Big Blog 1! American Roots Music: Early Country Music

Despite what most other people feel about country music, I've always found myself liking it for some reason. Something about the consistently chill country vibe, warm vocals, and gentle instrumentals just spoke to my musical taste. It's not at all a musical genre I'd ever willing go listen to out of pure leisure, but it's nevertheless quite nice to me. That's why, after much consideration, I decided I may as well give discussing early country music a try. 

As we already learned in class, early country started to develop out of the blues in the early 20th century. Specifically out of Hillybilly music, which emerged in the 1920s from Bistol, Tennessee. The genre was a new culmination of the blues with various other existing genres: Appalachian folk music, English ballads, Irish and Celtic fiddle songs, and barn dance up-tempo tunes. It even included yodeling and singing cowboys from said barn dances! The Appalachian folk music genre is the most prominent inspiration, however - as much more of its elements was adopted or recycled in Hillybilly music, especially fiddle playing.

This overall new emergence of the Hillybilly music was quick to become incredibly popular across the United States of America - and it was particularly thanks to Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter family, who were respectively the first ever soloist and vocal group to release million-selling hit songs of the genre. Even as artists that weren't the first to ever release a country song at all - or even to release a national hit of one - they both were still the ones that succeeded and impacted the musical industry enough to start off and standardize the country music craze.

For Rodgers's, his first hit country song was specifically "Blue Yodel #1." Even though it wasn't the first ever song to use yodeling, Rodgers's song was still the first to actually significantly popularize it in the country music genre. 

While for the Carter family, there was multiple first hit country songs released at once  - including "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow," "Little Log Cabin by the Sea," "The Poor Orphan Child," and "The Storms Are on the Ocean." They even released one of their most ever notable songs just two years later: "Wildwood Flower." It was popular and impactful enough to establish itself as a standard in the country music genre - even up to present day. 

People especially began favoring the singing cowboys aspect of the genre after the 1940s came around. They were specifically lining up for the Hollywood films that were, at the time, prominently cowboy-themed and full of country music. Musical artists like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were especially notable in these films, as they built their extremely successful careers around these. Especially considering that much of the most prominent and popular music of this time period were written for the movies. It was all in all the new, big mainstream thing in America. 

Here's a few examples of such music:

Eventually, the people changed the name of country music within the same decade. It was now no longer "hillybilly music"; it was now officially acknowledged as country music.

Early country music was further influenced, too, by the artists and Western swing boom that followed after the aforementioned achievers. Coming from Texas and up to the Midwest, the newish genre of Western swing inspired various new things in country music by the early 1940s - especially instruments not so commonly used in country music yet, such as saxophones, pianos, steel guitars, and even drums - instruments that were previously regarded as too loud and brash up until the mid 1930s. Prominent Western swing artists like Bob Wills, the Light Crust Doughboys, and Milton Brown especially added to this new yet influential craze of the Western Swing as well. Here's even an example of one of Bob Wills' most popular songs of the time: "Faded Love."

Considering all that of Western swing, country music naturally borrowed quite a bit from this genre as it evolved even more. It definitely wasn't even the last time that country music would directly take inspiration from another music genre, either. With a neverending excitement for broadening more and more of their horizons, country music artists inevitably expanded the list of genre inspirations even more over the years - even as country music eventually grew out of its "early" stage. Some of the most notable genres that would inspire it later on included honky tonk, country boogie, and rockabilly.

So as you may have already overall noticed by now: early country music was a mass hotpot of already-existing music genres. Country music in general kept evolving with these genres, even though it still frequently turned to around the same instruments, musical accompaniments, and types of vocals. The most common instruments in particular included the banjo, acoustic guitar, and fiddle. 

Interestingly enough, only the acoustic guitar originated from America. And even then, the first official acoustic guitar was actually made by a German-born immigrant in America. For the banjo, it actually originated from West Africa and the slaves that came from it. As for the fiddle, it actually originated from Europe - although country music borrowed fiddle music from the Appalachian Mountains instead, since that was where multiple black and white musicians were developing the popular, European-based Appalachian folk music.

So with instruments like these, early country music naturally tended to indulge in simple, conjunct melodies. The rhythm would almost always be even more consistent and precise - whether slow or fast. The same few instrument(s) would show up in many songs, too - although some early country songs still did incorporate other instruments as well, such as harmonica and electric guitars. 

Either way, the music was always accompanied by some vocals. Both soloists and whole groups were the norm when it came to vocals - though soloists seem to be somewhat more known. Since country music was also notably most popular among working-class Americans, it was common for these singers to sing lyrics directed towards them. The language would be accessible, informal, and open-hearted in a way where the audience could relate to them - especially whenever the lyrics related to a common struggle among the people. Many early country lyrics were more lighthearted and sung with chill, charismatic voices, too - especially considering how much the Hollywood film prominence equated these music artists to star celebrities of their time. 

Early country music thus carried on with all of these flourishing in its wake. It wasn't until the 1950s when it finally came to an end; opening a new chapter to a different stage of country music as a whole. As the overall genre undergoes much more new changes from then on.

References:

“Carter Family.” Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2022. Web. https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/103002/Carter_Family 

“Carter Family discography.” Wikipedia. Updated 22 Oct 2022. Web. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Family_discography 

Dooley, Sean. “The History of Country Music: A Crooked Country Road From Jimmie Rodgers to Garth Brooks.” liveaboutdotcom. Updated 23 May 2019. Web. https://www.liveabout.com/the-history-of-country-music-934030

Egge, Sara. “The Origins of Country Muisc.” Norton Center for the Arts. 19 Mar 2017. Web.  https://nortoncenter.com/2017/03/19/the-origins-of-country-music/ 

“hillbilly music.” Dictionary.com. Web. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hillbilly-music 

“History of Fiddle.” Georgia Pick & Bow Traditional Music School. Web. http://www.georgiapickandbow.org/history-of-fiddle/ 

Lozano, Ed. “The History of the Acoustic Guitar.” GuitarSpace. Updated 20 Jul 2022. Web. https://guitarspace.org/acoustic-guitars/history-of-the-acoustic-guitar/ 

Marty. “Who Invented The Acoustic Guitar?” The Acoustic Guitarist. 3 Sept 2019. Web. https://theacousticguitarist.com/who-invented-the-acoustic-guitar/ 

“The Banjo: From Africa to America and Beyond.” McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture, The University of Tennessee. 14 Jan 2006 to 30 Apr 2006. Web. https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/exhibitions/the-banjo-from-africa-to-america-and-beyond/