MUSL-1640 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings
15 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Summary of sub-genres
neo-traditionalist
Great
credibility
scare
neither
George Strait
Dwight
Yoakam
Alabama
Ricky Skaggs
Roseanne
Cash
Reba
McEntire
Randy Travis
Steve Earle
Foster and
Lloyd
August 30, 2016
1. Waylon Jennings (1978)
a. Big flashy W thing
b. 1978 concert: Are you ready for the country? by Neil Young
i. Famous Fender electric guitar, now owned by Keith Urban
1. Got wet but turned out ok in biggest single event loss of
instruments in human history (Cumberland River)
ii. Things different from today
1. How he looks: long hair, facial hair, like hes been up for 6
nights straight doing cocaine
a. Now, most artists look like models and go to the gym
2. Nowadays, people move around a lot more, Waylon just
stands there and plays guitar
3. No big screens
a. When shows have video hookup, every single show has
to be exactly the same, band uses metronome to count
beats
b. Most modern country artists do this, but Chris Stapleton
is the outlier (different setlist every night)
c. Kenny Chesney gets nervous to play small shows
iii. Man on steel guitar doesnt look like everyone else
1. Most difficult instrument to play in country music
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a. No frets, so every millimeter difference is a different
tone
b. System of levers and pulleys on foot and knee pedals
c. Very few masters of steel guitar
2. He cant mess around like everyone else
c. An innovator
i. Are you sure Hank done it this way? challenging the direction of
country music, did they take it too far?
1. Referencing Hank Williams
ii. Rhythmic drive
d. Album: Wanted the Outlaws
2. Gram Parsons
a. Another innovator in country music, opened a lot of doors
b. From Florida and spent a lot of time in South Carolina
c. Ended up going to southern California in the 60s
d. Fell into the rock and roll world and joined a band called The Byrds
e. Once Gram joined, they became a country band ”one album, Sweetheart of
the Rodeo)
i. A lot of people were confused, but others thought it was interesting
ii. Steel guitar played by Lloyd Green
iii. Fiddles and acoustic instruments
iv. Didnt sell at the time but there are people who started playing music
because of it
f. Huge fan of classic country, rock and roll, R&B
g. Cosmic American sound, favored the energy and aggression of rock and
roll, soulfulness of R&B, and plaintive feeling of country music
h. Loved George Jones and put big LA parties to a halt by playing his music
i. George Jones known for sad, slow songs
i. After he left the Byrds, released two solo albums and went into the desert
and overdosed and died fairly young
i. Not an earth-shattering occurrence, it was common at the time
ii. His music just wasnt that popular
iii. Death can be a really good career move: people started sharing his
music
j. I Cant Dance written by Tom T. Hall ”T doesnt stand for anything)
i. Harmony vocals by Emmylou Harris
3. Emmylou Harris
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find more resources at oneclass.com
a. Born in Alabama and heard country music, but it didnt take until she met
Gram Parsons, when she started liking it
b. When Gram died in 1973, she went on to great fame and acclaim
c. Is a member of Country Music Hall of Fame
d. Two More Bottles of Wine, ”1978) sounds just like the Gram Parsons song,
but was way more successful
e. After Gram died, she employed a lot of his band
f. Boulder to Birmingham
4. Bob Dylan
a. Reason for a lot of the changes in country music
b. Known as a groundbreaking songwriter from the early 60s onward
c. Rock and roll flavor that upset a lot of his folk-leaning fans, especially when
he went electric in 1965
d. Worked to change the language of popular music
e. 1966: came to Nashville to make a cool, loud, weird, rock and roll record
called Blonde on Blonde
f. Put the list of musicians who played on his record on the back cover
g. People noticed that he was recording in Nashville with previously country
musicians
h. This signaled to the world that Nashville is more than a hillbilly sound
i. Other people come as a result
i. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band came because of this
ii. Joan Baez, popular folk singer
iii. Neil Young came to record Heart of Gold
iv. Paul McCartney
5. Paul McCartney
a. Came in 1974
b. Had been a key member of The Beatles, who broke up officially in 1970
c. Super famous, super wealthy, could go anywhere and make music with who
he wanted to, and he came to Nashville
d. Fascinated by steel guitar, called Lloyd Green, who had played with the Byrds
and plenty of country music hitmakers, been on more than 100 #1 songs
e. Also dobro=unamplified steel guitar, nearly as hard to play as a steel but no
levers and pedals
f. Sally G ”1974)
i. Goes to printers alley ”ballroom scene in the 70s) and winds up
writing a song about his fictionalized account about someone there
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
August 30, 2016: waylon jennings (1978, big flashy w thing, 1978 concert: (cid:522)are you ready for the country? (cid:523) by neil young. Famous fender electric guitar, now owned by keith urban: got wet but turned out ok in biggest single event loss of instruments in human history (cumberland river) A lot of people were confused, but others thought it was interesting. Gram parsons, when she started liking it: when gram died in 1973, she went on to great fame and acclaim. Joan baez, popular folk singer: neil young came to record (cid:522)heart of gold(cid:523) Starts (cid:522)on a warm summer(cid:519)s evening, on a train bound for nowhere(cid:523) Like a winning lottery ticket: he quit the vanderbilt computer lab job, he could have used the proceeds from this song to live the rest of his life and not do anything. Instead, he did what he wanted, which was to write songs every day: had incredible successes.
