Country & Western

Question 1

“Old Time” string Band Music

Answer 1

Basically just fast paced banjo and fiddle music

Question 2

Folk and Country Instruments

Answer 2

Fiddle, banjo, lap dulcimer, autoharp, mandolin, bass, dobro (steel guitar)

Question 3

Common and Enduring Characteristics; Realism and Sentimentaility

Answer 3

Murder, jail, loving your mom and your woman, etc.

Question 4

Common and Enduring Characteristics; Vocal tone and delivery

Answer 4

Nasal vocal timbre and/or yodelling

Question 5

Common and Enduring Characteristics; Southern twang and dialect

Answer 5

You know this

Question 6

Common and Enduring Characteristics; Sincerity

Answer 6

Don’t worry about it

Question 7

Music Industry Discovers Hillbilly Music

Ralph Peer and Polk Brockman, Fiddlin’ John Carlson

Answer 7

Hillbillies like music and can spend money on it

Completed first commercial recording in 1923 of a country song

Question 8

1927 Bristol, TN Sessions

Answer 8

Brought together many big folk musicians of the time in Appalachian’s largest city

Question 9

The Carter Family; Alvin P Carter

Answer 9

Bass singer; producer

Question 10

The Carter Family; Sara

Answer 10

Autoharp and lead vocal

Question 11

The Carter Family; Maybelle

Answer 11

Harmony and guitar, Invented Carter picking (Thumb plays melody, rest of fingers play chords); married to Alvin’s brother

Question 12

Jimmie Rodgers

Answer 12

Big on yodeling (Blue Yodel #8); immortalized western culture; did vaudeville and blackface, went to the Bristol sessions which launched his recording career (20 mill copies sold)

Question 13

Hollywood Singing Cowboys

Answer 13

Roots in Hollywood westerns; would dress up like a cowboy and sing on tv (Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gene Autry, Patsy Montana, The Sons of the Pioneers, etc.)

Question 14

Country Swing; Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys

Answer 14

Big Band + Country music; One of the founders of western Swing

Question 15

Country Radio; Barn Dance Programs

Answer 15

variety shows (vaudeville, comedians, etc.); biggest in Chicago

Question 16

Country Radio; Grand Ole Opry

Answer 16

Preeminent showcase of country music

Question 17

Roy Acuff

Answer 17

Sang at Opry in ‘38; Biggest CM star of the 40s; made publishing company later

Question 18

Billboard Categories; Country and western

Answer 18

Became Billboard categories based on popularity

Question 19

Nashville; Country Music Industry

Answer 19

Hub of CM; CM grew after WW2 (everyone liked it); ex. Capitol Records had 1/3 of record sales in the whole country

Question 20

Nashville; Nashville “Sound”

Answer 20

1. Session musicians (The A Team)
2. Electric guitars, bass, drums, pedal steel guitars
3. Orchestral Strings
4. Pro background singers
5. Echo, reverb, multi-track recording (Studio tech)
6. Speeding up the master tape (pitch is raised; brighter sound)

Question 21

Honky Tonk; Hank Williams

Answer 21

Alt to Nashville sound; roots in TX bar music (easy to sing and dance to); electric guitar, piano, and jukebox important, no band; subjects were loneliness, sadness, etc.; Hank Williams had brief but influential career (36 #1 hits)

Question 22

Rockabilly; Johnny and June Carter Cash

Answer 22

Mix of country music and R&B (electric guitars and more edge to music); Johnny and June Carter were HUGE rockabilly (and other genres) artists (Johnny had 90 mil copies sold in his lifetime)

Question 23

Country Rock; Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris

Answer 23

60s - 70s; Gram Parsons part of Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers; Emmyous Harris got 14 grammys and CM Hall of Fame; They recorded an album together

Question 24

Bluegrass; Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys

Answer 24

Virtuoso “old-time” music; Bill Monroe “father of bluegrass”, made band; Showcased “high lonesome vocals”

Question 25

Progressive “outlaw” country; Willie Nelson

Answer 25

Reped counterculture that was reaction to Nashville sound; Made first country “concept” album (Red Headed Stranger)

Question 26

Modern Country Music; CMA

Answer 26

Mostly crossover artists (Garth Brooks, Keith urban, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Brandy Clark, etc.); Country Music Association (est. 1958) reps CM all over the world (Music that is all things to all people)