Country on Music Theory Print

Alternative country

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitions and characteristics#

In the 1990s, the term alternative country, paralleling alternative rock, began to be used to describe a diverse group of musicians and singers operating outside the traditions and industry of mainstream country music. Lyrics may be bleak or socially aware, but also more heartfelt and less likely to use the clichés sometimes used by mainstream country musicians. In other respects, the musical styles of artists that fall within this genre often have little in common, ranging from traditional American folk music and bluegrass, through rockabilly and honky-tonk, to music that is indistinguishable from mainstream rock or country. This already broad labeling has been further confused by alternative country artists disavowing the movement, mainstream artists declaring they are part of it, and retroactive claims that past or veteran musicians are alternative country. No Depression, the best-known magazine dedicated to the genre, declared that it covered “alternative-country music (whatever that is)”.

American fiddle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Fiddle playing distinguished from violin playing#

Some folk fiddlers distinguish “fiddle” from “violin”, though this is far from universal - many classical violinists refer to their “fiddle”. Nevertheless, a few common differences may be observed;

Instrument#

Generally, the setup of the instruments is different: * Fiddle bridge top may be slightly flatter * String action height may be lower * Strings more often steel than synthetic or gut * Fiddle more commonly set up with pickup * Fiddle more commonly set up with four fine tuners; violinists more likely to use a single tailpiece E tuner

Americana music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition#

The term “Americana music” was defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA) in 2020 as “…the rich threads of country, folk, blues, soul, bluegrass, gospel, and rock in our tapestry.” A previous 2016 AMA definition of the genre included rhythm and blues, with additional comments that Americana music results “in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses a full electric band.”

Banjo music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Banjo music originated informally as a form of African folk music over a hundred years ago probably in the sub-Saharan region. When the Americans forced African slaves to work on the plantations, banjo music followed them, and stayed primarily a form of African folk music, up to the 1800s. It was during this time that the banjo in all probability was first introduced to Ireland, when the Virginia Minstrels toured in England, Ireland and France in 1843, 1844 and 1845. With his minstrel shows, Joel Walker Sweeney is credited with extending the popularity of the banjo as well as its music to an enormous audience all over the United States and Europe. With the spread of popularity of the banjo, it influenced different kinds of music - it gave rise to mountain string bands, and even helped give a foundation for blues music. The occurrences of hootenannies gave a house to banjo music, where it made its place in American folk music and bluegrass. American television shows such as Hee Haw have made banjo music all the more popular, and more a part of American culture.

Blue yodeling

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yodeling in the United States#

Yodeling seems to be an Alpine tradition in Europe. However, it became popular in large cities such as Vienna from around 1830 as an entertainment interlude in the Viennese suburban theaters and Singspielhalles and was only subsequently brought to the countryside by guest artists. Various immigrant groups also brought it to the United States as a seemingly traditional means of identification. The first encounter with Anglo-American musical styles is said to have taken place in the early 19th century, when British and Irish settlers met German-speaking immigrants in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. In Emma Bell Miles’ (1879–1919) 1905 collection of essays The Spirit of the Mountains, in which she describes life in the Southern Appalachians, yodeling is mentioned in several places, such as in the description of the difference between men and women:: “His first songs are yodels. Then he learns dance tunes, and songs of hunting and fighting and drinking, … Triggered by successful guest performances by Austrian and Swiss artists who called themselves “Tyrolese Minstrels” or “Alpine Minstrels”, for example, a steady rise in popularity can be traced from the 1830s onwards. Yodeling performances were often advertised as a special curiosity. Tom Christian, known as the “Yodeling Minstrel”, first appeared in public around 1847; the first recordings of a yodeler were made by L.W. Lipp in 1892. In 1905, the Swiss tenor Arnold Inauen made the first commercial recordings for Columbia Records, albeit still in the Alpine style. At the same time, a yodeling style developed in the environment of roving Minstrel and Vaudeville shows, which was particularly supported by African Americans and was strongly influenced by elements of the Blues, especially the so-called Delta Blues and the Jazz predecessor Ragtime. Outstanding representatives were Monroe Tabor (“The Yodeling Bell Boy”), Beulah Henderson (“America’s Only Colored Lady Yodeler”) or Charles Anderson (“The Yodeler Blues Singer”). In fundamental research, historians Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff have proven the influence of African-American artists and traditions in this area. This influence is said to lie, among other things, in typical inarticulate calls with simultaneous breaking of the voice, the field hollers, from which the so-called “black falsetto” has developed. The term falsetto refers to the falsetto voice. The Texan country traditionalist and passionate yodeller Don Walser later released his “Dixie Blues” paid homage to this legacy. The “blue yodel syntax”, Milton Brown, one of the pioneers of Western swing, formed his first band with two friends in 1927: The Three Yodeliers. The repertoire consisted mainly of barbershop and contemporary pop songs, but also some yodeling songs, including Emmett Miller’s “I Ain’t Got Nobody”. The further Brown’s personal style shifted towards jazz, the less he devoted himself to yodeling. Fleming and Townsend helped pioneer the blue yodel duet through harmonizing with each other’s yodels. With regard to the 1920s and early 1930s, the music journalist Nick Tosches distinguishes between various yodeling styles, including the “archaic 19th-century yodel”, the minstrel yodel and the minstrel yodel. Century", the minstrel show yodel, which he calls “fake blue yodel” and characterizes as a “Swiss yodel with black content”, and the pop-country yodel, as used by Jimmy Long in “Yodel Your Troubles Away” (1929). The “revival experience” of Wilf Carter can be considered exemplary for the development of yodeling. Around 1915, when he was about ten years old, he saw a Swiss yodeller at a cattle drive who appeared as an additional attraction at a performance of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and called himself “The Yodeling Fool”. Here, the character of the yodelling performance as a novelty and curiosity was still clearly recognizable, which did not really fit in with the theme of the actual performance. At the same time, however, it hinted at the incipient transformation it would undergo in the traveling shows.

Bluegrass fiddle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The beginnings of bluegrass music#

In the 1940s Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys revolutionized American string band music by incorporating virtuosic instrumental solos and a “high lonesome" vocal style. Bluegrass fiddling was first exposed to national view during the folk revival of the 1960s with the first televised documentary Bluegrass Roots: On The Road With Bluegrass Musicians shot in the Mountain of North Carolina by Bascom Lunsford while auditioning musicians for the Asheville Mountain Music Festival. It was the festival to feature this type of music. In recent years events have brought renewed interest in bluegrass fiddling: major mainstream performers have recorded bluegrass albums, and the Coen Brothers’ released the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? in (2000), with an old-time and bluegrass soundtrack, and the Down from the Mountain music tour.

Bluegrass music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The violin (also known as the fiddle), five-string banjo, guitar, mandolin, and upright bass (string bass) are often joined by the resonator guitar (also referred to as a Dobro) and (occasionally) harmonica or Jew’s harp. This instrumentation originated in rural dance bands and is the basis on which the earliest bluegrass bands were formed. The fiddle, made by Italians and first used in sixteenth century Europe, was one of the first instruments to be brought into America. It became popular due to its small size and versatility. They began receiving attention from white Americans when minstrel shows incorporated the banjo as part of their acts. The “clawhammer”, or two finger style playing, was popular before the Civil War. Now, however, banjo players use mainly the three-finger picking style made popular by banjoists such as Earl Scruggs. Meanwhile, a polyphonic pair of instruments playing in conversation, double banjos or twin banjos, is a bluegrass tradition upheld by artists like Tony Trischka. Guitars are used primarily for rhythmic purposes. Other instruments may provide a solo on top of the guitar during breaks, guitarists may also provide these solos on occasion. The instrument originates from eighteenth century Spain, but there were no American-made models until the C.F. Martin Company started to manufacture them in the 1830s. The guitar is now most commonly played with a style referred to as flatpicking, unlike the style of early bluegrass guitarists such as Lester Flatt, who used a thumb pick and finger pick. Bassists almost always play pizzicato, occasionally adopting the “slap-style” to accentuate the beat. A bluegrass bass line is generally a rhythmic alternation between the root and fifth of each chord, with occasional walking bass excursions. Instrumentation has been a continuing topic of debate. Traditional bluegrass performers believe the “correct” instrumentation is that used by Bill Monroe’s band, the Blue Grass Boys (guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and bass). Departures from the traditional instrumentation have included dobro, accordion, harmonica, piano, autoharp, drums, electric guitar, and electric versions of other common bluegrass instruments, resulting in what has been referred to as “new grass.” Despite this debate, even Monroe himself was known to experiment with instrumentation; he once even used a string orchestra, choir, and pre-recorded bird-song track.

Cajun fiddle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Cajun music#

Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin. These French Louisiana sounds have influenced American popular music for many decades, especially country music, and have influenced pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials. It is an aural tradition dating past the Acadian conquest of southwest Louisiana after their displacement from Nova Scotia, whence they brought a rich musical tradition. Blues fiddle has been directly influential in the development of Cajun fiddling, as with all music in the New Orleans music scene, and even proto-bluegrass influences from early American balladry.

Christian country music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristic#

Christian country musicians are artists who blend traditional country music with faith of Christian music. Like other forms of music, the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of Christian country music varies according to culture and social context. It is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes with a positive message, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. A common theme as with most Christian music is praise, worship or thanks to God and/or Christ.

Country and Irish

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Country and Irish music emerged from Ireland’s showband scene, where local bands would play American pop standards tailored to Irish sensibilities. The showband scene was especially strong in Northern Ireland and border counties on account of restrictions on live music performances during Lent in the Republic of Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s. Johnny McCauley, who performed extensively for Irish expat audiences in London in the 1950s, is regarded as the first songwriter to compose songs in an American country music style with lyrics that specifically referenced Irish subject matter. His songs were covered by artists such as Big Tom and Larry Cunningham at a time when the showband business model was in decline, allowing these artists to pivot to selling recorded music.

Country music in Atlanta

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins and influences#

Much of the audience and many of the artists in Atlanta’s country scene lived in the area’s three main mill towns: Cabbagetown (Atlanta), a neighborhood in Atlanta itself, Chattahoochee, today within the city’s northwestern limits and known as Whittier Mill Village, and Scottdale, just northeast of Decatur.

Radio and television#

The signal of WSB radio reached far into rural areas and was an important factor in creating country music “stars”, similar to the role of WSM in Nashville. WSBs best known country music program was the WSB Barn Dance. From August 1926 until October 1928, the Sears Agricultural Foundation hosted a radio show, broadcast from the Atlanta Sears tower (now Ponce City Market) called “Dinner Bell R.F.D.”. R.F.D. stood for the club “Radio Farmers’ Democracy”. The show aired on WSB radio between noon and 1 pm three times a week, featuring old-time musicians and string bands Other than the WSB Barn Dance and a few other exceptions, most of Atlanta’s country radio programs stopped broadcasting by the early 1950s; stations broadcast recorded music. Some local country music TV programs were broadcast during the 1950s on WAGA, WLTV, and WSB-TV. Many of the local musicians turned to bluegrass music, started other careers, or pursued their careers in Nashville.

Country music in Nigeria

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Country music originated in the southern United States in the 1920s where it evolved as a fusion of Appalachian music and Blues largely through the efforts of commercial record producers who sought to popularize traditional folk melodies from the rural United States. Country is musically similar to Western, although the latter tends to be more evocative of themes and imagery associated with the western United States, particularly that of the Old West era. Country was introduced to Nigeria in the middle 20th century by a combination of visiting American Christian missionaries from the southern United States, by returning Nigerian expatriates, and by a Don Williams-owned radio station that operated in the nation. As of the mid 1990s, country music remained highly popular among Nigerian radio listeners. By the early 2010s, interest in country music had lessened in major metropolitan areas, but continued to enjoy popularity in Middle Belt states, notably including Plateau, whose state capital Jos has been described as Nigeria’s “home of country music”. American country singer Jim Reeves, who died in 1964, has had a special staying power as a cultural icon in Nigeria and, as of the early 2010s, his recordings continued to be popular as a form of comfort music listened to in familial settings. Nigerian music audiences have tended not to recognize country music as a unique genre but have grouped it into a constructed genre of “sentimental music” which has been described by Public Radio International as a “catch-all category that essentially referred to everything Western that wasn’t dance music”.

Country pop

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Beginnings: Nashville sound/50s-60s#

The joining of country and pop began in the 1950s when studio executives Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley wanted to create a new kind of music for the young adult crowd after “rockabilly stole away much of country music’s youth audience”. According to Bill Ivey, this innovative genre originated in Nashville, Tennessee and thus became known as the Nashville Sound. He believes that the “Nashville Sound often produced records that sounded more pop than country” after the removal of the fiddle and banjo. Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Jim Reeves, and Eddy Arnold were among the most popular artists during this time. Both Reeves and Arnold had major influence on their RCA labelmate Elvis Presley, apparent not only in secular songs but even more so in country gospel songs. Cline became famous in the early 1960s, gaining widespread acceptance from country and pop audiences alike. Other crossover hits during the 1960s included Skeeter Davis’s “The End of the World”, Sonny James’ “Young Love”, Billy Joe Royal’s “Down in the Boondocks”, Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley PTA”, and Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey”. However, the Nashville Sound was not well received by country purists and faced competition on that front, first from the Bakersfield Sound and later the outlaw movement; on the pop side, the format was overshadowed by the British Invasion, which was taking place during the same time that Cline and Reeves died by airplane accident.

Country rap

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Prototypes#

Early influences on the emergence of country rap as a distinct genre include talking blues like “Big Bad John” (1961) by Jimmy Dean, “A Boy Named Sue” (1969) by Johnny Cash, the 1971 cover of “Hot Rod Lincoln” by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, “Convoy” (1975) by C.W. McCall and “Uneasy Rider” (1975) and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979), both by Charlie Daniels. Black artists’ works that may have been influential in the genre’s development include Jamaican ska artist Prince Buster’s “Texas Hold-Up” (1964), “Lil Ole Country Boy” (1970) by Parliament, and “Black Grass” (1972) by Bad Bascomb. Music journalist Chuck Eddy traces the genre’s roots back to Woody Guthrie. Blowfly’s single “Blowfly’s Rapp” (1980) drew on the influence of earlier country musicians like Charlie Daniels and C. W. McCall; NPR said the song is a “Deliverance-style encounter with Ku Klux Klan-accredited truck drivers to light funkbacking”. Spin Magazine said Trickeration’s “Western Gangster Town” (1980) (released four years before Schoolly D’s “Gangster Boogie”) is “cowboy rap’s Rosetta stone, and probably the first ‘gangster’ rap”. UGK became pioneers of the hardcore Southern rap style that emerged after the success of the Geto Boys, which they started to call “country rap”. At the end of “Let Me See It”, Pimp C raps: “This ain’t no muthafuckin’ hip-hop records, these country rap tunes”, originally a response to Northern hip-hop artists who had criticized Southern rap for not being “real hip-hop”. The name of the song “Hay” (1996) by Crucial Conflict is a reference to marijuana.

Country rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition and etymology#

There has also been cross-pollination throughout the history of both genres; however, the term “country-rock” is sometimes used to refer to the wave of rock musicians of the mid 1960s and early 1970s who began recording rock songs with country themes, vocal styles, and additional instrumentation, most characteristically pedal steel guitars. The term country rock had rarely been heard until the critic Richard Goldstein used it the June6, 1968 issue of The Village Voice. In his piece, titled “Country Rock: Can Y’All Dig It?”, Goldstein counted several artists as moving towards country-friendly material – including Moby Grape, Stone Poneys, Buffy Sainte-Marie, the International Submarine Band and Bob Dylan – but he expected the Byrds’ forthcoming album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, to represent the new genre. Before the Byrds’ album was released in August1968, Goldstein considered the Band’s debut album, Music From Big Pink, as the “first major album” of the country-rock movement when he reviewed it for The New York Times on August4. Key to the genre, Goldstein wrote, was that the album had country music’s “twang and… tenacity”, but it also " made you want to move" like rock music.

Cowboy pop

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Pop ballads in western films#

Following Considine’s coining of the term “cowboy pop” in the 1980s, the term was used retrospectively to describe a broad range of music recorded throughout the 20th century. In the early 2000s, music journalists such as Barry Mazor, John T. Davis, and Richard Carlin began to describe pop ballads used in western films as cowboy pop. Barry Mazor called Jimmy Wakely a “cowboy pop singer” and argued that “when singing cowboy movies ruled, Hollywood hardly made a distinction between the sounds of cowboy pop balladeers and another sound entirely, born in Texas, in which Jimmie Rodgers had a formative role.” As an actor and cowboy pop balladeer, Wakely sang in many of the western films in which he appeared, such as Riders of the Dawn and Silver Trails. Similarly, John T. Davis called Marty Robbins a “cowboy pop balladeer,” who would later act and provide music for western films such as Gun of a Stranger. Marty Robbins’ 1959 song “El Paso” was featured on Cowboy Pop, a 2011 compilation released by Ling Music Group. Similar to Jimmy Wakely and Marty Robbins, Wilf Carter’s 1949 recording “Bluebird on Your Windowsill” was described by Richard Carlin as “the kind of cowboy pop that is treasured as a kitsch classic.” Wilf Carter’s songs were also used to score cowboy films, such as John Ford’s 1939 Stagecoach. Though these popular cowboy singers preceded the coining of the term cowboy pop by music journalist J. D. Considine, they have been identified in retrospect for their singing of pop ballads in the context of western films.

Cowpunk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

The term “cowpunk” is first attested in 1979, as a blend of “cowboy” and “punk”. The term “country punk” has been proposed as an equivalent term. Both terms are sometimes hyphenated, especially in late 1970s or early 1980s sources (e.g., cow-punk or country-punk). In 1984, Robert Palmer wrote in the New York Times on the emerging aesthetic acknowledged “cowpunk” as one of several catch-all terms critics were using to categorize the country-influenced music of otherwise unrelated punk and new wave bands. The article briefly summarized the music’s history, at least in the United States, saying that in the early 1980s, several punk and new wave bands had begun collecting classic country records, and soon thereafter began performing high-tempo cover versions of their favorite songs, and that new bands had also formed around the idea. By 1984, there were dozens of bands in both the U.S. and England “personalizing country music and making it palatable for the MTV Generation.” A New York Times writer stated that one issue with the “cowpunk” term was that “…no single term really describes the music of all these bands.” A 2018 article looking back at the 1980s trends states that the “…diversity of styles beyond punk proper” in cowpunk, “…for some, made the category…suspect, or at least misleading.”

Czech bluegrass

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Czech interest in things American dates to the nineteenth century, and is suffused with luminous conceptions of the Old West, cowboys, American Indians and other iconic images. Czech tramping emerged as its main vector after 1918 in the newly formed Czechoslovak Republic. Tramping in this sense is a Czech-specific blend of ideas taken from Scouting, the German wandervogels, and Americanist romanticism. The music that accompanied the movement (Czech tramping music) was a blend of Czech folklore, early jazz and other “syncopated music”, such as barbershop, harmony singing, and popular songs from the U.S., France, and elsewhere. Czech tramping enthusiasts quickly incorporated the sounds and “style” of Bluegrass when they first heard this music in the late 1940s.

Gothabilly

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Gothabilly is distinctly different in sound from psychobilly. While psychobilly fuses 1950s rockabilly with 1970s punk rock in a faster, more aggressive sound, gothabilly fuses bluesy rockabilly with gothic piano and guitar, and is defined by having slower tempos and emphasizing mood over aggression.

History#

The Cramps have been credited with coining the term “gothabilly”. Gothabilly is particularly active in the western portion of the United States, with many of today’s bands originating in California.

Gothic country

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Gothic country is rooted in early jazz, gospel, country, Americana, gothic rock, and post-punk. The genre’s lyrics focus on macabre and grim subject matters. J.D. Wilkes, frontman of the band Legendary Shack Shakers, described gothic country as " taking an angle that there’s something grotesque and beautiful in the traditions of the South, the backdrop of Southern living." Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, formed in 1992, often deals with lyrical themes derived from apocalyptic religious imagery, applying a gothic lyrical approach to country and gospel songs, although the band has denied that their songs are gothic. The following year, the gothic country group the Handsome Family formed; Andy Fyfe of Mojo called them “Americana’s ghostly Sonny & Cher.” A.V. Club reviewer Christopher Bahn compared their music to “a collaboration between Hank Williams and Edgar Allan Poe.” Johnny Cash’s American Recordings series, produced by Rick Rubin, a producer best known for working with hip hop and heavy metal artists, was described as having a gothic country sound and image; amidst covers of songs by non-country artists such as Depeche Mode, Danzig and Nine Inch Nails, as well as traditional and World War II-era songs, Cash’s album series lyrically derived from haunting, despaired themes such as death, and recurring religious themes in the form of dark gospel recordings. Pioneered by David Eugene Edwards through his band 16 Horsepower (and later, Wovenhand), a regional gothic country scene developed in Denver.

Hokum

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Terminology#

“Hokum”, originally a vaudeville term used for a simple performance bordering on vulgarity, “old and sure-fire comedy”, but hinting at a smart wordplay, was first used to describe the genre of black music in a billing of a race record for Tampa Red’s Hokum Jug Band (Tampa Red and Georgia Tom, 1929). After producing a big hit, “It’s Tight Like That”, with Vocalion Records (and its sequel) in 1928, the musicians went on to Paramount Records where they were called The Hokum Boys. Other recording studios joined the fray using similarly named ensembles. The application of “hokum” to describe the musical approach of these bands was fostered by Papa Charlie Jackson with his “Shake That Thing” (1925). The meaning of the stage slang word “hokum” was a subject of an extensive debate in the 1920s (“most discussed word in the entire vernacular”, right next to the “jazz”). The term “hokum blues” did not become a formal designation of a style until 1960s. “Hokum” is also used to describe the low comedy acts that were used at the turn of the 20th century to lure audiences to musical performances. In the words of W. C. Handy, a veteran of a minstrel troupe, “Our hokum hooked ’em” outside the opera house, so that “ticket sellers would go to work”. King applies the term to the early short slapstick films.

Honky-tonk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The origin of the term honky-tonk is unknown. The earliest known use in print is an article in the Peoria Journal dated June 28, 1874, stating, “The police spent a busy day today raiding the bagnios and honkytonks.” There are subsequent citations from 1890 in The Dallas Morning News, 1892 in the Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas) (which used the term to refer to an adult establishment in Fort Worth), and in 1894 in The Daily Ardmoreite in Oklahoma. Early uses of the term in print mostly appear along a corridor roughly coinciding with cattle drive trails extending from Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, into south central Oklahoma, suggesting that the term may have been a localism spread by cowboys driving cattle to market. The sound of honky-tonk (or honk-a-tonk) and the types of places that were called honky-tonks suggests that the term may be an onomatopoeic reference to the loud, boisterous music and noise heard at these establishments. One theory is that the “tonk” portion of the name may have come from the brand name of piano made by William Tonk & Bros., an American manufacturer of large upright pianos (established 1881), which made a piano with the decal “Ernest A. Tonk”. The Tonk brothers, William and Max, established the Tonk Bros. Manufacturing Company in 1873, so such an etymology is possible; however, these pianos were not manufactured until 1889, at which point the term seems to have already been established. An early source purporting to explain the derivation of the term (spelled honkatonk) was an article published in 1900 by the New York Sun and widely reprinted in other newspapers.

Nashville sound

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

According to Dave Lifton of Ultimate Classic Rock, the Nashville sound “had more in common with mainstream 50s vocal pop than Western swing or rockabilly.” Upon being asked what the Nashville sound was, Chet Atkins put his hand into his pocket, shook his loose change, and said “That’s what it is. It’s the sound of money.”

Origins#

The Nashville sound was pioneered by staff at RCA Victor, Columbia Records and Decca Records in Nashville, Tennessee. RCA Victor manager, producer and musician Chet Atkins, and producers Steve Sholes, Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, and recording engineer Bill Porter invented the form by replacing elements of the popular honky tonk style (fiddles, steel guitar, nasal lead vocals) with “smooth” elements from 1950s pop music (string sections, background vocals, crooning lead vocals), and using “slick” production, and pop music structures. The producers relied on a small group of studio musicians known as the Nashville A-Team, whose quick adaptability and creative input made them vital to the hit-making process. The Anita Kerr Quartet was the main vocal backing group in the early 1960s. The term “Nashville sound” was first mentioned in an article about Jim Reeves in 1958 in the Music Reporter and again in 1960 in a Time article about Reeves. Other observers have identified several recordings that helped establish the early Nashville sound. The country historian Rich Kienzle identified that “Gone”, a Ferlin Husky hit recorded in November 1956, as a possible precursor. The writer Colin Escott argued that Reeves’ “Four Walls”, recorded February 1957, as the “first ‘Nashville sound’ record”, and Chet Atkins, the RCA Victor producer and guitarist most often credited with being the sound’s primary artistic creator, pointed to his production of Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me” later the same year. In an essay published in Heartaches by the Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles, David Cantwell argues that Elvis Presley’s rock and roll recording of “Don’t Be Cruel” in July 1956 was the record that sparked the beginning of the era now called the Nashville sound. In 1960, Time reported that Nashville had “nosed out Hollywood as the nation’s second biggest (after New York) record-producing center.”

Neotraditional country

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History#

Neotraditional country rose to popularity in the mid-1980s, a few years after the so-called “outlaw movement”, a previous “back-to-its-roots” movement, had faded in popularity. Neotraditionalism was born as a reaction to the perceived blandness of the mainstream country music at the time, which had been influenced by the rise of the “urban cowboy” fad. New (or “neo-”) traditionalism looked to the elders of country music like Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Kitty Wells and George Jones for inspiration, and was a precursor to the more general categorization known as new country. The creation of neotraditionalism was also done in contrast to the more pop-oriented acts of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Ronnie Milsap and Anne Murray, along with the flood of former pop acts (see B.J. Thomas, Billy Joe Royal, The Osmond Brothers, Bill Medley, Dan Seals and Exile) switching to “country” to revive their careers. In 1981, George Strait had made his musical debut with the album Strait Country. The album was based on an approach towards traditional country music and its subgenres of honky tonk, Western swing, and the Bakersfield sound. The album was considered a sharp contrast to the then current trends of country music, at the time relying on the “urban cowboy” country-pop scene. AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine observed: It is with Strait Country that George Strait is credited with starting the neotraditional movement. The promotion of traditional country sounds was in part a retrenchment to appeal to the base of country music fans who remained loyal to the genre. 1986 in particular was a seminal year, as Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakam released their critically-acclaimed debut albums, marking a sea-change from urban cowboy to neotraditional country. Artists such as Holly Dunn, Clint Black, Ricky Van Shelton, Lyle Lovett, and Highway 101 soon followed as neotraditionalists stormed the country charts in the late 1980s. Neotraditionalism, to a certain extent, fell out of favor in approximately 1991, when Billboard removed record sales from its country chart and a new brand of popular country music exploded into mainstream popularity, led in large part by Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, and Reba McEntire (who merged neotraditionalist styles, with stadium rock-influences). Despite this shift, of the acts that were still popular in the 1980s, more of the neotraditional artists survived the shift into the 1990s than did those who did pop country in the 1980s tradition; Travis, Keith, Strait, McEntire, Loveless and newcomer Alan Jackson stayed true to the neotraditional sound and continued to have mainstream success alongside their newer, more pop-oriented rivals. In 2000, Strait and Jackson, both of whom remain popular as of the early 2020s, recorded a song titled “Murder on Music Row” which spoke directly to the rift between neotraditionalists and pop-country musicians. The lyrics include scathing criticisms of the Nashville establishment such as “Someone killed tradition, and for that, someone should hang.” Strait revisited the topic in his 2016 song “Kicked Outta Country”, which noted that history was repeating itself at the time as artists like Strait were being marginalized just like artists such as Merle Haggard and George Jones had been in 1991. Jackson made similar remarks in his own song “Where Have You Gone”, released at the same time as Strait’s, remarking in an interview that he hoped that younger country musicians would embrace the traditional sound because as it stood, “country music is gone and it’s not coming back.”

New Mexico music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

The musical history of New Mexico goes back to pre-colonial times, but the sounds that define New Mexico music begin particularly with the ancestral Puebloans. Their music survived in the traditional songs of the Pueblo people with wind instruments such as the Anasazi flute, as well as the chants and drum beats of the Navajo and Apache. In Santa Fe de Nuevo México, the Hispanos of New Mexico brought Christian liturgical music, the violin, and the Spanish guitar, and Mexico brought with it the traditions of mariachi and ranchera. After New Mexico became a territory, the people of the American frontier brought the traditions of country and Cajun music. This was when the first forms of New Mexico music began to be played. Western was an adaption of country and Cajun, accompanied by traditionally Mexican and Native American instruments. New Mexico music is distinguished by its bouncy and steady rhythm, while accompanied by instruments common in Pueblo music, Western, Norteño, Apache music, country, mariachi, and Navajo music. Country and western music lend their drum and/or guitar style sections, while the steadiness of the rhythm owes its origins to the music of the Apache, Navajo, and Pueblo. And the differing rates of that tempo comes from the three common ranchera rhythm speeds, the polka at 2/4 (ranchera polkeada), the waltz at 3/4 (ranchera valseada), and/or the bolero at 4/4 (bolero ranchero). After statehood, the music was sung at parties and in homes as traditional folk music, and New Mexico music grew in popularity with native New Mexicans, mostly with the Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, Neomexicanos, and the descendants of the American frontier. Musicians in the genre received prominent airtime on KANW, and international recognition on the syndicated Val De La O Show.

Old time fiddle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition and distinction of old time fiddle#

Newer traditions have grown out of old time fiddle music but it retains a separate and distinct identity from those styles. These include bluegrass and Western swing and to some degree country rock. However, the positive statement of what, exactly, constitutes the true and authentic delineation of old time fiddle music is not necessarily unambiguous. Different sources draw a sharper distinction than others, and there is a good deal of overlap which purists will acknowledge to a varying degree. The areas of overlap are primarily in terms of the repertoire of fiddle tunes with the genres of bluegrass and Western swing (Texas swing) playing tunes of the same name, but playing them with a different group dynamic, different stylisms, and very often–for fiddles and banjo–in tunings unique to old-time music.

Old-time music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Reflecting the cultures that settled North America, the roots of old-time music are in the traditional musics of the British Isles, Europe, and Africa. African influences are notably found in vocal and instrumental performance styles and dance, as well as the often cited use of the banjo; in some regions, Native American, Spanish, French and German sources are also prominent. While many dance tunes and ballads can be traced to European sources, many others are of North American origin.

Outlaw country

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Some country fans consider outlaw country a slightly harder-edged variant of progressive country. The outlaw sound has its roots in blues music, honky tonk music of the 1940s and 1950s, rockabilly of the 1950s, and the evolving genre of rock and roll. Early outlaws were particularly influenced by predecessors such as Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly. A greater transition occurred after Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson secured their own recording rights, and began the trend of bucking the “Nashville sound”. According to Michael Streissguth, author of Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville, Jennings and Nelson became outlaws when they “won the right” to record with the producers and studio musicians they preferred. At the same time, country music was declining into a formulaic genre that appeared to offer the establishment what it wanted with artists such as Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton making the kind of music that was anathema to the growing counterculture. While Nashville continued to be the focus of mainstream country music, cities like Lubbock and Austin became the creative centers of outlaw country. Southern rock also had a strong influence on the outlaw country movement, and that sound and style of recording was centered in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In the Western United States, the Bakersfield sound was providing a counterpoint to the traditional Nashville sound, and the counterculture was also giving rise to the fusion genre of country rock, with groups such as the Flying Burrito Brothers and The First National Band (whose lead singer Michael Nesmith had similar creative rebellion against the West Coast music establishment dating to his time with The Monkees).

Progressive country

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitions and characteristics#

Progressive country is variously considered a movement, a genre or a radio format. This movement was variously marketed under the names “Cosmic Cowboy music”, “twang core”, KOKE-FM, a radio station in Austin, Texas, was a key proponent of progressive country. In the 1980s and ’90s, progressive country evolved into alternative country, Progressive country drew equally from the Bakersfield sound, classic honky-tonk country, the works of contemporary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, and rock and roll, Another important influence on progressive country was Roger Miller, who, in blending country with jazz, blues, and pop, “utilized unusual harmonic and rhythmic devices in his sophisticated songcraft”. Tommy Caldwell of the Marshall Tucker Band suggested that progressive country combined country music structures and riffs with jazz improvisation upon which more complex structures could be built from the country music foundation. The Marshall Tucker Band’s use of instruments like flutes and saxophones, as well as their fusion of rock instrumentation and country melodies, set them apart from other Southern rock bands. Marty Stuart, who stated influence from “cosmic country” on his 2023 album Altitude, defined “cosmic country” as “a state of mind. It’s a term that never got fully defined or explored or completed. My idea of cosmic country is the music that the Byrds made in an experimental fashion or the Flying Burrito Brothers.” Some progressive country singers were also influenced by the progressive politics of the 1960s counterculture.

Quebec fiddle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History and development#

According to Reiner and Anick, the affinity between Anglo-Celtic and French fiddle music dates to the 17th century. Solo style predominated in the rugged frontier land where a small fiddle could be easily managed. Thus, cross tunings, drone notes and complex rhythms evolved to fill the gaps left in unaccompanied playing and this resulted in a highly developed style. Clogging was often the only available accompaniment, and, much like the Indigenous Metis fiddle style, percussive and rhythmic playing is notably developed in this style. As with the French-speaking Cajun fiddle style, German button accordion created a fad which temporarily influenced the form, as did the eventual introduction of piano in the urban center Montreal.

Red dirt music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Oklahoma has been the source of several pop music movements that can be traced not only to a specific city but to a specific location within the city. Those music scenes include Western swing (attributed to Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa), and Leon Russell’s Tulsa sound from his Tulsa church-turned-studio called The Church Studio. Like those two, red dirt music grew from a specific place in Stillwater. The place was an old two-story, five-bedroom house called “The Farm”, for two decades the center of what evolved into the red dirt scene. The house, located on the outskirts of Stillwater, was the country home of Bob Childers. Eventually Childers left The Farm, but the red dirt scene continued to grow and thrive. Childers said, “I found something in Stillwater that I just didn’t find anywhere else. And I looked everywhere from Nashville to Austin. I always came back to Stillwater—it’s like a fountainhead for folks trying to get their vision.” The first usage of “red dirt” was by Steve Ripley band Moses when the group chose the label name Red Dirt Records for their 1972 self-published live album. One of many bands representing red dirt music—as their name signifies—is the Red Dirt Rangers. The Rangers (John Cooper, Brad Piccolo and Ben Han) have been making music since the late 1980s and, along with Childers, were part of The Farm’s earliest musical brotherhood, which also included Jimmy LaFave and Tom Skinner. These musicians and others jammed in the living room, on the front porch, in the garage (known as the Gypsy Cafe), and around campfires in the yard where “the sheer joy of creating music with friends transcended everything else.” Cooper said, “The Farm was as much an attitude as a physical structure. It allowed a setting where freedom rang and all things were possible. Out of this setting came the music.” The physical structure burned down in 2003.

Roots rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In 1966, as many rock artists moved towards expansive and experimental psychedelia, Bob Dylan spearheaded the back-to-basics roots revival when he went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde, using notable local musicians like Charlie McCoy. Other acts that followed the back to basics trend in different ways were the Canadian/American group The Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival, both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country, and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. At the same time the Grateful Dead, a band previously associated with the San Francisco sound and known for ferocious psychedelic improvisation, followed in the footsteps of Crosby, Stills & Nash to focus on Americana-styled songwriting for their 1970 albums Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, and Lowell George.

Sertanejo music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

“Sertanejo” is derived from sertão, a general term for rural backlands away from coastal metropolitan regions, although sertão itself is also often used in a narrow sense referring to the interior away from the Brazilian Northeast. The Sertanejo people, from the Northeast of Brazil, are different in several aspects when compared to the Caipira people, who originate from São Paulo, being two distinct Brazilian cultures.

History#

Sertanejo music is a subgenre of Caipira music, recorded for the first time, based on recordings made by the journalist and writer Cornélio Pires, in 1929. The introduction of the electric guitar and pop music influences by duo Leo Canhoto e Robertinho in the late 1960s marked the start of Sertanejo music, separating it from Caipira music. One member of the Jovem Guarda musical movement, singer Sergio Reis switched from pop to sertanejo in the 1970, which contributed to a wider acceptance of the genre. At that time, sertanejo music was usually performed in circuses, rodeos, and AM radio stations. Early as the 1980s, this penetration extended to FM radio and also on television – either in weekly programs on Sunday morning or even making it into soap operas soundtracks or special one-off TV programs. During the 1980s, there was a mass commercial exploitation of sertanejo, coupled in some cases, to a rereading of international hits and even the Jovem Guarda’s. In this new romantic trend of country music countless artists emerged, almost always in pairs, among which, Trio Parada Dura, Chitãozinho & Xororó, Leandro e Leonardo, Zeze Di Camargo e Luciano, Chrystian & Ralf, João Paulo & Daniel, Chico Rey & Parana, João Mineiro and Marciano, Gian and Giovani, Rick & Renner, Gilberto e Gilmar, Alan e Aladim, along with some female singers, such as Roberta Miranda, Aula Miranda and Nalva Aguiar. Some of the successes of this phase are “Fio de Cabelo”, by Marciano and Darci Rossi, “Apartmento 37 “, Leo Canhoto, “Pense em Mim, " Douglas in May, “Entre Tapas e Beijos”, Nilton Lamas and Antonio Bueno and “Evidências”, by Jose Augusto and Paulo Sérgio Valle.

Southern soul

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s–1980s#

Some soul musicians were from southern states: these included Georgia natives Otis Redding and James Brown, Rufus Thomas and Bobby “Blue” Bland (from Tennessee), Eddie Floyd (from Alabama), Johnnie Taylor, Al Green (from Arkansas). Southern soul was at its peak through the 1960s, when Memphis soul and the Muscle Shoals sound were popular. In 1963, Stan Lewis founded Jewel Records in Shreveport, Louisiana, along with two subsidiary labels, Paula and Ronn. Lewis signed soul and blues artists such as Toissaint McCall, Bobby Rush, John Lee Hooker, Charles Brown, Buster Benton, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Ted Taylor and Little Johnny Taylor. In 1966, the Shreveport-based Murco Records released “Losin’ Boy” by Eddy Giles, which held a place on Cashbox magazine’s Hot 100 for five weeks. Murco Records had soul chart success with its other artist included Reuben Bell. Other significant contributors were Stax Records with their house band Booker T. & the MGs as well as New York based Label Atlantic Records. Atlantic was Ray Charles’s home, and became an early exporter of the “Muscle Shoals Sound” by distributing Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman”, recorded at Rick Hall’s FAME Studios. FAME becoming the studio of choice for new and experienced artists alike. Establishing the city of Muscle Shoals, Alabama as a major part of Southern soul. Aretha Franklin credits FAME as the place her career turned around, and Etta James recorded hit album “Tell Mama” there. The Stax label’s most successful artist of the 1960s, Otis Redding, was influenced by fellow Georgia native Little Richard and the more cosmopolitan sounds of Mississippi-born Sam Cooke. Other Stax artists of note included Johnnie Taylor, Soul Children, the Dramatics (from Detroit), Eddie Floyd, the Staple Singers, Carla Thomas, and Isaac Hayes. Atlantic Records artists Sam & Dave’s records were released on the Stax label and featured the MGs. Wilson Pickett launched his solo career through his collaboration with the Stax team, and Pickett gained big hit “Land of a Thousand Dances” with FAME Studios musicians in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. After Sam & Dave moved from Stax to Atlantic Records, Stax producer David Porter and his songwriting and production partner Isaac Hayes decided to put together a new vocal group of two men and two women. They recruited J. Blackfoot, together with Norman West, Anita Louis, and Shelbra Bennett, to form the Soul Children. Between 1968 and 1978, the Soul Children had 15 hits on the R&B chart, including three that crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, and recorded seven albums. Another Memphis 1960s label Goldwax Records, featured James Carr, Spencer Wiggins, and the Ovations. Al Green, Otis Clay, O.V. Wright, Don Bryant, Ann Peebles and Quiet Elegance recorded for Memphis’s 70s label Hi Records, where they were produced by Willie Mitchell. Rick Hall was a R&B producer of “Muscle Shoals Sound”, originating from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section played on hits by many Stax artists during the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, and Atlantic Records artists Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Joe Tex and Aretha Franklin. Producer and session guitarist Chips Moman produced Bobby Womack and Womack wrote R&B song “I’m in Love” for Wilson Pickett. Bobby Womack gained R&B hit “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” in 1981. Malaco Records introduced Dorothy Moore, Bobby Bland, Johnnie Taylor, Denise Lasalle, Little Milton and others. In 1983, former Soul Children singer J. Blackfoot saw success on soul chart with his single “Taxi”. In 1987, Marvin Sease gained an R&B hit with “Candy Licker”.

String band

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History of African American old-time string band music#

Although African American old-time string bands recorded history is that of the early 20th century, the beginnings of the music started much earlier. Many people once believed that the role African Americans played in the upcoming of old-time string band music was either nonexistent or to interest the Middle Ages or medieval times. The genre of African American folk music actually began with the use of percussion instruments, which were used to create music in form of encouragement to keep the slaves exercising on slave ships. Furthermore, that then sparked the usage of stringed instruments such as banjos and violins that the slaves played as a way of entertainment.

Talking blues

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Development of the genre#

Woody Guthrie and his song “Talking Hard Work” is a title-tribute to Bouchillon’s “Talking Blues” and “Born in Hard Luck”. The “Talking Blues” begins with the line: Several sources of the 1940s–1950s, including the Almanac Singers, wrongly credited Guthrie as the creator of the talking blues. By the 1940s, what had started as a comedic country music genre became a more pronounced form of wry political protest singing. This sample lyric, from “Talking Union” by Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Millard Lampell shows the development of the genre into a vehicle for political commentary: In 1958, the musician and folk music scholar John Greenway recorded an album collection called “Talking Blues” on the Folkways label. His compendium included 15 talking blues songs by Guthrie, Tom Glazer, and others, and was, according to the music historian Manfred Helfert, the “obvious source” for the many 1960s forays into the genre by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan recorded “Talking World War III Blues” in 1963. Dylan’s fame and his repeated use of the talking blues form contributed to the genre becoming a widely popular vehicle for the composition of songs with political content. When the country singer Johnny Cash recorded a song that described his trip to Vietnam with his wife June Carter Cash, he chose the talking blues format to describe his dissent against the Vietnam War. Talking blues is also popular as a medium for parody, as in “Like a Lamb to the Slaughter”, Frank Hayes’s talking-blues parody of Matty Groves:

Texas country music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The acoustic guitar is essential in Texas country music. However, the use of electric guitars, steel guitars or pedal steel guitars in the genre is not uncommon. Bass and percussion are used in live performances. The sounds of piano, baritone guitar, banjo, accordion, fiddle or harmonica on studio recordings are the norm for the genre.

Vocals#

The line of delineation for vocals is unclear. Traditionally, the Texas country scene has been a male dominated genre, however many women have had chart success in recent years. The Texas “anthem” is a common song type, referencing and sometimes embellishing on the different positive characteristics of the state. Many of these types of songs have been popular on the Texas music charts.

Traditional bluegrass

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Tropical rock

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Description#

Instrumentation is usually based around an acoustic guitar (as well as electric instrumentation), and often includes steel drums, congas, marimbas, vibraphones, steel guitars, or other percussion instruments to create an “island sound”. While country and other musical styles focus on falling in love/falling out of love themes, Trop Rock’s main focus is on “escapism”—a laid back lifestyle, tropical places, boating, simplifying and having fun. Buffett is often referred to as the “Pop of Trop Rock” alongside his Coral Reefer Band. They, along with other artists like Higgins, helped create a tropical sub-culture beginning in the early to mid-1980s. Mainstream artists Jack Johnson, Zac Brown Band, Alan Jackson, and Kenny Chesney also have songs in the genre as well.

Truck-driving country

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Detail#

There has been a certain mystique attached to truck drivers and commercial trucking in general, especially those engaged in long-distance (over-the-road) driving. The evolution of technology continues to influence trucking music. Just as truck drivers in the 1970s and 1980s no longer had to rely on AM radio or pre-recorded 8-track tapes to listen to the music they wanted to hear, today the portable computer, wireless Wi-Fi, and satellite radio allows independent singer-songwriters, such as Dale Watson, Jim Goad, Sonny George, and Bill Kirchen, to produce and distribute their own trucking music.

Western music (North America)

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Characteristics#

Western music covers an array of styles and experiences that reflect the various communities that were present along the 19th century U.S frontier. Some songs were developed by cowboys working on isolated cattle ranches. The mundane, lonely life on the ranches gave way to musical expression and cowboys would often make use of repurposed folk and popular songs to further convey their lifestyle through music. In addition to portraying life on the cattle ranches and trails, the genre of western music also encompasses songs about Texas Rangers, pioneers, outlaws, Native Americans, nature, Mexican/American experiences, and miners rushing for gold. Otto Gray, an early cowboy band leader, stated authentic western music had only three rhythms, all coming from the gaits of the cow pony: walk, trot, and lope. Gray also noted the uniqueness of this spontaneous American song product, and the freedom of expression of the singers. The choruses of cowboy songs often contained various cries, whoops, and yells that were infused with lyrics. The more waltz-like nature of these songs differs from the actual rhythms found in cowboy life, and instead, works to embellish the sentimental, humorous, and mythologized nature of popular frontier stories. Oftentimes, such influences derived from older European folk songs and traditions. Accordions brought to North America by German and Bohemian immigrants were utilized by Mexican musicians to adapt waltzes and polkas into a style of dance music associated with the Old West. Other instruments that would have been used on the frontier and incorporated into western music include the fiddle, harmonica, banjo, guitar, and mandolin.

Western swing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Late 1920s to mid-1930s: Beginnings#

Western swing began in the dance halls of small towns throughout the lower Great Plains in the late 1920s and early 1930s, growing from house parties and ranch dances where fiddlers and guitarists played for dancers. During its early development, scores of groups from San Antonio to Shreveport to Oklahoma City played different songs with the same basic sound. Prince Albert Hunt’s Texas Ramblers out of Terrell in East Texas, and the East Texas Serenaders in Lindale, Texas both added jazz elements to traditional music in the later half of the 1920s through the early 1930s. Fred “Papa” Calhoun played in a band in Decatur, Texas that played swing music in the style of the Louisiana Five. In the early 1930s, Bob Wills and Milton Brown co-founded the string band that became the Light Crust Doughboys, the first professional Western swing band. The group, with Fred “Papa” Calhoun on piano, played dance halls and was heard on radio. Photographs of the Light Crust Doughboys taken as early as 1931 show two guitars along with fiddle player Wills, although by 1933 they had three guitarists. On February 9, 1932, Brown, his brother Derwood, Bob Wills, and C.G. “Sleepy” Johnson were recorded by Victor Records at the Jefferson Hotel in Dallas, Texas under the name The Fort Worth Doughboys. Derwood Brown played guitar and Johnson played tenor guitar. Both “Sunbonnet Sue” and “Nancy Jane” were recorded that day. The group was credited as “Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies”. When Brown left the Doughboys later in 1932, he took his brother to play rhythm guitar in what became The Musical Brownies. In January 1933, fiddler Cecil Brower, playing harmony, joined Jesse Ashlock to create the first example of harmonizing twin fiddles in a Western swing recording. Brower, a classically trained violinist, was the first to master Joe Venuti’s double shuffle and his improvisational style was a major contribution to the genre. The amplified stringed instruments, especially the steel guitar, gave the music its distinctive sound. By the mid-1930s, Fort Worth was a hub for Western swing, particularly at the Crystal Springs Dance Pavilion, a country music dance venue that was popular until the 1950s. Bands like Brown and His Musical Brownies played there, interspersing waltzes and ballads with faster songs. A documented instance of a Western swing group adopting the newer, by then mainstream meter swing jazz style, replacing the style, was when producer Art Satherley required it at a September 1936 Light Crust Doughboy recording session. 1938 session rosters for Wills recordings show both lead guitar and electric guitar in addition to guitar and steel guitar. The “front line” of Wills’ orchestra consisted of either fiddles or guitars after 1944. Wills recalled the early days of Western swing music in a 1949 interview. Speaking of Milton Brown and himself—working with popular songs done by Jimmie Davis, the Skillet Lickers, Jimmie Rodgers, songs he had learned from his father and others—Wills said, “We’d…pull these tunes down an set ’em in a dance category. …They wouldn’t be a runaway…and just lay a real beat behind it an’ the people would began to really like it. …It was nobody intended to start anything in the world. We was just tryin’ to find enough tunes to keep ’em dancin’ to not have to repeat so much.”

Western swing fiddle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Distinctives of the style#

One of the characteristics of the genre is that fiddle is the lead instrument, unlike other genres such as Cajun in which the lead instrument varies in different eras. A major characteristic of the style is syncopation and rhythmic drive – it is dance music. It was typically played in bars and in big city Western hotel buildings with large ballrooms; alcohol was served and fights were not unknown. The musicians had to keep the music going until they had fulfilled their contract and could get paid. Twin fiddles and even triple fiddle was another distinctive of Western Swing fiddle.