To follow up on Cadelaria’s analogy, you can watch this video of Taylor Swift at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards: http://youtu.be/99sX-5GlSuU

What is it in this performance that makes this “country?”

For further reading on cross over artists in country music, here is a short article in the New York Times that just came out about Miranda Lamert.  The journalist touches on the “authentic” sound of country, as well as “outlaw” elements that will be discussed later.  “On Top of Country but Also Above It”:

So she’s bigger than country, free and clear, not entrenched in anything, it seems. She has written many songs about reckless or enraged women; she has done I destroy men (“Down”) and destroying men is just too easy (“Guilty in Here”), but these are just tropes. For the most part she’s been interested in the details of moral compromise, over acoustic music with rock drums, and bits of studio spontaneity; but loud and chafing electric guitar solos aren’t out of place in her records either.

She is not completely convincing as an outlaw, and this doesn’t matter at all. Though she likes rough voices like Chris Knight’s and Steve Earle’s, hers is animated and clean and agreeable, not particularly spiteful or stubborn. Cigarettes show up regularly in her songs, as metaphors and as weapons, but she has assured interviewers she doesn’t smoke. She and her husband claim to favor the same drink: Bacardi rum and Crystal Light, which sounds either like a private joke or the drink of someone who doesn’t especially care about drinking.

It’s always good to be reminded that the notion of authenticity in pop music is neutral, or perhaps worthless: so far, this may be her greatest and farthest-reaching lesson.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/arts/music/miranda-lambert-to-release-four-the-record.html

The Creation of the Nashville Sound

A side note….

Here, the use of the “Mainstream” sound vs. the “Nashville” sound can be very confusing.  I would associate “Mainstream” with country music GOING mainstream in the 1950s due to commercialization and the inclusion of pop styles (back-up vocals and drums) into country.  On the other hand, I would associate the “Nashville” sound not only with the city of Nashville, but also with both the inclusion of pop styles (back-up vocals and drums) AND the elements listed below.

The Nashville Sound:

Since the early 1940’s, Nashville existed as a center for the commercialization of country music due to the WSM radio station and the Grand Ole Opry.  Because of the region and high number of country musicians in the area, recording came to take place in Nashville, as opposed to the other recording hubs, New York and Chicago.  As people saw the market increase, independent record companies began to sprang up, bringing to town recording and audio engineers, session musicians and song writers.

Some elements of The Nashville Sound:

Electric Bass

Elegant Strings (not the fiddle)

Back-up singers

Echo effects

Over-dubbing (or multi-tracking)

Bumping the song up a Half-Step: Dolly Parton singing, “Here You Come Again” http://youtu.be/1yyNT7afVSs

Outlaw Country: The “Anti-Nashville” Sound

As you would imagine, when anything goes mainstream, there will usually be some sort of backlash, often this backlash is associated with a younger generation.   The PERFECT location for this to occur in the 1970s was AUSTIN, TEXAS due mainly to the combination of cowboy and ranch culture plus the “hippies”, or students, from the University of Texas.  Not only was this a meeting of different lifestyles, but it was also throw back to a pre-Nashville sound.  Musicians began to look to the music of their predecessors (Jimmy Rogers, Hank Williams, Roy Acuff) for inspiration in the development of their own style.   

The best example we have of an outlaw musician is Willie Nelson, pictured below left.  Other musicians soon followed in his footsteps.  In the ‘80s Johnny Cash, Weylon Jennings and Kris Kirstofferson joined Nelson to form “The Highwaymen”, or as wikipedia puts, a country supergroup. 

Hank Williams’ version on a radio show in the ‘50s: 

http://youtu.be/LP_lxNcICqE

Willie Nelson’s version, performed here in 1975: http://youtu.be/6u8D33fJs4M

Listen for: Stripped down sound – minimal drums – simple instrumentation

The “Bluegrass Sound”

            Just as the “outlaws” looked to the past to hold on to tradition, the bluegrass genre behaves in a similar manner, but more so focused on the retention of traditional string instrumentation, like guitar, mandolin, banjo and fiddle. 

            Lilly Brothers

A rendition of the African American folk ballad “John Henry” is discussed in your book on p. 25, sung by Arthur Bell.  Candelaria includes this song as an example of not only a folk ballad, but also a work song that can have improvisation to extend its length until the task at hand is finished. 

Indicative of traditional music coming out of the rural southeast region, bluegrass music is characterized by quick tempo, clear singing tone and virtuosic mandolin and banjo technique.  As Candelaria explains in the text on p. 99, the man most responsible for the solidification of bluegrass as a southern music genre was Bill Monroe, most well known for his mandolin playing.  Monroe’s high-pitched singing style and quick mandolin technique became part of the “bluegrass sound”, as did the return of the fiddle.   

The genre these musicians established in indicative in the music of The Lilly Brothers, led by banjo player, Don Stover. The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover have impeccable Southern Appalachian credentials, but they also had a tremendous following in Boston, where they performed regularly in the 60s and 70s, and throughout the Northeast. In a way, this contributed to Bluegrass being perceived as folk music, rather than a branch of country. This recording features  Everett Lilly (b. 1924) on Mandolin and Don Stover (1928-1996) on banjo, and the contrasting timbres of these two instruments comes through very clearly. Bea (Michael Burt) Lilly (1921-2005) is on guitar. The song also represents the incorporation of African-American folklore, the song John Henry, into the bluegrass repertoire.

The Song “John Henry.” “John Henry”, is often considered the most famous American folk song, in terms of amount of recordings, historical importance, and number of variants.  For example, the Smithsonian Folkways Archives alone as over 180 versions of the tune.

            The hero of this ballad is almost certainly a historical person, an African-American railroad worker who lost his life in an epic contest between his own strength and a mechanized steam drill. The version of the story given on page 25 of our textbook traces the roots of the legend to the Big Bend Tunnel near Hilton West Virginia, ca. 1870. This version is based on the research of Scott Nelson, a professor of history at the College of William and Mary.

Another body of research compiled by John Garst, a folklorist and retired chemistry professor here at UGA, traces the roots of the legend to another railroad construction project near Leeds, Alabama, in 1887.  Thus, although some basis in fact can be assumed, the historical roots of the legend remain subject to research and debate.

Our textbook/anthology allows us to compare an traditional African American version of the ballad with the more recent bluegrass version.

CD 1 Track 10, was recorded at Cumins State Prison farm, near Gould Arkansas, in 1939. It is sung by Arthur Bell who was incarcerated at Cumins at the time. In this version, the song seems to be accompanied by the sound of an ax or ax handle, and it retains the characteristics of a song of gang labor blended with the ballad form.

Our current required listening, CD 2 Track 9, is the Lilly Brothers’ bluegrass version, dating from 1956-1957, before their Boston stardom.

Bluegrass version:

John Henry, he was a little bitty boy,

No bigger than the palm of your hand. 

His mammy looked down at John Henry and said,

“Johnny gonna be a steel-drivin’ man, lord, lord,

Johnny gonna be a steel drivin’ man.”

John Henry, he said to his captain,

“Captain, you’re goin’ into town.

Bring me back a nine-pound hammer,

For I want to see that railroad down, lord, lord,

I want to see that railroad down.”

John Henry said to his shaker,

“Shaker, you better pray,

For if I miss that little piece of steel,

Tomorrow be your dyin’ day, lord, lord,

Tomorrow be your dyin’ day.”

John Henry went up on the mountain.

He looked down on the other side.

The mount was so cold, John Henry was so small,

He lay down that hammer and he cried, lord, lord,

He lay down that hammer and he cried.

John Henry, he had a purty little woman. 

Her name was Polly Ann.

John Henry took sick and had to go to bed.

Polly drove the steel like a man, lord, lord,

Polly drove the steel like a man.