History of Country music
Category: Other
Updated: 19 Sep 2017
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Created byJacob Stulgis
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Earliest recordings of country
music occurred.Eck Robertson and Henry Gilliland were
the earliest recordings of country music
in 1922 when the auditioned for Victor
Records in New York City.Store furniture salesman convinced
OKeh record company to record
Fiddlin' John Carson. This caused
producers to go out to the artists,
putting them in direct contact with
the artist.Radio stations started branching to
more cities like Nashville. The radio
reached rural areas that liked listening
to string bands, folk singers, and fiddlers.A significant set of recordings
transformed the emergent country
music into a national phenomenon.Country music reached a
national audience, and evolved
with new musical style.Record labels started to pickup,
and new labels such as Decca
adopted country music as an
area of specialization.Bands like Bob Wills introduced
introduced instruments like piano,
drums, horns, and electrified steel
guitars into their essemblies.Western swing country
music had been adopted.Cowboys were prompted as
the image for country music
giving it a more respectable image.Large country music bands
sounded closely jazz ensemble
type music.During WW2 soldiers shared
country music with their colleagues
from other backgrounds.The Armed Forces Radio Network
regularly featured country music,
which came to represent ideas of
home and patriotism.Bluegrass music developed
after WW2 as a modernization
of older string band traditions.Cajun fiddler Harry Choates recorded Jole
Blon, which caught the attention of enough
independent radio DJs to turn it into a
substantial hit.KWKH in Shreveport, LA launched the
Louisiana Hayride, a barn dance radio
program that further fused Cajun traditions
with country music.Ernest Tubb and others artists led a charge
to increase the respectability of country and
change the terminology by which the music
was known, replacing hillbilly with new
labels including folk and country and
western.Country music centered on honky-tonk,
western swing, and bluegrassElvis Presley turned honky-tonk
music into rockabilly. It was characterized
by energized bass, pulsating rhythm guitar,
and brazen electric guitar solos, all supporting
vocal performance.Young listeners turned away from
country music and went towards
rock and roll.Nashville started working with
rock and roll artists such as
Elvis Presley.California rockers The Byrds recorded an
album in Nashville in an effort to fuse their
rock music with country.Female country singers gained greater
prominence. Loretta Lynn staked out musical
territory with songs about outspoken
working-class women who challenged gender
stereotypes.The songwriting community in Nashville grew
in size, prestige, and sophistication.
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