The word country itself is old, however, recorded in English in the s. By the early s, country was being used to denote rural areas and things in distinction to urban ones. What about the actual music the phrase describes? Most people think country music began with the cowboys who sang campfire songs out on cattle drives, but its true origins are far older and more diverse that.
For instance, the banjo—an instrument prominently featured in country and bluegrass music and, as a result, associated with white people—is based on instruments black slaves brought from West Africa. Unfortunately, history has distorted these facts to make people believe jazz, blues and spirituals were the staples of black culture at that time when, in fact, it was country.
After slavery was abolished, segregation and Jim Crow laws meant that music was often separated into genres by race. But, b lack and white artists worked together in music studios more often than is thought. Nevertheless, the erasure of black artists has long been a problem in what we popularly understand as country music. But, in a much-questioned move by the leading music tracker and publication, Billboard yanked the song from its Hot Country Songs chart, where it was slated to go number one, in late March.
In fact, the only individual to have been awarded a Hollywood star in every category- film, music, television, radio, and live, was known for his roles as a kindly singing cowboy. Autry and peers such as Roy Rogers ended up creating a strong romanticized vision of the wild west which captured the imagination of America for decades to come. The history of country at this point sees it tied very closely to film. Not only did country music take influences from these Western flicks, it scored many of them.
Popular country music songs of this era not from television and film were usually ballads which would tell their own stories of heroic cowboys. Country may have been in a rough spot during this period, but the works of Honky Tonk artists such as Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, and Kitty Wells are still thought of fondly to this day. A collection of producers and records companies out of Nashville, including Columbia Records, RCA Records, and Decca Records, ended up taking America by storm with a new style of country music which focused on smoothness and polish.
The performers that these companies paired up with, such as Chet Atkins and Patsy Cline, excelled in helping create this new, more mellow sound. The typically American music genre is celebrating a global revival, with events all around Europe — even in Germany — giving it a new lease on life. This is, of course, pre-COVID; but with the gradual easing of restrictions, country fans around the globe are excited to get back on the horse.
Nashville remains the capital of country music worldwide — but the sound is being exported abroad more than ever before. Olykan says the focus of her work is "to shift perceptions about country music. For example, it's not only older people who listen to country.
It's young people. And the audiences have got younger over the years. It started back in the day when we had Taylor Swift, who never presented herself — especially in Europe — as a country artist, but she clearly was a country artist.
So she started to crossover. And Kacey Musgraves also attracted people to country soon thereafter," Olykan explains. That kind of opened the door. The rise of streaming services in the early s also made the genre more accessible, according to Baylen Leonard: "You don't have to go to the country section of a record store anymore.
You'll be listening to something on a streaming platform and then an algorithm will suggest something else you might like. Taylor Swift's crossover music is one of the factors that has resulted in country music's growing success.
The country music industry then cashed in on this development in Europe: "In , the Country to Country music festival was launched at The O2 arena in London.
By the second year, it went so well they added Glasgow and Dublin. According to Olykan, outside the US, the UK has now become the biggest target market of the genre — with the rest of Europe, especially Germany and Scandinavia, also registering major growth. Broadcaster Baylen Leonard is excited about all the growth of country music on new platforms like TikTok.
With all these modern developments, the country genre clearly is no longer all about your "achy breaky heart" — to quote a trope from the s — but rather tackles relatable issues, not just in terms of lyrics but also in terms of sound: Milly Olykan welcomes the fact that there are more and more country performers who "enter the pop space and more pop artists who enter the country space.
And I think that will be mutually beneficial. I would love to see more of such cross-genre work. Especially internationally.
Baylen Leonard, who also runs the Long Road Festival of country music, adds that those kind of collaborations are becoming increasingly interesting for the genre, highlighting that "artists are now also bringing in HipHop and RnB into country.
And that, too, is country. But even older country legends are celebrating a revival in their own right. While back in the day, country music was treated much like Thanksgiving dinner — i. Another one is that country music is white, and that it is conservative and close-minded," says Baylen Leonard.
So there are movements within country music that are challenging all those conceptions. Plus, the roots of country music are Black anyway. The banjo is an African instrument. There's perhaps none other than Dolly Parton to prove that country is moving with the times.
Half a century ago already, she boldly sang about the fate of jilted women and teenage pregnancy, trying to inject a stuffy musical genre with some of the subversive energy of the Women's Lib movement. Today, the mother of country music no longer needs to hide her messages under her impressive wigs although she still continues to don them with great style.
She's also a local hero in Tennessee.
0コメント