Brief History of Country Music

A BRIEF HISTORY OF COUNTRY MUSIC

Country music or country and western music is a style of American popular music that originated among whites in rural areas of the South and West. (Originally known by the derogatory label "hillbilly music," the term was replaced by country and western music in 1949 and eventually shortened to country music.) The roots of country music lie in the folk songs and popular songs of the English, Irish, and Scots who settled in the Appalachian regions of the South during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Because of the importance of the lyrics, which tend to predominate over other elements, country is one of the simplest musical styles. The lyrics typically reflect country music’s rural origins and the concerns of working-class Americans, covering such matters of everyday life as love, loneliness, religion, poverty, and work. Over the years, country music has influenced and been influenced by other musical styles, such as gospel, black rural dance music, the blues, jazz, and rock.

The country genre began in the early 1920s with the first recordings of traditional Southern string-bands, typically consisting of guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and double bass, which performed traditional folk and gospel music. More important than the recordings, however, it was radio broadcasts, and especially the spread of small-town radio stations that helped to expand the audience. In particular, National Barn Dance from Chicago, Illinois, begun in 1924, and the Grand Ole Opry from Nashville, Tennessee, begun in 1925, were two popular and influential ongoing programs that subsequently encouraged more recordings and the appearance of numerous talented musicians. Among them were the Carter Family, a trio from rural Virginia, and Jimmie Rodgers, a blues-oriented singer/songwriter from Mississippi. The Carter Family, consisting of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara, and sister-in-law Maybelle Addington Carter, recorded old folk songs of love and family, ballads, and gospel tunes. Traditional songs arranged and sung by them, including "Wabash Cannon Ball" and "Can the Circle Be Unbroken?" became country standards and have been performed by many artists. An important guitar accompaniment style known, as the Carter style or scratch, pioneered by Maybelle Carter, was incorporated into country music and influenced countless later guitarists. Jimmie Rodgers, a Mississippi railroad man, who recorded from 1927 to 1933, brought folk and blues elements to country music. He sang sentimental ballads and introduced yodeling to a mainstream audience through his so-called blue yodels. Both the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers strongly influenced future generations of musicians and are credited as... (continue....)

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