Country and Western Music
Country western music media
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Early recorded history
Columbia Records began issuing records with "hillbilly" music (series 15000D "Old Familiar Tunes") as early as 1924.[6] A year earlier on June 14, 1923 Fiddlin' John Carson recorded "Little Log Cabin in the Lane" for Okeh Records.[7] Vernon Dalhart was the first country singer to have a nationwide hit in May of that same year with "The Wreck of Old '97".[8][9] Other important early recording artists were Riley Puckett, Don Richardson, Fiddlin' John Carson, Ernest Stoneman, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers and The Skillet Lickers.[10] The steel guitar entered country music as early as 1922, when Jimmie Tarlton met famed Hawaiian guitarist Frank Ferera on the West Coast.[11]
The origins of modern country music can be traced to two seminal influences and a remarkable coincidence. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family are widely considered to be the founders of country music, and their songs were first captured at a historic recording session in Bristol, Tennessee/Bristol, Virginia on August 1, 1927, where Ralph Peer was the talent scout and sound recordist.
Rodgers fused hillbilly country, gospel, jazz, blues, pop, cowboy, and folk; and many of his best songs were his compositions, including “Blue Yodel” (Victor 21142 [4]) , which sold over a million records and established Rodgers as the premier singer of early country music. [5] [12]
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. [6]
Singing Cowboys, Western Swing, and Hillbilly Boogie
During the 1930s and 1940s Cowboy songs, or “Western music”, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Some of the popular singing cowboys from the era were, Gene Autry, the Sons of the Pioneers, and Roy Rogers. [7]
Another “country” musician from the Lower Great Plains had become very popular as the leader of a “hot string band”, and who also appeared in Hollywood Westerns was Bob Wills. His mix of “country” and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, would become known as Western Swing. Spade Cooley and Tex Williams also had very popluar bands and appeared in films. At the height of its popularity, Western Swing rivaled the popularity of other big band jazz.
Country musicians began playing boogie in 1939, shortly after it had been played at Carnegie Hall, when Johnny Barfield recorded "Boogie Woogie". The trickle of what was initially called Hillbilly Boogie, or Okie Boogie (later to be renamed Country Boogie), became a flood beginning around late 1945. One notable country boogie from this period was the Delmore Brothers' "Freight Train Boogie", considered to be part of the combined evolution of country music and blues towards rockabilly. In 1948 Arthur Smith achieved Top 10 US country chart success with his MGM Records recordings of "Guitar Boogie" and "Banjo Boogie", with the former crossing over to the US pop charts. [8] The Hillbilly Boogie period lasted into the 1950s, and remains as one of many subgenres of country into the 21st century.
Honky Tonk
Perhaps no other style of country music has had a greater influence on today's artists than the style known as Honky Tonk. Honky Tonk music embodied the spirit of dancing and drinking, and of loving and then losing the one you love. Its greatest practitioners owe their singing style to Jimmie Rodgers and much of the music to the steel guitar and drums of Bob Wills and Western Swing [13].
Hank Williams
Jimmie Rodgers is a major foundation stone in the structure of country music, but the most influential artist who was influenced by Rogers is undoubtedly Hank Williams, Sr. During the years 1949 through 1953, Williams had 7 songs in Billboard's annual Top 5 Country singles, and of the 66 songs recorded under his own name, an astonishing 37 were hits.[14] His songs have been not only been covered by many country artists, they have also been recorded by jazz, pop, and rhythm and blues. Examples of those who reintrepreted his songs are: Tony Bennett (1951), Bob Dylan, jazz diva Norah Jones, crooner Perry Como, R&B star Dinah Washington, and British punk band, The The.[15] Songs such as "Cold, Cold Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" have long been pop standards.
Williams had two personas: as Hank Williams he was a singer-songwriter and entertainer; as Luke the Drifter, he was a songwriting crusader. The complexity of his character was reflected in the introspective songs he wrote about heartbreak, happiness and love such as I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry and Your Cheating Heart; and more upbeat numbers about Cajun life ("Jambalaya") or cigar store Indians ("Kaw-Liga").
Lefty Frizzell
Acquiring the nickname 'Lefty' after disposing of several opponents with his left hand during an unsuccessful attempt to become a Golden Gloves boxing champion, the Corsicana, Texas-born (1928) singer-songwriter-guitarist began life as William Orville Frizzell.
A childhood performer, at 17 he could be found playing the honky-tonks and dives of Dallas and Waco, molding his early, Jimmie Rodgers-stylings to his environment, thus creating a sound that was very much his own. In 1950, Frizzell exploded onto the charts with, "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time", claiming a chart position for some 20 weeks.[16].
In the history of Country Music, a direct line can be drawn from Jimmie Rodgers to Lefty Frizzell to Merle Haggard to George Strait. Their styles and themes are similar but each has added something new to the genre.
The 1950s and 1960s
By the late 1940's, Nashville began to slowly integrate the popular big band jazz and swing sounds of top 40 radio with the honky tonk storytelling of country pioneers. Between 1947 and 1949, country crooner Eddy Arnold placed a total of 8 songs in the top 10.[17][18]
The countrypolitan sound of Nashville
Beginning in the mid 50's, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the "Nashville Sound" turned country music into a multimillion-dollar industry centered on Nashville, Tennessee. Under the direction of producers such as Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley, and later Billy Sherrill, the "Nashville sound" brought country music to a diverse audience and helped revive country as it emerged from a commercially fallow period.[19] This sound was notable for borrowing from 1950s pop stylings: a prominent and 'smooth' vocal, backed by a string section and vocal chorus. Instrumental soloing was de-emphasised in favor of trademark 'licks'. Leading artists in this genre included Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, and later Tammy Wynette and Charlie Rich. The "slip note" piano style of session musician Floyd Cramer was an important component of this style.
Rockabilly
1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. The number 2, 3, and 4 songs on Billboard's charts for that year are: Elvis Presley Heartbreak Hotel, Johnny Cash I Walk the Line, and Carl Perkins Blue Suede Shoes.[20] Cash and Presley would place songs in the top 5 in 1958 with #3 Guess Things Happen That Way/Come In, Stranger by Cash, and #5 by Presley Don't/I Beg Of You.[21]
What is now most commonly referred to as rockabilly was most popular with country music fans in the 1950s, and was recorded and performed by country musicians. Within a few years many rockabilly musicians returned to a more mainstrean style, or had defined their own unique style.
By the end of the decade, backlash as well as traditional artists such as Ray Price, Marty Robbins, and Johnny Horton began to shift the industry away from the Rock n' Roll influences of the mid-50's.
Bakersfield Sound
Located 112 miles (180 km) north north west of Los Angeles, Bakersfield, California gave rise to the one of the next genres of country music. The Bakersfield Sound grew out of hardcore honky tonk, adding elements of Western swing. One time West Coast residents Bob Wills and Lefty Frizzell influenced the leading proponents of this sound. The Bakersfield Sound relied on electric instruments and amplification more than other subgenres of country, giving the music hard, driving, edgy flavor. [9]
By 1966 the sharp, Telecaster driven, no-frills, music with an unadorned drive was known as the Bakersfield Sound . The leading practitioners of this style were Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Tommy Collins, and Wynn Stewart, each of whom had his own style. [10]
Changing instrumentation in the mid 20th century
Drums
Drums were scorned by early country musicians as being "too loud" and "not pure", but by 1935 Western Swing big band leader Bob Wills had added drums to the Texas Playboys. In the mid 1940s, [[The Grand Ole Opry] did not want the Playboys’ drummer to appear on stage. Although drums were commonly used by rockabilly groups by 1955, the less-conservative-than-the-Grand Ole Opry Louisiana Hayride kept their infrequently used drummer back stage as late as 1956. By the early 1960s, however, it was rare that a country band didn't have a drummer. [11]
Electric guitar
Bob Wills was one of the first “country” musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band. The year was 1938. [12]. A decade later (1948) Arthur Smith achieved Top 10 US country chart success with his MGM Records recording of "Guitar Boogie", which crossed over to the US pop chart, introducing many people to the potential of the electric guitar. For several decades Nashville session players preferred the warm tones of the Gibson and Gretsch archtop electrics, but a “hot” Fender style, utilizing guitars which became available beginning in the early 1950s, eventually prevailed as the signature guitar sound of country. [13][14]
Not Nashville
In 1962 Ray Charles surprised the pop world by turning his attention to country & western music, topping the charts and rating # 3 for the year on BillBoard’s pop chart[22] with the I Can't Stop Loving You single, and recording the hugely popular album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.
Outlaw Country
Derived from the traditional and Honky tonk sounds of the late 50's and 60's, including Ray Price (whose band, the "Cherokee Cowboys", included Willie Nelson and Roger Miller) and mixed with the anger of an alienated subculture of of the nation during the period, Outlaw Country revolutionized the genre of Country music.
"After I left Nashville (the early 70s), I wanted to relax and play the music that I wanted to play, and just stay around Texas, maybe Oklahoma. Waylon and I had that outlaw image going, and when it caught on at colleges and we started selling records, we were O.K. The whole outlaw thing, it had nothing to do with the music, it was something that got written in an article, and the young people said, 'Well, that's pretty cool.' And started listening." (Willie Nelson)[23]
The term "Outlaw Country" is traditionally associated with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Billy Joe Shaver, and was encapsulated in the 1976 record Wanted: The Outlaws!.
Country Rock
The late 1960's in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres. In the aftermath of the British Invasion, many desired a return to the "old values" of Rock n' Roll. At the same time there was a lack of enthusiasm in the Country sector for Nashville produced music. What resulted was a crossbred genre known as Country Rock.
Early innovators in this new style of music included Rock n' Roll icon band The Byrds (while Gram Parsons was the front man) and its spin-off The Flying Burrito Brothers, Commander Cody, and The Eagles.
Subsequent to the initial blending of the two polar opposite genres, other offspring soon resulted, including Southern Rock and Heartland Rock.
In the decades that followed, artists such as Alabama and Linda Ronstadt moved Country further towards rock influence.
Country-Pop
Country Pop or soft pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to top 40 radio, country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to adult contemporary.
Country pop found its first widespread acceptance during the 1970s. It started with Pop music singers, like Glen Campbell, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, and Anne Murray having hits on the Country charts. Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" was among one of the biggest crossover hits in Country music history. These Pop-oriented singers thought that they could gain higher record sales and a larger audience if they crossed over into the Country world.
In 1974 Olivia Newton-John, an Australian pop singer, won the "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" as well as the Country Music Association's most coveted award for females, "Female Vocalist of the Year". In the same year, a group of artists, troubled by this trend, formed the short - lived Association of Country Entertainers. The debate raged into 1975, and reached its apex at that year's Country Music Association Awards when reigning Entertainer of the Year, Charlie Rich (who himself had a series of crossover hits), presented the award to his successor, John Denver. As he read Denver's name, Rich set fire to the envelope with a cigarette lighter. The action was taken as a protest against the increasing pop style in country music.
The Urban Cowboy Effect
The most infamous era in country music was in the early '80s. Influenced by both Country Rock and Country Pop, the Urban Cowboy movement led country music further away from its traditional roots. Country's move toward pop culture was popularized by John Travolta's Urban Cowboy and spurred on by Dolly Parton's movie 9 to 5. Some older artists from the 1960s and 1970s converted their sound to country pop or countrypolitan, such as Faron Young, Dolly Parton, Dottie West, and Ray Price.
By the mid-80s, however, fans of more traditional country music were growing restless. What resulted was a return to the roots of Country Music, and a sigh of relief from traditional listeners.
Neotraditional Country
After the dismal failure of the Urban Cowboy era, a generation of "new traditionalists" -- George Strait, Ricky Skaggs, the Judds, Randy Travis, and Ricky Van Shelton -- brought country out of its post-Urban Cowboy doldrums by reminding young audiences what made the music great in the first place.
Ricky Skaggs
In the mid-1980s Ricky Skaggs, a picking prodigy who took his inspiration from Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley (Skaggs was a Clinch Mountain Boy as a teen), began making music that he believed brought country back to its roots. With Skaggs's release of "Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine" in 1981, he reached the top of the country charts, a place he frequently stayed during most of the 80's, and made a statement that "true country music" was back.
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