Late 1940's The Venue For Country Music example essay topic

Early Country: Early commercial country music was a direct descendant of the ballad and folk tradition brought to the American South by immigrants from the British Isles in the 18th and 19th centuries. When not carrying on the oral tradition of storytelling through song, old-time country music featured instrumentals with the fiddle usually taking the melodic role of the voice. Fiddlin' John Carson combined the two traditions by singing and playing simultaneously on a 1923 two-song "78", considered to be the first country music hit record. The most important group of this era was undoubtedly The Carter Family -- their importance to the growth of country music cannot be overstated. The ultimate preservationists of the Southern folk tradition, the Carters are considered "The First Family of Country Music"; their song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" is one of the great standards of country music as is "Wildwood Flower", which first introduced May belle Carter's influential guitar style. The Stone-man Family of Galax, Virginia were also forerunners in mountain music.

Jimmie Rodgers, "The Father of Country Music" (aka "The Singing Brakeman / America's Blue Yodeler") brought country music to a new level of acceptance and was one of the most influential singers in the annals of popular music. His unique vocal delivery and down-home lyrics catapulted him to national prominence and brought a new-found legitimacy to country music. An absolute original, his singing and writing style sounds as timely today as it did during his short recording career (1927-33). Cowboy: Cowboy music capitalized on America's fascination with the Wild West, exploiting it both on record and in Hollywood films. The hillbillies were now transformed into dashing young cowboys and cowgirls singing songs of romance and the range. Portraying an essentially romantic vision of the lonesome prairie, the movies routinely featured a free-spirited cowboy singing around the campfire after a hard day's work of "shoot-'em-ups" and chasing down runaway coaches.

This "cleaning up" of the country image as exemplified by Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and The Sons of the Pioneers helped to increase country's popularity. Western swing: A Depression-era music born in the dusty dance halls of Texas and Oklahoma, western swing married the sensibility of country to the sophisticated rhythms of jazz. Using something closer to a Big Band lineup (often including horns) than a traditional country configuration, Bob Wills soon became the undisputed king of the genre. With his band The Texas Playboys, Wills was a true innovator who took great pride in honing his band's improvisational skills. His ability to get the best out of his players on any given night had a profound effect on the direction of country music.

Other western swing bands include one of the founders of the genre, Milton Brown (and his Musical Brownies) and Spade Cooley. Today, bands like Asleep at the Wheel carry on this musical tradition. Bluegrass: An intricate, purely acoustic music which is easily identified by its two and three-part vocal harmonies, energetic drive and unbridled emotion. This "high, lonesome " sound grew out of the string-band movement of the late 1920's and takes its name from its creator, Bill Monroe, who dubbed his band the Blue Grass Boys. Former Bluegrass Boys Flatt & Scruggs' theme songs for Bonnie & Clyde and The Beverly Hillbillies introduced bluegrass to a whole new audience in the '60's. Today, bluegrass remains highly influential, as evidenced by artists like Alison Krauss.

Honky-tonk: A free-wheeling, often boisterous style of music spawned in the Southern bars (aka "honky-tonks") of post- WWII. By the late 1940's the venue for country music had shifted from social gatherings to watering holes where performers no longer had to worry about keeping up appearances or espousing "family values" in their songs. As a result, lyrics soon began to reflect the hard, cold facts of modern blue-collar life. Hank Williams and his songs of cheatin' women and ramblin' men turned honky-tonk into the prevailing voice of country in the late 1940's and early 50's.

He lived it like he sang it, however, and his excessive lifestyle would eventually lead to his untimely death at 29. Rockabilly: In the Memphis of 1953, race lines were sharply divided -- most blacks listened to rhythm and blues (aka "race music") while country was the music favored by most white people. Looking for a way to sell R&B to a white audience, producer Sam Phillips lamented that his Sun Records would make a fortune if only he could find a white boy who could sing "colored". Enter Elvis Aron Presley. By putting a backbeat under Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and combining it with Elvis Presley's breakthrough vocal style, producer Sam Phillips created the hybrid that would come to be known as rockabilly. Though its popularity barely made it through the '50's, artists as diverse as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins all began their recording careers in the genre.

All country music stiles!