Questions and Answers
What was the original image associated with country music?
Hillbilly image
What style of music emerged when Western swing bands started playing R&B songs?
Rockabilly
What instrument was commonly used in Western swing bands?
Pedal steel guitar
Who is known as the 'man in black' in country music?
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What was the typical setting where honky tonk music was developed?
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What was a common theme in honky tonk songs?
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Who is considered one of the greatest singer-songwriters in country music?
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What was the name of the popular band led by Bob Wills?
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What region of the USA did country music develop in?
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What instrument did Maybelle Carter play?
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Who was taught how to play guitar and sing by African Americans in railroad gangs?
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What technique did Jimmie Rodgers often use in his singing?
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In what year did Jimmie Rodgers' first hit record 'Blue Yodel' sell nearly half a million copies?
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What was the name of the popular country-music variety show broadcast from Nashville, Tennessee?
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What style of music often had horse-like clip-clop rhythms and songs about lovesick cowboys and gun-fighting outlaws?
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What decade did Western music become popular?
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Study Notes
Country Music Origins
- Developed in southeastern USA as a mix of folk music from the British Isles, church music, and African American blues
- Played on instruments like acoustic guitar, mandolin, autoharp, fiddle, and banjo
Old-Time Music
- First recorded in the 1920s
- Carter Family's recordings were the most popular, with songs like "Can The Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)" and "Wildwood Flower" becoming hit records
- A.P. Carter collected folk songs and wrote new ones, singing in harmony with his sister-in-law Maybelle and wife Sarah
Jimmie Rodgers
- Another early country music star, recorded at the same sessions as the Carters
- Learned guitar and singing from African Americans in railroad gangs
- Combined blues, work chants, and old-time music in his songs
- Used a vocal technique called yodeling; his first hit record, "Blue Yodel", sold nearly half a million copies in 1927
Country Music 1930-1960
- Before TV, families listened to the radio, with the "Grand Ole Opry" being a popular live country-music variety show broadcast from Nashville, Tennessee
- Nashville became the center of the country music business
- Western music emerged, characterized by horse-like clip-clop rhythms and songs about lovesick cowboys and gun-fighting outlaws
- Singing cowboys like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers became huge country-music stars, leading to the renaming of the genre to "Country and Western music"
Western Swing and Rockabilly
- Western swing developed in Texas, Oklahoma, and California, characterized by loud music for large dance halls
- Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys were a popular Western swing band
- Rockabilly developed when Western swing bands began playing R&B songs, influencing singers like Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash
Honky Tonk and Hank Williams
- Honky tonk developed in the 1940s in working-class bars near Texas oil fields
- Characterized by acoustic and pedal steel guitars, fiddle, stand-up bass, and drums, with songs about loneliness, love, heartbreak, and pain
- Hank Williams was a prominent honky tonk singer-songwriter, known for songs like "Lovesick Blues", "Cold Cold Heart", and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"
