Big Bog: Country

     Hearing about this Big Blog, I was excited to learn more about how music genres were formed. Country, the songs are all about beer, girls, and trucks. Even though this is partly true, I wanted to learn more about the history and how it was brought to America. The country is a genre of music that originates in the Southern and Southwestern parts of the United States. Country music was first produced in the 1920s, focusing mainly on middle-working-class Americans and the so-called "blue-collar" lifestyle. In short terms, a blue-collar American lifestyle is a group of people who take part in hard manual labor. Jobs considered blue-collar include electricians, construction, mining, warehouse work, etc. Many people work "blue-collar" physically demanding jobs today, just like in history. 

    Modern country is a lot different than older country music. The main components that make up a modern country came from the Appalachian Mountains, Tennessee, and parts of Mississippi and Louisiana. Fun fact the US Congress has officially recognized and named Bristol, Tennessee, the "birthplace of country music." The accordion, banjo, bass, drums, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, washboard, and piano are used to create country-style music. These instruments are still used in modern country music, which is impressive since instruments and music have come a long way since then. There were 6 main generations of country music and how it changed.  Im going to recap the first 4 generations and then talk about today and modern country. 

    Generations of musicians blended English ballads with Celtic and Irish fiddle songs and added their own influences. The first generation was in the early 1920s, launching the country's earliest recording artists like James Gideon "Gid" Tanner. He was an old-time fiddler and a part of the band Gid Tanner and his skillet Lickers, one of the most innovative and influential string bands of this time. They were from Georgia and created the first ever "hillbilly" songs and records. They used guitars, banjos, and the fiddle, followed by their vocals, to make their music. Their kind of music is fast-paced and has many note changes, almost like what you would expect from the old country. They would sing about their jobs, daily work, and the blue-collar American life they have to live to provide and survive. Over 5 years, they created and recorded 88 sides, and their best-selling single was "Down Yonder." Down Yonder was a hillbilly breakdown, which is when a part in the song has various instruments, solo parts, and breaks. They can also repeat verses together. Breakdowns are a very popular country music style, particularly in bluegrass styles. 

    

    The next generation is from around the 1930s to the 1940s. The radio was a significant and widespread source of entertainment at this time, along with "barn dance" shows.  These shows featured country music and were all around the south, going as far North as Chicago and West to California. This was the primary way the country was spread throughout America during this time, not just staying in the South-East. Since country music made its way west, cowboy songs and Western music were popularized in Hollywood films. This caused the rise of Hiram "Hank" Williams, who was a part of many western movies and the "singing cowboys." Hank was a musician and singer-songwriter born in 1938, raised in the Great Plains, and became popular in Hollywood. He then created a string band named "Drifting Cowboys" that also appeared in these films and made other debuts. His music was a mix of jazz and country, which started as dance hall music and then became western swing. He was also one of the first country musicians to add the electric guitar to his string band. He and his band recorded 55 singles that made it to the top 10 of the Billboard country and western Best Sellers charts. One fun fact about Hank is that his songs have been remade and covered by today's most famous country singers like Luke Combs, Tim McGraw, Lainey Wilson, and Joey Allcorn. 

       

Here is a video of Lainey Wilson's cover of "Lost Highway" by Hank Williams. 

    
    The next generation started around the time World War II was coming to an end. In this period, components of Gospel music became a popular part of country music. Nearing closer to the end of the 1950s and early 1960s is when country music started to boom emerge. Since Tennessee was the "birthplace of country music," the Nashville Sound turned country music into a multimillion-dollar industry in Tennessee. This brought the rise of Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves. They were two of the most famous country artists from the Nashville area and got a great incline to the Country genre of music at this time. Cline and Reeves both died in separate plane accidents. This hit the Country music genre hard, and the loss of these two famous artists caused a significant decline in the genre's popularity during the 1960s. 

    The fourth and fifth generations were from the 1970s-1990s. This was when the use of outlaw country, country pop, and folk music were all incorporated into the country music genre. Outlaw country is a subgenre of American country music that was created by a small group of artists who fought for and won their creative freedom outside of the Nashville Sound, which dictated the majority of the country music in this era.  Outlaw was a mix of blues, rockabilly, and honky tonk music. Pretty much the main things people think of when they hear country music; are bars, girls, beer, and trucks. The people in this time and outlaw country were heavily influenced by Hank Williams, one of history's most famous country music artists. In the 1980s, artists went against the norms and rejected more polished country pop. This is the kind of country we have today. In the 1990s, stadiums, and shows started to prosper.

    The final generation of country music is from the 200s to the present. We have artists like Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Chris Lane, ERNST, Riley Green, and many others who have contributed to modern-day country music. Today, country music is much more upbeat and has hints of hip-hop blended into the songs. All these artists I listed above have hints of gospel, hip-hop, and country pop in their songs. Country music today has also shifted from a less Gospel stance and more of a patriotic view. There are still some Gospel ties into pieces, but it's steered away and added more factors and changes back a few generations ago. A new addition to country music is the use of rock in this genre, which has dramatically influenced artists from the 2000s-2010.

Here is a little playlist of the top 100 best modern-day country artists and their top hit songs. 

    CITATIONS:

Center, Norton. “The Origins of Country Music.” Centre College's Norton Center For The Arts, 23 Feb. 2022, https://nortoncenter.com/2017/03/19/the-origins-of-country-music/#:~:text=Country%20music%20originated%20in%20the,European%20immigrants%20who%20settled%20nearby.

“Country Music.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music.

“Hank Williams.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Williams.