eldery man, presumably a slave or former slave, passing his latter years in a broken-down old log cabin. The title is from a refrain:" for Okeh Records Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918; from the late 1920s on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.[15] Vernon Dalhart Vernon Dalhart , born Marion Try Slaughter, was a popular American singer and songwriter of the early decades of the 20th century. He is a major influence in the field of country music was the first country singer to have a nationwide hit in May 1924 with "Wreck of the Old '97 The "Old 97", a Southern Railway train officially known as the Fast Mail, was en route from Monroe, Virginia to Spencer, North Carolina when it left the track at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia on September 27, 1903. The wreck inspired a famous railroad ballad, which was the focus of a convoluted copyright lawsuit".[16][17] The flip side of the record was "Lonesome Road Blues," which also became very popular.[18] In April 1924, "Aunt" Samantha Bumgarner Aunt Samantha Bumgarner was an acclaimed early country and folk music performer from Dillsboro, North Carolina. She won much praise for her work with the fiddle and banjo. In 1924, accompanied by guitarist Eva Davis, she traveled to New York City and recorded about a dozen songs, making her perhaps the first recorded female country music artist and Eva Davis became the first female musicians to record and release country songs.[19]
Many "hillbilly" musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle Cliff Carlisle was an American country and blues singer. Carlisle was a yodeler and was a pioneer in the use of the Hawaiian steel guitar in country music, recorded blues songs throughout the decade[20] and into the 30s. Other important early recording artists were Riley Puckett George Riley Puckett was a country music pioneer mostly known for being a member of Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, Don Richardson, Fiddlin' John Carson Fiddlin' John Carson was an American old time fiddler and an early country musician, Al Hopkins Albert Green Hopkins (Al Hopkins) was an American musician, a pioneer of what later came to be called country music; in 1925 he originated the earlier designation of this music as "hillbilly music", though not without qualms about its pejorative connotation, Ernest V. Stoneman, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers Charlie Poole was an American old time banjo player and country musician and the leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, an American old-time string band that recorded many popular songs between 1925 to 1930 and The Skillet Lickers.[21] The steel guitar entered country music as early as 1922, when Jimmie Tarlton met famed Hawaiian guitarist Frank Ferera on the West Coast.[22]
Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family are widely considered to be important early country musicians. Their songs were first captured at a historic recording session in Bristol on August 1, 1927, where Ralph Peer was the talent scout and sound recordist.[23][24]
Rodgers fused hillbilly country, gospel, jazz, blues, pop, cowboy, and folk; and many of his best songs were his compositions, including “Blue Yodel”,[25] which sold over a million records and established Rodgers as the premier singer of early country music.[26][27]
Beginning in 1927, and for the next 17 years the Carters recorded some 300 old-time ballads, traditional tunes, country songs and Gospel hymns, all representative of America's southeastern folklore and heritage.[28]
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Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:54:07 GMT+00:00
CMT.com ... I know, but I really don't think it's overstating things to say that Dunn is one of the greatest singers in the history of country music . ...
TawnyTucker
ue, 10 Aug 2010 20:35:11 GM
Got some . country music. gossip and don't wanna be a tattle tale? Email me, Tawny Tucker, Related Posts: Brooks & Dunn: The Last Rodeo Go Backstage with Keith Urban at Brooks & Dunn Tribute ...
Q. do you know of any black people that listen to country music?
Asked by yukmouth - Thu Jul 27 02:02:09 2006 - - 3 Answers - 1 Comments
A. yep, I also know a couple who wear Wrangler jeans, cowboy hats, boots and ride horses.
Answered by mrsjav - Thu Jul 27 02:10:24 2006
