MUAR 392 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Patsy Montana, Hobo, Telling Stories
27 May 2018
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Department
Course
Professor
3rd May
MAINSTREAM AND PERIPHERY:
HILLBILLY AND RACE MUSIC TO THE BLUES AND COUNTRY
CROONERS (?)
Male singers with close, (smooth) sentimental style, singing with full swing band or piano:
cinematic.
- Nat Kig Cole, Natue Bo
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Understand how labeling of country and R&B emerged and changed
• Recognize the musical qualities of early country (hillbilly / country & western)
• Udestad hat the geei ae eods iplied, ad soe of this gees usial
features
• Recognize the classic blues and differentiate it from country blues
• Hear the 12-bar blues progression and the blues lyric form
• Understand how country & western reached a larger audience in the late 1940s and
early 1950s
• Understand and apply the concepts of mainstream and crossover
• Engage with the concept of authenticity, and apply it to the genres we discuss today
(and / or modern parallels)
TWO NEW CATEGORIES OF MUSIC IN 1920S IN ADDITION TO POPULA‘ MU“IC
Labels sell them in homological ways. But it is messier in practice.
Italia, Jeish as a ae. Performing these identities.
Race
Hillbilly
• Catered to African Americans
• Other allusions to ethi ategories of identity
also appeaed at this tie, suh as Lati tige,
Caju ad Calpso
• Thee ae oloed ues so stitl Afia
and special that nobody but a Negro could
understand or appreciate the. P‘“ …?
• Catered to rural white
Americans
Mystical thing that only a person of that ethnicity can understand: homology and essentialism.
1. BEGINNINGS OF COUNTRY AND WESTERN
‘adio doest hae a aket fo this efoe .
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Until 1945, country and western music was largely a regional phenomenon
– ulike popular music, hih as heard on the radio networks
• ‘etaied distitie loal teds ad aets: suh as country fo southeast and
Appalahia; ad western fo West and southwest
- Two different terms at the beginning
Jimmie Rodgers (Country) and Gene Autry (And Western): present themselves differently.
‘odges: ak hoe, fo the outai feelig ≠ Aut: the sigig o-o. The gees
were codified.
COUNT‘Y MU“IC
• Origins in folk music of the British Isles. It froze when colonial.
• Early recorded by Ralph Peer, a producer who roamed the south in searh of hillilly
usi in the 1930s, to them bring them back and commercialize them.
• ‘eod opaies used the te hillill to desie oth out ad este
(despite regional difference)
• Roy Acuffs Geat “pekled Bid is also a eaple
What ae soe of the sogs otale haateistis? Wh alead looks like out?
- Prominent use of slide guitar (country and blues). Lots of overlap between blues and
country, but they were characterized as very different because racialized.
- Straight/square rhythm: not a dance music
- Biblical references: typical to country music
- Nasal tone
- Vibrato in voice
WE“TE‘N MU“IC
• Music associated with the open prairie of the cowboy
• More pervasive use of fiddle
• Lyrics more western-oriented
• Includes yodeling
o Pats Motaa, I at to Be a Coos “eetheat
- Nasal singing and vibrato.
- Country yodeling
• Weste sig as aothe gee i this atego. Booed ideas fo the big
band dance music. Feature a rhythm section and horns, but added of fiddles, steel
guitar, and mariachi-style trumpets borrowed from Mexican genres
o Bill Wills ad His Teas Plaos, Ne “a Atoio ‘ose
It is a blend. Which elements of each genres does it take?
- South-Weste asal toe, like hes talkig to us; out-vibe; ensemble borrowed a
be from swing. Some syncopations but still very straight.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
JIMMIE RODGERS
As an origin point (e.g. Bob Dylan album)
Blue Yodeler: cf. Blues. He was projected as a rustic guy, a hobo (itinerant person, displaced
peso fo oe plae to aothe. He ast like that, his fail suppoted hi. Combination
of truth and myth that produce the singer.
• 1897-1933
• One of the most important figures of early country music
• Solo performer who sang and played acoustic guitar
• Distitie sigig stle head o sogs suh as Blue Yodel fo
• Nikaes The Blue Yodele ad The “igig Bakea
o project an image of Rodgers as either a rustic back porch type or a roving hobo
(was neither, though did work as a brakeman)
• Died young after suffering from chronic tuberculosis
Cf. Jiie ‘odges, Blue Yodel # T fo Teas
- Engineer hat
- Sitting on a Porch! → codes to represent country authenticity and country music.
- The singing: yodeling, same nasal voice and the accent, sustained, strained voice =
typical to country singers.
2. ‘ACE ‘ECO‘D“
Whos akig ad uig this usi → homological.
• Included diverse number of musical styles
o Gospel Golde Gate Quatet, Golde Gate Gospel Tai, : oies ae
harmonized, there are no instruments, it is a Capella. Echoing effects: call and
response. Thee doig tai souds. Udegoud ailoads, etios of
slavery etc. Use their voices to create effects.
o Spirituals (more serious religious tones)
o Classic Blues
o Novelty (more humorous)
o Instrumental / ragtime
o Minstrel tunes
• ‘ae had positie ootatios i the s he this lael as used:
• [F]o Afia Aeias duig this peiod, it also aied positie eaigs P‘“
• ‘ae Ma sigified a peso egaged i the fight fo equal rights like “oul Ma i
the 1960s)
BESSIE SMITH
Classic blues is dependent on the gender of the performer: thee omen. It is not rhythmic
or for dancing, women telling stories about their lives.
• One of the most successful singers of 1920s
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Hillbilly and race music to the blues and country. Male singers with close, (smooth) sentimental style, singing with full swing band or piano: cinematic. Two new categories of music in 1920s in addition to (cid:862)popula mu ic(cid:863) Mystical thing that only a person of that ethnicity can understand: homology and essentialism: beginnings of country and western. Adio does(cid:374)(cid:859)t ha(cid:448)e a (cid:373)a(cid:396)ket fo(cid:396) this (cid:271)efo(cid:396)e (cid:1005)(cid:1013)(cid:1008)(cid:1009): until 1945, country and western music was largely a regional phenomenon. U(cid:374)like (cid:862)popular music,(cid:863) (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h (cid:449)as heard on the radio networks: etai(cid:374)ed disti(cid:374)(cid:272)ti(cid:448)e lo(cid:272)al t(cid:396)e(cid:374)ds a(cid:374)d a(cid:272)(cid:272)e(cid:374)ts: su(cid:272)h as (cid:862)country(cid:863) f(cid:396)o(cid:373) southeast and. Jimmie rodgers (country) and gene autry (and western): present themselves differently. Odge(cid:396)s: (cid:271)a(cid:272)k ho(cid:373)e, f(cid:396)o(cid:373) the (cid:373)ou(cid:374)tai(cid:374) feeli(cid:374)g aut(cid:396)(cid:455): (cid:862)the si(cid:374)gi(cid:374)g (cid:272)o(cid:449)-(cid:271)o(cid:455)(cid:863). The ge(cid:374)(cid:396)es were codified. (cid:862)count y(cid:863) mu ic: origins in folk music of the british isles. Prominent use of slide guitar (country and blues). Lots of overlap between blues and country, but they were characterized as very different because racialized.
