George Harvey Strait, born on May 18, 1952, in Poteet, Texas is known as The King of Country not just in his genre but in much more. Many may ask themselves is Strait an actual countryman or it is just said to be country considering he sings in that genre. He has a passion for team roping, it plays an enormous role in his life. He sticks to traditional country and not that new pop country which almost everyone is singing. Strait enjoys ranching being in the outdoors with his son Bubba. “George Strait continues his run of staunchly traditional country albums with "Carrying Your Love With Me" (Flippo, George Strait carries) He is well known for bringing country music back to its roots and away from the popular style of pop country that is now a day considered “real country”, from his very first album to his most recent. "A lot of it has to do with the songwriters. I've just got to pick the best songs I can. Some are old songs” (Flippo, George Strait carries). Strait has all the aspects in his songs of what real country music is “it needs to really feel good and not just be something I have to do because of the time factor…You've got to be pleased with your work yourself because you're the one who has to live with it.” (Flippo, George Strait carries). …show more content…
When he’s not touring Strait enjoys team roping.
“Meanwhile, on the flip side, the Poteet, Texas native is quick to count his blessings and views himself as nothin' but a cowboy.” (Doreen Shumpert, Team Roping). He tries to practice as much as he can and even has his own roping competitions George Strait Team Roping Classic. Strait is involved in the GSTRC he is very detailed including steer selection in many occasions he helps train, cull them himself. In 1982 the event was originally developed as a small family roping event throughout the years, it expanded now being one of the most distinguished open team roping
competitions. Fourth generation Texan Strait is a keen fisherman, hunter, boater, loves the outdoors. “On weekends, George and his older brother Buddy helped their father and their grandparents tend cattle on the family's 2000-acre ranch” (Linda Robbins, The Man). He is a rancher enjoys riding while inspecting his horses and cattle. Most of times he is found working his foreman. Strait takes pleasure in raising and caring for his quality quarter horses another passion of his. Even after retiring he’s still producing stupendous music like his present-day album “Cold Beer Conversation” Strait has proved to be a true countryman not just because he sings but because of his passions. It took dedication and obduracy to construct and obtain the career he has enjoyed. He is great at writing love songs he knows what he’s doing, George Harvey Strait is and always will be known as “The King of Country” and his legacy will go on.
The “king of Western swing,” Bob Wills, was a prominent figure from the 1930s through 1950s. At at a young age he learned to play the fiddle and he and his father performed at dances and other social gatherings. He was exposed to other genres of music as a young boy such a blues, conjunto and mariachi, but it was the new sounds of jazz that inspired him to experiment with traditional country music. In 1929 Wills moved to Fort Worth, Texas, were he formed a band, the Wills Fiddle Band, which would soon change to Light Crust Doughboys. Their music was played was played on the Fort Worth radio station, KFJZ radio, and their unique sound quickly spread which is what the radio advertisers needed during the economic downfall. However, in 1933 Wills left the band and formed a new one called Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and they toured together over the next forty years. In 1945 Wills appeared at the Grand Ole Opry and insisted that there be a horn and drum section on stage. The audience was surprisingly pleased with this unwanted change by the directors. Despite his somewhat strained relationship with Nashville, the local country music establishment formally recognized Wills and his important overall impact on country music when the Country Music Association Hall of Fame inducted him in 1968 (Hartman, 146). Bob Wills died in 1975, but was still a major influence in up and coming young country artists like Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, George Strait and Lee Ann Womack.
Alan Shapiro is a poet whom uses the sorrowful tragedies that occurred in his lifetime and turns them into beautiful poems in which he greatly expresses through his poetry. Most of his poems symbolize either a type of sorrow or tragic death, and the expressions used throughout his poetry make it noticeable that Alan Shapiro endured a life of hardship and tragedy. While Shapiro was growing up he lost his brother and his sister in which the poem “Sleet” by Alan Shapiro beautifully encompasses his feeling of grief and sorrow due to the loss of his siblings.
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.
Scott Joplin, commonly known as the "King of Ragtime" music, was born on November 24, 1868, in Bowie County, Texas near Linden. Joplin came from a large musical family. His father, Giles Joplin was a musician who had fiddled dance music while serving as a slave at his master's parties. His mother, Florence Givens Joplin, born free and out of slavery, sang and played the banjo, and four of his brothers and sisters either sang or played strings.
Most americans have probably heard the phrase, “Mamas don’t let your babies to grow up to be cowboys.” That phrase is one from one of Waylon Jennings most prominent songs. Jennings was one of the many country music stars that started the outlaw country music movement. Outlaw country was not recognized by most country music enthusiasts but it soon took over and swept them off their feet. Jennings also incorporated rock into his music, which opened the door to a wide variety of genres and listeners. Waylon Jennings left an everlasting impression on country music which earned him a name as one of the greatest country music stars.
Hank Williams Jr as we know him was born Hank Randall Williams, born in small town Shreveport, Louisiana, on May 26, 1949. Hank Jr was only three when his father Hank died, but that did not stop his music dream. At just the age of 8 Hank Jr began singing his dad songs on stage. “Williams made his stage debut at the age of 8 and his first appearance at Nashville's famed Grand Ole Opry at age 11. At age 15, Williams had his first Top 5 hit on the country charts. " (http://www.biography.com/) Even though his father was gone, Hank Jr helped carry on his legacy through music. His mother being his biggest supporter, helped him along the way.
One sport of rodeo that raises the eyebrows of many anti-rodeo activists is Team Roping. Team roping was used for the purpose of catching live cattle on the range to perform vaccinations and to treat injuries. Team Roping is defined as on cowboy ropes the steer around the horns and turn left, so that the next cowboy can come behi...
It’s 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Jake and I are headed down the longest stretch of road in Texas. We have just pulled out of El Paso and are on the way to Fredericksburg to participate in the Frontier Days Rodeo. We were fortunate to have put together a decent run on our last draw and win enough day-money to keep us going for a while. Jake and I are rodeo-bums, to be specific, calf ropers. I am the one who tries to throw the loop of a rope around a calf’s neck and Jake is my partner, the best roping horse a cowboy ever mounted. By the way, how many understand the art of calf roping? I thought so. Let me walk through the steps of what it takes to put together that perfect run, not that I can do it that often.
George Harvey Strait was born and bred in the Texas cowboy tradition. He came into the world on May 18, 1952 in Poteet, Texas (“Strait Facts”) and was raised in nearby Pearsall, TX on his family's working cattle ranch, a legacy in the family for over 100 years. His childhood was spent working with his father and brother on their farm, and he carried on the ranching tradition by studying agriculture at Texas State University (Dickinson). In 1971, he married his wife, Norma, and shortly after enlisted in the United States Army.
The country artists of the 1980’s are the most famous in the history of country music. The 80’s was a period when the older singers from recent decades, such as George Jones, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, etc., still continued to churn out hits. Their style was popular but new faces were coming to the scene. George Strait, “The King of Country”, came to Nashville and stubbornly wore his western attire (cowboy hat, Wranglers, etc.) which by the 80’s was being done away, but with the help of Mr. Strait was being brought back into style! He sang western cowboy music and barroom swing music which became popular v...
Is country music still country music? Country music has roots unlike any other genre of American music. Country music was one of the most influential styles of music in the twentieth century. It had stars such as Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. These stars represented what the South felt. They understood shotgun weddings, not knowing where the next meal would come from, and fearing the wrath of God while simultaneously loving the sweet and instant satisfaction that sin brings. They took those pains and painted beautiful, harsh, and most importantly real portraits of life. The majority of today’s country music, the country that is played on mainstream radio, has lost its serious feel and replaced it with a more laid back sound—which at times makes it hard to hear the difference between a rock song and a country song—and it has left behind authenticity for its Nashville sound and pursuit of money and popular appeal.
During a particular low time in his life, William attempted suicide in 1974. He managed to turn his life around and worked on creating his own musical identity that combined country with Southern rock and blues. Williams released his next album Old School, New Rules on his independent label called Bocephus Records after his childhood nickname. He expressed his political frustrations with the track "Taken' Back the Country." The album also featured a duet with Brad Paisley, "I'm Going to Get Drunk and Play Hank Williams," and an appearance by Merle Haggard on a cover of his song, "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink." Williams has toured extensively in support of this latest release.
Johnny cash was one of the greatest Outlaw country singers of his time. He bridged the gap between rock and country. He even did a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt” in 2002 just before his passing. His outlaw persona and electric sound made him appealing to rockabilly, blues folk, country, gospel, and rock lovers everywhere. His music is also as relevant today as it was in the 50’s as seen by the popularity of the movie “Walk the Line” (2005).
Alan Jackson, a country music singer, is one of a few superstars who has built his career on traditional country. The Boot Staff states that Alan Jackson is “one of the greatest singers in country music that has written the best songs in the history of the genre”. He has “written more than sixty singles and half of them have reached to #1 on the charts” (The Boot Staff). Most of the songs that Alan Jackson has written during his career are about his personal experiences. The song “Remember When” was written “during a difficult period in his marriage, which was when he and his wife got separated and then reconciled” several months later (The Boot Staff). In the song “Remember When” by Alan Jackson, the lyrics, music video, and history reveal the events in his life with his wife so they will remember as they grow old together.
One of Tim McGraw’s big events was in 1994 where he released the album Not a Moment Too Soon, this album reached number one on the billboard 200 pop albums chart. According to McGraw, Marjie. Tim McGraw. New York Oxford: Oxford U. Print. “That same year he was the first country artist in a decade to achieve two gold singles in fewer than 3 months.” The three hits on the album was Don't Take the Girl, Indian Outlaw, and Down at the Farm, and in surprise Don't Take The Girl received the TNN/Music City News award for best song. The two song Indian Outlaw and Don't Take the Girl boosted his cumulative album sales to more than seven million! At this point he has earned the ACM’s 1994 top new male vocalist of the year, and album of the year. Tim McGraw has been very successful with his career and all the awards he's gotten proves