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Country music history
Culture of country music
Country music and the effects it has on people
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Country music is one of the most diverse changing genres in music that we have today. Some songs can take you on a beautiful story with a happy ending and some can make you feel heart broken and down in the dumps. Both can be great songs, and deliver powerful messages, but can be done in very different ways. Today, the country music that I know and love can either be a good ole laid back mellow song with nothing but an acoustic guitar, or have an entire band rocking out the whole song like songs that are very commonly associated with an artist like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryant, and Brad Paisley. So if country music is such a flexible genre, how it become like this. Back when country music started, it was only done one way for many years and then everything changed. How did an artist like Taylor Swift get associated into country music when critics and avid listeners say that she could just as easily be in the pop singer genre? There is a very big difference in the style of music that a Jason Aldean would play and the style of country that Taylor Swift sings so how did these two very different artists become associated within the same genre? The earliest forms of country music can be traced back to recordings of Southern Appalachian fiddle players made in the late 1910’s. It wasn’t until a decade later, though, that country music was sought as an actually genre. Eck Robertson was credited with the first commercial country recording in 1922. From there it expanded. Jimmie Rodgers, also known as the “Father of Country Music,” was a national success. Even years after Eck Robertson and Jimmie Rodgers were gone country music basically stayed the same. Not until the 1950s came the Nashville country evolution, and still at this time, country music still carried its original sound of the twang from the fiddle we still here in some songs today. Country music is a special form of music because no matter what goes on in my life, there is always a good country song that I can relate to and that will instantly make me feel better about the situation. You can either feel so much better about a situation if you’re happy, or feel even madder if you’re not having a good day and want to let it all out, in this genre, anything goes.
Times have changed, and along with the times so has country music. American country music lovers have went from Loretta Lynn and Waylon Jennings, just two of the many classic oldies, to Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan, two very appealing country music artists. However, it is not only the tune of the music that has changed, it is the image, the appeal, and overall the type of icons the media is portraying these modern music stars as. Icons such as Lynn and Jennings had identifiable features within their music as well as their appearance that spoke sweet southern belle and rugged twang. Whereas Underwood’s and Bryan’s appeal now is much more sexualized than it was during the oldies. These changes affect the way modern day singers are marketed compared to former country music stars, instead of focusing on talent it is now looks.
George Harvey Strait, is a an American singer, actor, songwriter, and music producer, known as the “King of Country”, of the twentieth century to present. Strait was a vocalist blessed with good looks and a vibrant personality. He is one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. George was a 50s baby. He is also known for his neotraditionalist country style, cowboy look , and being one of the first and main country artists to bring country music back to its roots and away from the pop country era in the 1980s. George Strait has been a country music icon since the 1980s.
Country music is one of the most popular genres of music throughout America. There are many influential figures that have changed the way country music sounds, and how people interpret it. Two important people who have made a huge impact on country music overtime are Johnny Cash and Luke Bryan. From their early life, their career, and how society views them, they have opened the minds of people and country musicians all over the country. Johnny Cash’s songs help people to experience his life growing up through the Great Depression and how people lived back then. Through Luke Bryan’s songs people could understand what life was like for Luke growing up in Georgia and all the hardships he faced. Johnny Cash and Luke Bryan are two of the many country singers that have influenced country fans to be more optimistic and hopeful.
Country music, as we know it today, was first called “Hillbilly music”. The name “Country” was not widely used until around the 1950s. The creation of this Hillbilly music, very much like American culture, was influenced from many different cultures and styles of music.
Sanneh, Kelefa. "Country Music? Whose Country?" The New York Times. 11 Nov. 2005. Web. 21 April 2011.
Country music originated in the Appalachian mountains of the Southern United States and has traditional folk roots that date from the early 20th century. The commercial history of country music began in the Southern United States in the 1920’s, during a ‘period of intense modernization’ (Ellison, 1995). It wasn’t until this time that country was considered a viable music genre. It was first identified as ‘hillbilly’ music in 1925 and later became known officially as ‘country’ by its designation on the Billboard Music charts (Shmoop, 2014). Widely considered the ‘Mother Church’ of country, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville became the home of many emerging and already established artists (Tichi, 1994:21). Coupled with the rise of radio and barn dance programs, country’s popularity increased greatly. Ellison (1995) describes country’s evolution from ‘rustic radio programs’ to a genre with an ‘extensive national network of fans unparalled in other forms of popular music’. During the 1930’s, the Great Depression assisted in the spread of country music throughout the US, with many poor unemployed Southerners migrating north, t...
The story, “Good Country People,” by Flannery O’Connor, is a third person limited narration which means the reader can only look into the mind of only a few of the characters. Those characters are Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga, or Joy. Schmoop discusses a deeper understanding about the narrator of the story.
Let's go back to the beginning. It all started on November 28, 1925, on the fifth floor of the National Life & Accident Insurance Building. The room was Studio A. WSM Radio was created for advertising promotions, but also played music. In the interest of trying something new, WSM Barn Dance began with the first live performer, a fiddler by the name of "Uncle" Jimmy Thompson. It was something that was known to the Southerners as honky tonk or western music. As more people started listening to this style of music, it became known as country music. In this small studio in Nashville, Tennessee, music of all kinds was being broadcast to a world which was fighting a war and coming out of a depression.
Many would argue that country music isn't country anymore; straying too far from the older generation of fiddles, violins and guitars by incorporating a "pop" feel and focusing more on the beat than the content. Pop music is typically viewed as up-beat and differs from the sad, lonesome sounds of country from the past. I would agree that today's country has a very different sound than previous years, however, still incorporates the down-to-earth feel many of us can relate
...he country as very prominent musical genres. At the end of World War II, vocals-focused classic pop replaced big band/swing, although orchestras often accompanied the vocalists to provide depth. Around 1955, Mitch Miller began to set the course for the development of pop music (6). Incorporating many traditional genres, such as country, R&B, and folk music, into the standard popular music, Miller had many of his label’s most famous artists produce songs that adhered to the style of pop traditions. Miller himself often employed innovative arrangements that featured orchestral instruments or non-traditional sound effects. As a result, Miller’s work helped to maintain the popularity of the more traditional musical genres of the time. Another extremely prominent pop artist was Patti Page (7), whose music would eventually become some of the decade’s more popular songs.
It should be brief but comprehensive, as it may also be the introduction of the music to teachers as a study guide before or after an in-school presentation, or they may include this information in a history of social studies discussion if a program presentation is not possible. Bluegrass Music: The Roots. The street balladry of the people who began migrating to America in the early 1600s is considered to be the roots of traditional American music. As the early Jamestown settlers began to spread out into the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky and the Virginias, they composed new songs about day to day experiences in the new land. Since most of these people lived in rural areas, the songs reflected life on the farm or in the hills and this type of music was called "mountain music" or "country music." The invention of the phonograph and the onset of the radio in the early 1900s brought this old-time music out of the rural Southern mountains to people all over the United States.
Country music was brought over by the first European settlers. In medieval times, storytelling was a tradition that allowed history to be recorded when few were able to read and write. When the first British settlers came to America, they brought this tradition with them, along with songs that they had learned in Europe. The people who settled the Appalachian Mountains and the West did not have an easy life and their music gave them an outlet to express their hardships.
Although bluegrass got its beginning in the United States its roots are long stretching to other countries and cultures that brought their music preference to the beginnings of America. Early settlers to America including those from Ireland, Scotland, England, and even Africa composed music and occupied their time playing new songs about their day to day lives. These songs often reflected life on farms and homesteads for the new settlers. Regularly bluegrass music was played by these settlers in the hills of southern United States; this is where bluegrass music got its first designation, “mountain music” or “country music”. Because of bluegrass’s diminutive outreach it wasn’t until an important invention changed the popularity of this vital music for so many people. “The invention of the phonograph and the onset of the radio in the early 1900s brought this old-time music out of the rural Southern mountains to people all over the United States.” (IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association))
Rhythm and blues, also known as R&B, is something that I really enjoy. I am a singer and along with country music, R&B is my favorite thing to sing. With rhythm and blues, there is a song for every emotion, so most of the time the songs can be very relatable. The songs have a variety of subjects like sex, work, and even drinking. In this paper I will briefly discuss how rhythm and blues started, how it evolved into today’s music and why I like it so much.
What has the power to make you get up and move, to both inspire you and enrage you? Rock, rap, “pop”, country, and blues are all forms of this phenomenon we call music. Music has been a part of each and everyone of our lives. How often have you heard a song and it brought you back to a place in your past, or reminded you of someone? Chances are you were listening to music that fell into one of the two most popular categories, rock or pop. Both rock and pop can be considered movements in society, however the motivation for these movements were on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Also another thing that they have in common is that once the artists are famous the may both have a tendency to fall off the deep end. This may entail spending thousands of dollars on drugs and alcohol. Eventually many of both pop and rock stars end up in rehab. Even though the lines between rock and pop can be blurred at times there are many distinct differences.