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America’s Musical Landscape�8th edition

Part 3:

The Growth of Vernacular Traditions

Chapter 11: Country Music

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Country Music, 1

Various styles of vernacular music evolved in America’s rural and urban environments in the 19^th century

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Country Music, 2

People living in remote areas in the Eastern hills continued to sing and play traditional music as it had been performed by their ancestors

These people were isolated from mainstream popular music and unaffected by modern trends
Through oral tradition, old tunes and musical customs passed through the generations
Early folk ballads, originally from the British Isles, such as “Barbara Allen” were preserved

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After the Civil War

New influences invaded all areas, including isolated mountains

Music and other aspects of life�were affected

Migrant workers came to the rural�hills, bringing new kinds of music�and new musical instruments,�including the 5-string banjo

Banjo

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Mountain people took temporary jobs in cities, 1

These people brought home new subjects for songs and new musical sounds

New “folk” songs evolved

Similar to the traditional ballads
But characteristically American in subject and style

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Mountain people took temporary jobs in cities, 2

People sometimes lost track of a song’s origin

A song included in the “folk” repertoire might actually have been composed rather than improvised, memorized, and passed down in the traditional ways

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From Country to City

The early 1920s

Commercial recording companies began to send talent scouts into the hill country

To search for folk singers and instrumentalists with a distinctive sound
To entice country musicians to come to the cities, where the market for recordings of “old time” music was increasing

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Hillbilly Music, 1

The term “hillbilly music” was coined in 1925

“Hillbilly music” somewhat scornfully referred to music of:

Country fiddlers
Harmonica players
Singers of country ballads

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Hillbilly Music, 2

“Old-time,” “hillbilly,” and “country,” traditional music from the hills

The term “hillbilly music” came from a musical group from Virginia named the Hill Billies

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Hill musicians, 1

Traveled with tent shows, medicine shows, and vaudeville shows

Amazed audiences with virtuosic performances at fiddlers’ contests

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Hill musicians, 2

At country fairs, they sang songs about love, work, family life, death in a semidetached and impersonal manner

City listeners enjoyed the music, and the audience for country music continued to expand

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As commercial radio evolved

Hillbilly music proved widely popular

“Barn dance” radio shows sprang up in the South and throughout the Midwest

The most famous of these shows was the Grand Ole Opry

Debuted on a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1924
Instrumental in establishing Nashville as a base for the country music industry

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Effects of popularity and commercialization of Hillbilly Music, 1

The end of the old way—the oral tradition—of preserving original folk songs and performance practices

The commercial market required a constant supply of new pieces

Country musicians adapted by writing new songs and performing them in a manner acceptable to a city audience

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Effects of popularity and commercialization of Hillbilly Music, 2

Ballads were popular

Many were about the dramatic current events of the day

People lost track of which folk songs were traditional and which were written by modern professionals

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By 1927, two different strains of hillbilly music reached the public

One was introduced by Jimmie Rodgers from Mississippi

The other was made popular by the Carter Family, a singing family from the mountains of Virginia

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Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933), 1

Wandered through several states during his brief career; had little formal music training

Played guitar while singing in a clear tenor voice

Often used the vocal falsetto range
Known and imitated for his yodel, a rapid alternation between the full voice and falsetto
Known for his thirteen songs called “blue yodels”, with form and harmonies of twelve-bar blues

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Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933), 2

Nicknamed the “singing brakeman” for singing about his experiences working on the railroad, along with other topics such as love gone wrong, cowboys, his Southern home, etc.

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Listening example 46

Blue Yodel No. 9

Composed by Jimmie Rodgers

Sung by Jimmie Rodgers

Accompanied by

Louis Armstrong, trumpet

Lil Hardin Armstrong, piano

Listening guide page 190

Form: Strophic
Tempo: Moderately slow

Notice the sound of

Rodgers’ yodel.

During his lifetime

Rodgers established the

solo song as an

important part of hillbilly

music.

Rodgers was the first

person elected to the

Country Music Hall of

Fame in Nashville.

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The Carter Family:�From the Mountains of Virginia, 1

Symbolized the close, conservative family: Alvin Pleasant Delaney (A.P.) Carter (1891-1960); Sara Carter, the wife of A.P.; and, Maybelle, Sara’s cousin and A.P.’s sister-in-law

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The Carter Family:�From the Mountains of Virginia, 2

Sang traditional songs, ballads, and hymns with nasal vocal deliveries and tight harmonies characteristic of mountain people

Favored ragtime and early jazz rhythms
Spiked their music with a zesty backbeat (accents on beats two and four instead of the usual one and three)
Songs included ballads about train wrecks and disasters; sentimental songs about mountain flowers, country churches, and lovely pale maidens; hymns and camp meeting spirituals

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The Carter Family:�The Continuing Legacy, 1

In the 1920s and 1930s, members of the Carter family collected, arranged, and recorded hundreds of traditional American songs

Bluegrass, honky-tonk, Western swing, and rockabilly were directly influenced by the Carter Family’s work

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The Carter Family:�The Continuing Legacy, 2

Several generations of Carters have continued to perform country music professionally

June Carter (1929-2003) became widely known in her own right as a singer
Roseanne Cash, daughter of Johnny Cash (June Carter’s third husband), has been a major country music performer since the 1980s, mixing country, folk, pop, and rock
Roseanne’s stepsister Carlene Carter combines rock and country

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Styles of Country Music, 1

By the 1920s, Americans had radios and heard

Hillbilly or old-time music
White religious music called gospel performed by country singers accompanied by fiddle, banjo or guitar
Rollicking dance tunes played by string bands consisting of fiddles, banjos, guitars, and sometimes string bass
Dance songs consisting of a vocalist and instruments
Sentimental parlor songs
Old English and American ballads
Work songs

Spiritual songs became part of country music

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The Effect of Ethnic and Regional Styles Upon Country Music, 1

Country music characteristically absorbs ethnic and regional styles

These styles are adapted to become a part of the country sound
As people in Western states welcomed country music, they added distinctive flavors derived from their own experience

Hawaiian music
Music of the mariachis of Mexico
Cajun music and zydeco from Louisiana

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The Effect of Ethnic and Regional Styles Upon Country Music, 2

Country music characteristically absorbs ethnic and regional styles

These styles are adapted to become a part of the country sound
As people in Western states welcomed country music, they added distinctive flavors derived from their own experience

Hawaiian music
Music of the mariachis of Mexico
Cajun music and zydeco from Louisiana

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Styles of Country Music, 2

Rural music has evolved, reflecting local experience and preferences

Modern country and folk music often reflects country peoples’ perception of and reaction to urban developments that change their rural way of life

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Styles of Country Music: American Folk Ballads, 1

Topical songs - personal songs about current events - were always part of American folk music

But as people forgot past events, they also forgot the songs
Few topical songs we remember today are more than 100 years old

Around the turn of the 20^th century, the trade union movement and interest in social causes produced topical songs for city audiences

Most of these songs had a leftist bent

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Styles of Country Music: American Folk Ballads, 2

Railroads, representing progress and the future, proved a popular subject for ballads

“Wabash Cannon Ball,” written and recorded in 1936 by Roy Acuff

Twentieth-century ballads had the flavor and appeal of traditional folk ballads and were reminiscent of earlier broadside ballads

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Listening Example 47

The Ballad of Casey Jones

Words by Wallace Saunders

Melody: Anonymous

Sung by Johnny Cash

Listening guide page 194

Form: Verse-chorus
Tempo: Fast
Meter: Quadruple
Accompaniment: Banjo, background choral harmonies

Hear a train whistle and a percussion instrument’s rhythmic “chugging”

Written by a black laborer who never received a penny for the song, white entertainers made this into one of the most popular and enduring American ballads. The lyrics tell the story of train engineer Casey Jones, who sped his train for passengers to arrive on time at their destination without injury, as he sacrificed himself in the ensuing train wreck.

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Styles of Country Music: Bluegrass

A virtuosic instrumental style rooted in mountain music

Bluegrass started in the 1930s and 1940s with mandolinist Bill Monroe (William Smith Monroe, 1911-1996), the “Father of Bluegrass,” who blended old-time string band music with the holler of the blues, plus improvisation of jazz

Monroe's string band was called the Blue Grass Boys, named for his home state of Kentucky

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Characteristics of Bluegrass, 1

Primarily instrumental music

Sung ballads in verse-chorus form emphasize the important instrumental interludes or breaks

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Characteristics of Bluegrass, 2

A bluegrass ensemble consists of acoustic instruments:

Fiddle
Guitar
String bass
Five-string banjo
Often, mandolin, a plucked stringed instrument

Fast tempos and virtuosic playing provide excitement

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Listening Example 48

Earl’s Breakdown

Composed by Earl Scruggs

Performed on

Guitar, by Lester Flatt

Banjo, by Earl Scruggs

Mandolin

Fiddle

Bass

Listening Guide page 197

Form: Variations on a tune

The virtuosic performances reveal the reasons bluegrass remains popular and respected today

Notice how Scruggs uses a tuner to bend the pitches expressively

Flatt and Scruggs left Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in 1948 to form their group the Foggy Mountain Boys

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More recently, 1

During the 1960s, bluegrass was popular on college campuses, in coffeehouses, and at folk festivals

Bluegrass has been featured in television shows and movies

TV shows Petticoat Junction, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres
Films including Bonnie and Clyde, Deliverance, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

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More recently, 2

Later notable bluegrass songs and albums:

Steve Wariner’s “Domino Theory” (1990)
Vince Gill’s album High Lonesome Sound (1996)
Steve Earle’s CD The Mountain (1999)

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Modern Bluegrass Performers, 1

Alison Krauss, Illinois fiddle virtuoso and vocalist

Performs with her award-winning band Union Station

Union Station has outstanding solo musicians, including Jerry Douglas, virtuoso performer on the Dobro

A dobro is a wood-body resonator guitar with metal cover plate over the sound hole and aluminum cone for amplification

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Modern Bluegrass Performers, 2

Emmylou Harris, folk and country music revivalist

Fans gather each summer at bluegrass festivals

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Country Pop and the Nashville Sound

Recording executives and performers realized that two new audiences needed to be addressed

Youngsters excited by rock’n’roll
Urban adults uncomfortable with traditional country music

Both audiences resisted traditional instrumentation but enjoyed country songs accompanied by electric guitar and drums, or piano and strings

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The Birth of the Nashville Sound, 1

Renowned guitarist Chet Atkins (1924-2001) was appointed head of the Nashville division of RCA records in the late 1950s

Atkins decided to change the sound of country music
The unexpected commercial success of Patti Page’s recording of “Tennessee Waltz” influenced Atkins to produce songs that would score on both popular and country music charts

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The Birth of the Nashville Sound, 2

The new sophisticated and polished sound Atkins achieved by toning down rhythm sections and adding background voices to soften the harsh effect of traditional country music became known as the Nashville Sound.

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Nashville, 1

After 1942, Nashville was the center of the country music business

Roy Acuff (1903-1992)

From the Tennessee mountains
Demonstrated the link between old-time country music, its related shows and recording sessions, and modern commercial country music
1942, Nashville: set up the first modern music publishing company

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Nashville, 2

The Nashville sound: Country themes with pop instrumentation

Vocal soloists of traditional country topics jived rhythms and added a vocal chorus similar to the doo-wop singers of Motown rock and roll
Chet Atkins sang country songs and played guitar in a Tin Pan Alley style

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Country Musicians Modified Their Style

Country singers modified their twang and polished their performances, presenting country-style songs in pop format

Necessary to surviving as commercial entertainers
Cover recordings of country hits appeared on popular music charts

Popular singers were Tony Bennett, Frankie Laine and others
Eddy Arnold and Jim Reeves, often with string orchestra, represented country pop

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The Early 1960s

Nashville had become a recording capital of popular music

Country pop has continued to flourish

Faith Hill
Shania Twain
LeAnn Rimes
Tim McGraw
Randy Travis
Kenny Rogers
Garth Brooks

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Styles of Country Music: Western Swing

Early on, country music moved west where it developed distinctive styles

1930s and 1940s

Forced migration west was caused by the Great Depression and the drought-stricken Dust Bowl
People carried their music customs with them
Soldiers associated with others from diverse backgrounds, and discovered the joys of country music
Country music changed in Western states, reflecting Mexican music, Cajun music, Hawaiian steel guitar, and cowboy songs called country-western

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Western Swing, 1

Country music in the Eastern United States reflected the conservative mood and morality of the Christian home

Western country flavor was closer to the atmosphere of the dance hall

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Western Swing, 2

Texans responded to the big band craze of the 1930s and 1940s with their own dance band style, western swing:

Added fiddles and steel guitar to Eastern big band instrumentation
Singers added yodeling in the style of Jimmie Rodgers
Fast tempos, hot rhythms, and virtuosic instrumental solos were indicative of a strong jazz influence

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Bob Wills (1905-1973), 1

The most important figure to the development of western swing

Performed:

Country fiddle tunes
Hispanic folk music
African American folk blues
Jazz

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Bob Wills (1905-1973), 2

Wills’band was the Texas Playboys

Performed fiddle tunes, cowboy numbers, hit parade songs, jazz instrumentals, blues numbers, Mexican music and more

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Styles of Country Music: Honky-Tonk

Patrons in honky-tonks, intimate and crowded Texan bars and clubs, danced to honky-tonk songs

Songs addressed real-life subjects including infidelity, divorce, alcohol, homesickness, separation, loneliness, prison
Rough, realistic lyrics were sung in an earthy, matter-of-fact manner typical of country style
Electrified amplified instruments were used to carry above the noise in the honky-tonks

Amplified piano often was the sole accompaniment
Other instruments

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Honky-tonk stars, 1

White men from the Southwest: Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, George Jones, George Strait

Charlie Pride, one of the only black country music performers to have a long and distinguished career

Hispanic singers Freddie Fender and Johnny Rodriguez

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Honky-tonk stars, 2

Hank Williams, Sr. (1923-1953) was the greatest honky-tonk star, but was also adept at other country music styles

Williams was the best-known and most financially successful country singer

Recent honky-tonk responds to the new public frankness on subjects such as sex, drugs, and violence with strong new lyrics, often sung by women

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Styles of Country Music: Cowboy Songs, 1

By the mid-1930s, the craze for western films was full-blown; cowboys in the films portrayed heroes, singing romantic cowboy songs by Tin Pan Alley professionals

Popular “singing cowboys” included

Texas born Gene Autry, “Oklahoma’s yodelin’ cowboy”

Publisher, producer, the first movie star to get into television

Tex Ritter, also from Texas
Roy Rogers starred in about 100 western films

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Styles of Country Music: Cowboy Songs, 2

Bob Nolan, a founder of the singing trio Sons of the Pioneers, wrote many cowboy songs

There were cowboy songs written by real cowboys

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The late 1940s: Cowboy songs faded in popularity

Gene Autry, who earlier had recorded songs from the African American blues tradition went on to sing songs in the popular rather than the western vein

Sang “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” written by Johnny Marks, and “Here Comes Santa Claus,” cowritten with Oakley Haldeman

Tex Ritter’s popular “High Noon” written by Dimitri Tiomkin was high on the pop charts, not the country-western charts

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Styles of Country Music: Hawaiian Music, 1

Hawaiian music has profoundly affected mainland country music and pop

Rooted in old religious chants and hymns, Hawaiian music absorbed rhythms, sounds, and instruments brought to the island by missionaries, tourists, and settlers

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Styles of Country Music: Hawaiian Music, 2

1800s: Mexican cowboys brought the guitar to Hawaii

Guitar accompanied hula and Hawaiian songs and hymns
Slack key guitar, a Hawaiian invention involving loosening (slackening) guitar strings was popular

Charles Philip “Gabby” Pahinui (1921-1980), was the master of the slack key guitar and renowned for his virtuosity

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Listening Example 49

Mele of My Tutu E

Words and Music by Danny Ku

Listening guide page 204

Form: Strophic
Texture: Homophonic
Instrumentation: Three male vocalists, steel guitar, slack key guitar, percussion

This song, written around

1945, is an example of a

hapa haole song. It includes a few Hawaiian words in the otherwise English lyric.

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The Hawaiian Steel Guitar, 1

Invented around the turn of the 20th century, it was made popular by the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco

A favorite Hawaiian instrument, with metal strings raised above the fret board, it is held horizontally in the player’s lap

The player presses a steel bar against the strings, rather than pressing them to the fret board with the fingers as on a traditional guitar

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The Hawaiian Steel Guitar, 2

By sliding the metal bar along the strings with the left hand, the player achieves a gentle slide suggestive of country twang

By the end of the 1930s, Hawaiian steel guitar was being featured in Southwestern country bands

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The Ukelele, 1

A small 4-string guitar

History

Portuguese immigrants brought�the ukulele to Hawaii in 1879
According to legend, enchanted�Hawaiians called this instrument�“ukulele,” meaning “jumping fleas”
As with steel guitar, it attracted enthusiasm at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exhibition

Ukulele

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The Ukelele, 2

1920s: Ukulele accompanied Tin Pan Alley performers

Recently: Ukulele festivals draw large crowds

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Styles of Country Music: Cajun Music

French Acadians in the eighteenth century were evicted from their homeland, Acadia (Nova Scotia), by the British

Settled in the remote area south of New Orleans
Continued to speak French, evolving a patois, or mixed language, of their own

These French Acadians became known as the Cajuns

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Cajun Music, 1

Talent scouts in the 1920s discovered and promoted Cajun musicians

John Lomax (1867-1948)

A folklorist who traveled in 1932 to Louisiana and recorded genuine traditional Cajun music for the Library of Congress

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Cajun Music, 2

Blues and hillbilly music reached Cajun regions by radio, influencing the music

Cajun musicians translated popular country and country-western songs into French

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Listening Example 50

Cajun Two-Step (excerpt)

Traditional

Listening guide page 207

Form: A series of 4-measure strains:

A A B B A A B …

Tempo: Fast
Instrumentation: Accordion, or concertina, �and triangle
Punctuated with occasional joyous shouts

Cajun music is mainly

lighthearted, with a hint

Of tragedy

Dance rhythms, catchy

melodies, and accordion

“Oh, ya, yaie!” is similar

to Bluegrass sounds

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Styles of Country Music: Zydeco, 1

A more recent variety of accordion-based music

The music of southern Louisiana’s Creoles (“free persons of color”)

Caribbean and Latin rhythms

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Styles of Country Music: Zydeco, 2

Background

The late eighteenth-century revolution in Santo Domingo sent black and white French citizens north to the French-speaking communities of Louisiana
The black refugees brought Caribbean rhythms, religious practices, and spicy cuisine

In the U S, they developed a distinct French dialect or patois

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Zydeco, 1

The word “zydeco” is a corruption of a French phrase that translates to mean “the snap beans aren’t salted”

A saying indicative of hard times

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Zydeco, 2

Instruments:

Accordion
Harmonica
Frottoir, a washboard-like instrument strapped to a musician’s chest
Electric guitar and bass
Drums
Sometimes saxophone

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Zydeco’s sound and influence, 1

Heard along the Gulf Coast in contemporary zydeco bands

Exhibits the amplified energy of rock
Features exotic Cajun melodies

Clifton Chenier was the late “king” of zydeco

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Zydeco’s sound and influence, 2

Mainstream artists who have been influenced by zydeco and Cajun music:

Paul Simon
Mary Chapin Carpenter

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Women in Country: The Early Days, 1

Honky-tonks and all-male country bands music were unwelcoming to women

Women’s place in society was rigidly defined

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Women in Country: The Early Days, 2

Women who were successful were crossover artists bridging country and pop

Patsy Cline (1932-1963) From a country background; had a strident powerful country sound
Kitty Wells, the original “Queen of Country Music”
Loretta Lynn favored honky-tonk instrumentation, appealed to beleaguered housewives

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Women in Country

Women later established a commanding presence in country music as writers and singers of “new country”

Dolly Parton, singer and songwriter, grew up singing traditional ballads
Reba McIntyre broke ground singing about contemporary city people
Emmylou Harris performs a mix of styles with various artists
Linda Ronstadt with a background in Mexican and Spanish music, started out singing rock and roll and now sings many styles of music including operetta and classical

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Women in Country: Harmony, 1

Close vocal harmonies sung in a duet between a male and female country singer implied sexual tension

Duets between George Jones and Tammy Wynette; between Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton

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Women in Country: Harmony, 2

Same-sex combinations of women singers, with a close blend

Collaboration of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt in creating albums

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Recent Country

“New country” competes with “traditional country”

New traditionalism has led some country stars to replace electronic instruments and pop drumbeats with acoustic guitars and fiddles

Some seek to recapture the friction and grit of original honky-tonk
Fiddling and banjo contests are popular
Western swing and bluegrass have a strong presence

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