Country & Western Flashcards
“Old Time” string Band Music
Basically just fast paced banjo and fiddle music
Folk and Country Instruments
Fiddle, banjo, lap dulcimer, autoharp, mandolin, bass, dobro (steel guitar)
Common and Enduring Characteristics; Realism and Sentimentaility
Murder, jail, loving your mom and your woman, etc.
Common and Enduring Characteristics; Vocal tone and delivery
Nasal vocal timbre and/or yodelling
Common and Enduring Characteristics; Southern twang and dialect
You know this
Common and Enduring Characteristics; Sincerity
Don’t worry about it
Music Industry Discovers Hillbilly Music
Ralph Peer and Polk Brockman, Fiddlin’ John Carlson
Hillbillies like music and can spend money on it
Completed first commercial recording in 1923 of a country song
1927 Bristol, TN Sessions
Brought together many big folk musicians of the time in Appalachian’s largest city
The Carter Family; Alvin P Carter
Bass singer; producer
The Carter Family; Sara
Autoharp and lead vocal
The Carter Family; Maybelle
Harmony and guitar, Invented Carter picking (Thumb plays melody, rest of fingers play chords); married to Alvin’s brother
Jimmie Rodgers
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)
Hollywood Singing Cowboys
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.)
Country Swing; Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys
Big Band + Country music; One of the founders of western Swing
Country Radio; Barn Dance Programs
variety shows (vaudeville, comedians, etc.); biggest in Chicago
Country Radio; Grand Ole Opry
Preeminent showcase of country music
Roy Acuff
Sang at Opry in ‘38; Biggest CM star of the 40s; made publishing company later
Billboard Categories; Country and western
Became Billboard categories based on popularity
Nashville; Country Music Industry
Hub of CM; CM grew after WW2 (everyone liked it); ex. Capitol Records had 1/3 of record sales in the whole country
Nashville; Nashville “Sound”
- Session musicians (The A Team)
- Electric guitars, bass, drums, pedal steel guitars
- Orchestral Strings
- Pro background singers
- Echo, reverb, multi-track recording (Studio tech)
- Speeding up the master tape (pitch is raised; brighter sound)
Honky Tonk; Hank Williams
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)
Rockabilly; Johnny and June Carter Cash
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)
Country Rock; Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris
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
Bluegrass; Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys
Virtuoso “old-time” music; Bill Monroe “father of bluegrass”, made band; Showcased “high lonesome vocals”
Progressive “outlaw” country; Willie Nelson
Reped counterculture that was reaction to Nashville sound; Made first country “concept” album (Red Headed Stranger)
Modern Country Music; CMA
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)
