Prolegomena and Welcome
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| Birthplace log cabin of A.P. Carter at Maces Springs, Virginia now Hiltons Virginia. (Photo by Swampyank, 2016) CC by SA-4.0 |
by Country Music Saved My Life
Country music has enjoyed a roaring commercial success in the United States and throughout much of the world.
Taking roots in the early twentieth century among
agriculture, coal mining, logging, and manufacturing workers living in the
rural parts of the Southeast (at first called hillbilly music), and
settlers and homesteaders farm workers in the Southwest and West (where it was
originally named western music), the genre spans a broad range of
traditions and origins, reflecting the cultures that settled North America.
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| Homesteaders in North Dakota, 1898 (Photo by A. Milton) Public domain |
Coal miners in West Virginia, September 1908. (Photo by Lewis Hine). Public domain
In this connection, I cannot fail to mention the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville, back in the day the almost-totally-forgotten-now Lester McFarland and Robert Gardner earn success in what later would became known as country music. Bob and Mac werw the real precursors of the close harmony duet-style of singing, at a time country music was still pretty new.
Anyway, what all we can acknowledge is that country music derived from a melting pot of cultures, combining the ballads and folksongs took to the South by pioneers immigrants from the British Isles in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the rhythmic influenes of African immigrants, creating what would be called, back then, "mountain music" and "hillbilly music" (in another post we are still going to talk about the derogatory connotation the "hillbilly" labeling would acquire).
Kentucky School for the Blind at Louisville, June 30, 1929. Photo by Medical Heritage Library, Inc.Image page
CC by NC-SA 2.0
Although not without controversy (indeed, this is one of the most controversial points regarding the subject matter), the origins of country music (and bluegrass) as we know it today (I mean, in a sense of commercially visible cultural product) can be traced to the '20s Eastern Tennessee, where the Mountain City Fiddlers Convention was held (in May 1925), and the first recording sessions took place, capturing the "odd" sounds of mountain musicians living in the Smokies (where fiddle-laden folk tunes and song styles have been popular for generations, coming over from the British Isles since early 18th-century).
Regarded
as one of the events which helped to launch the modern country music
industry, Mountain City Fiddlers Convention was attended by an
at-the-time who's who of southern Appalachian fiddling and bluegrass
pioneers (Argil Browman, Fiddlin' John Carson, G. B. Grayson, Al Hopkins, Clarence
"Tom" Ashley, Bertie Jenkins, Uncle "Am" Stuart, Henry
Whitter, Walt Bacon, John Rector, Fiddlin' Powers).
Otherwise, the two-week Bristol recording sessions
of 1927 (conducted by Ralph Peer, scout for Victor Talking Machine
Company), and the less-known Johnson City sessions (1928 and 1929) and
Knoxville sessions (1929 and 1930) decidedly helped to shape the music of
East Tennessee, laying the groundwork for much of the country music that
followed.
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| Hat warehouse where the Bristol sessions took place. (Photo by Swampyank, 2016). CC by SA 4.0 |
Great Smoky Mountains. Photo by Ken Thomas, 2008. Public domain
Concerning the topic,
the U.S. Congress, in 1998, passed a resolution granting Bristol (on the
Tennessee and Virginia border) as the "Birthplace of Country Music",
and thus formally recognizing Bristol's critical contribution to musical
history and commercial acceptance of country music (although the Tennessee
Senate and the Virginia General Assembly had already recognized Bristol, TN,
and Bristol, VA in 1984 and 1995, respectively).
To be honest, I really don’t know if we
could say for sure that there's a "birthplace" to country music,
primarily since several cultural roots and musical genres influenced the
development of country music. I also wouldn't say that the Bristol
sessions "created" country music, as I've already read it.
Anyway, one cannot deny that the twin cities have long been a stamping ground for musicians from the nearby mountainous countryside, and the phonographic recordings made in Bristol in August of 1927 (called the "Big Bang" of country music by the Country Music Foundation) fired up the careers of the Carter Family (from Virginia) and Jimmie Rodgers (a former railroad worker from North Carolina), marking the beginning of the genre's exposure outside mountain towns like Bristol.
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| The original Carter Family Image by John Irving CC by NC-SA 2.0 |
Despite the difference in styles (while the Carter Family played old-timey string-laden mountain music, Jimmie Rodgers focused upon ballads and used the Alpine's longtime rural tradition yodeling singing style), they both became successful nationwide, and are recognized as the first widely known and first two commercially popular country music acts.
Jimmie Rodgers has been named the "Father of Country Music", and was the first artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, whilst the Carter Family have been recognized as country music's first family because their works have had an unparalleled influence on succeeding generations of country music artists; the act also formed the core of several generations of popular country musicians.
In addition to the rich cultural tradition involved in its emergence, country music evolved throughout the years, crossing over into other genres, freshening and updating its sound.
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| Jimmie Rodgers in 1931 Public domain |
Nevertheless, you don't need to be the Intel expert on the topic to enjoy this little treasure created by past geniuses. You may not be able to trace back its roots, nor identify a specific subgenre (after all, music genres are just a labeling process that should not guide our musical tastes). But if you came this far, one can assume that you enjoy country music or, at least, are just curious about the subject matter.
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| Typical landscape associated with cowboy Western music, subgenre widely popular throughout the '30s and '40s. (Supai Village, Arizona. Photo by CMSL) |
RCA Studio B's main recording room, where the '70s prevailing Countrypolitan sound was forged. Photo by Doug Force, 2014. CC by 3.0
For each selected song we offer readers an overview of country music genres, adjacent styles, artist biography and, when relevant, historical contexts in which recordings, releases, and sales were inserted.
While focusing on almost every aspect of country music, I also cover bluegrass, alt-country, Americana, Cajun, Tex-Mex, and old-time music from yesterday and today artists, both big stars and obscure, mainstream and independent.
I hope you enjoy it, and also expect to learn a lot from your comments!
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Listen here Little Log Cabin by the Sea, that would become one of the Carter Family's signature tune:
Listen here to The Soldier's Sweetheart, one of the songs Jimmie Rodgers cut in 1925's Bristol sessions:
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