The country (also called country & western) is a musical style emerged in the 1920s in rural United States South and the Maritime Canada. Combined into its origins of some European countries of immigrants, mainly Ireland with other musical forms already rooted in North America, as the blues and spiritual and religious music as gospel folk music. The term country began to be used in the 1950s to the detriment of the term hillbilly, that was the way in which was known until then, ending consolidate its use in the 1970s.
The traditional country, essentially played with string instruments, such as guitar, banjo, violin single (fiddle) and the double bass, but also frequently involved the accordion (French influence for music Cajun), and the harmonica. Especially the electronic instruments, like the electric guitar, electric bass, keyboards, dobro, or the steel guitar are used in the modern country.
Carter (The Carter Family) family was the first in a country, alongside Jimmie Rodgers, song burn to disc consolidating this musical genre with the initial “hillbilly” that name then leave step of simply “country”. Both influenced numerous singers that succeeded them with their respective styles. In the 1940s were above all singers as Pete Seeger and Hank Williams which contributed to its popularity. (In the 1950s country music acquired elements of rock and roll (vigorous “rockabilly”) Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, or Buddy Holly), who then lived a huge boom and contributed rhythms and melodies more developed genre. While all kinds of variants of the country, combining rock, and more recently with pop, can be heard today is that most successful has great little understood public.
Thus, the term country is currently a drawer wastebasket in which different genres include musical: (closest to the 1960s pop) Nashville sound, bluegrass (popularized by Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs, based on rapid and virtuosÃsimos, interpreted with mandolin, violin, banjo rhythms), Hollywood westerns, western swing (sophisticated music popularized by Bob Wills, jazz-based), the sound Backersfield (popularized by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard), outlaw country, Cajun, zydeco, gospel, oldtime music (previous folk music-1930), honky tonk, rockabilly, or neo-tradicional country. Each style is unique in its execution, in the use of rhythms and chords, although many songs have been adapted to the different styles. For example, the song “Milk cow blues”, an old melody Kokomo Arnold blues has been interpreted in a variety of styles of the country, from Aerosmith to Bob Wills, Willie Nelson, George Strait, Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley.
Content
* 1 History
o 1.1 Influence of Jimmie Rodgers
+ 1.1.1 Hank Williams
o 1.2 Influence of The Carter Family
o 1.3 Bluegrass
o 1.4 The Nashville sound
* 2 Country variants
* 3 See also
* 4 Sources
* 5 External links
History
Vernon Dalhart was the first singer of country succeed at national level (in United States mayo in 1924, with “The Wreck of Old ’97”). Other important pioneers were Riley Puckett, Don Richardson, Fiddling John Carson, Ernest Stoneman groups Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers and The Skillet Lickers.
But as already stated, the origins of modern country (hillbilly) recordings are in Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family (“the Carter Family”), are considered for this reason, the founders of country music since his songs were the first to be recorded on phonographic, at the historic meeting of 1 August 1927, Bristol (Tennessee), media where Ralph Peer served as sound technician. It is possible to categorize many country performers according to whether belong to the branch of Jimmie Rodgers or branch of the Carter Family.
Influence of Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers joined the country folk (hillbilly). Rodgers wrote and sang traditional ballads-based songs and musical influences from South. Departed from their own experiences in the city of Meridian, Mississippi) and poor people she met on trains (“hobos” or vagrants), in bars or the streets, to write the lyrics of their songs. From 26 May 1953, is celebrated in Meridian festival “Jimmy Rodgers Memorial” on the anniversary of his death.
Characters pathetic, outlaws, humor, women, whisky, assassinations, death, disease and poverty are present in their lyrics, issues that have been taken and developed by his followers. Musicians like Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, or Johnny Cash have suffered and shared the sufferings of their songs based on these topics. Jimmie Rodgers sang about life and death from a male perspective, a view which has dominated in many forms of country music. Its influence has been critical in the development of the honky tonk, rockabilly and the Bakersfield sound.
Hank Williams
Jimmie Rodgers is a key piece in the “hillbilly” music, but the most influential of the “branch of Jimmie Rodgers” artist is Hank Williams. In his short career (he died at the age of 29) dominated country music scene, and his songs have been performed by virtually all artists country, both men and women. Hank took two characters: Hank Williams, the singer-songwriter and “Luke the Drifter”, singer-songwriter moralist and religious. The complexity of these characters is reflected in the more introspective songs that he wrote about love, happiness, love and broken hearts (“I’m so lonesome I could cry”) or the more optimistic about the food Cajun (“Jambalaya”) or the typical figures wooden Indians in American cigars (“Kaw-Liga”) stores. Hank Williams led the music to another level and had to reach a wider public, inaugurating the style “honky tonk” (“country” bars: alcohol, women, and fights…)
His son, Hank Williams Jr. and his grandson of Hank Williams III were also great innovators in country music. Hank Williams Jr. fuses rock and outlaw country, while Hank Williams III goes beyond, brushing the psychobilly and death metal.
Influence of The Carter Family.
The Carter Family was the other discovery of Ralph Peer. Early formed group P. Carter (vocals), his wife Sara (voice, harp and guitar) and his sister-in-law Maybelle (guitar). Developed a long musical career. A. p. contributed a lot of songs and ballads collected during excursions that performed around his house in Maces Springs, Virginia). In addition, being a man, made it possible that Sara and Maybelle was under music without this supusiese a stigma for them. Sara and Maybelle engaged to make arrangements to songs that a. p. collected, aside from writing their own themes. They were the precursor of a whole series of female singers country as Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Skeeter Davis, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Linda Rostand, Emmylou Harris, or June Carter Cash (daughter of Maybelle and later wife of Johnny Cash).
Bluegrass
Bluegrass continued the tradition of ancient American bands of stringed instruments and was invented in its original form, by Bill Monroe. The term “bluegrass” was taken from the name of the band which accompanies Bill: The Blue Grass Boys. The first recording made was in 1945: Bill Monroe (mandolin, vocals), Earl Scruggs (five-string banjo), Chubby Wise (violin), Lester Flatt (guitar and vocals), Cedric Rainwater (double bass). The Group was the benchmark for all that followed them bluegrass bands. In fact, many of the earliest and most famous bluegrass musicians were or member, once The Blue Grass boys (like Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin and de the McCoury) or occasionally played with Monroe (such as Sonny Osborne, The Stanley Brothers Don Reno). In addition, Monroe was a major influence for Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, or Sam Bush (the latter of the Nash Ramblers group), who mixed elements of folky with bluegrass music.
The Nashville sound
During the 1960s music country became an industry focused on Nashville (Tennessee), which moved billion dollars. Under the direction of producers such as Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley and then Billy Sherrill, named Nashville sound approached the country a more diverse audience. Sound borrowed many elements of pop from the 1950s: a section of strings and vocals accompanied by soft voices. The most important artists were Ernest Tubb, Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves and, subsequently, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, and Charlie Rich. Since the music had a wide stylistic range, there were many critical voices that pointed out the Nashville sound was dimensioning this tetrahidrounidiversidad.