Ralph Peer, from Victor Records, traveled to Bristol, Tennessee, searching for “new sounds.”  The Carter family auditioned August 2nd, 1927, and Jimmie Rogers auditioned on the 4th.  The Carter familys’ work was based off of the folk music in the Appalachian Mountains, their instruments included fiddle, banjo, and acoustic guitar.  This style was named “hillbilly music.”  The family sang of love, loss, joy, and depression. Jimmie Rogers yodeled and sang about hometowns, family and railroads.

FLASH FACT: At the time, the nation plunged into dark depression and the people craved expression.  As a result, the Carter Family’s sales rocketed.

 

The Carter Family

Can The Circle Be Unbroken

Recorded 1927

 

The Nashville Barn Dace was opened and the first program aired on November 28, 1925. By 1933, it was known as The Grand Ole Opry

 

In 1930 a style called honky-tonk was started by Al Dexter. He was the first to actually use the term “honky-tonk” in his song “Honky Tonk Blues”.

 

This music used steel guitars and drums. Honky Tonk was poplar in pubs across Oklahoma and Texas since the prohibition act was repealed in 1933.  Many people could now drink and listen to loud music in a public pup without having to worry about being caught while drinking in a speakeasy.  

Hank Williams

Honky Tonk Blues

Recorded 1936

As the years rolled over to the early 1950s, Rockabilly Sound emerged.  This section of country mixed southern hills music and the blues; becoming faster paced and keeping a constant rhythm. 

 

FLASH FACT: The young Americans liked the new sound because their lives, too, were becoming faster-paced than the generations before them

 

Elvis Presley

I Forgot To Remember To Forget

Recorded 1955

 

By the sixties, country started to sound a bit like it is now.  Complete orchestras, lush string sections, and vocal backup were brought in to add a softness to the music.

 

Bill Anderson

Still

Recorded 1966

 

When enough people were tired of country pop, new artists decided to remind young audiences of what made music great in the first place.  They sang of love and hometowns, capturing audiences with talent and older/familiar melodies.

George Strait

You Look So Good In Love

Recorded 1983

Country now:

Country music has been a unifying force, an expression of ‘we are all alike.’ 

 

Instrumentals: guitar is still popularly used.  Drums, where present, play with the bass, and are used to fit a beat to the tone of the song, giving it almost a honky-tonk sound.

 

 Subjects are fairly similar – loss, love, good memories, hometowns, and country pride.  Some changes in subjects came along as the audience changed, the question of which music qualifies as ‘country’ is depending upon what fans will accept. 

RANDOMENSS:

My fav singers: Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, Josh Turner, Gary Allen, Eric Church, Chris Cagel, Reba, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Justin Moore, Kip Moore, Hunter Hayes, Scotty McCreery, Alan Jackson

My childhood artists: Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Chris Cagel, Kelly Pickler, Kenny Chesney, Little Big Town, Reba, Blake Shelton, Josh Turner, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith

My fav song: Jonny and June by Heidi Newfield; The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia by Reba; Do You Believe Me Now by Jimmy Wayne; Long Black Train by Josh Turner; Suds in the Bucket