Country music
Country (also called country and western) is a music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is primarily focused on singing stories about working-class and blue-collar American life.[2]
This article is about the music genre. For other uses, see Country music (disambiguation).Country
Country music is known for its ballads and dance tunes (i.e., "honky-tonk music") with simple form, folk lyrics, and harmonies generally accompanied by instruments such as banjos, fiddles, harmonicas, and many types of guitar (including acoustic, electric, steel, and resonator guitars).[3][4][5] Though it is primarily rooted in various forms of American folk music, such as old-time music, African-American music and Appalachian music,[6][7] many other traditions, including Mexican, Irish, and Hawaiian music, have had a formative influence on the genre.[8] Blues modes from blues music have been used extensively throughout its history as well.[9]
Once called "hillbilly music", the term country music gained popularity in the 1940s. The genre came to encompass western music, which evolved parallel to hillbilly music from similar roots, in the mid-20th century. Contemporary styles of western music include Texas country, red dirt, and Hispano- and Mexican American-led Tejano and New Mexico music,[10][11] which still exists alongside longstanding indigenous traditions.
In 2009, in the United States, country music was the most-listened-to rush-hour radio genre during the evening commute, and second-most popular in the morning commute.[12]
Generations[edit]
The first generation emerged in the 1920s, with Atlanta's music scene playing a major role in launching country's earliest recording artists. James Gideon "Gid" Tanner (1885–1960) was an American old-time fiddler and one of the earliest stars of what would come to be known as country music. His band, the Skillet Lickers, was one of the most innovative and influential string bands of the 1920s and 1930s. Its most notable members were Clayton McMichen (fiddle and vocal), Dan Hornsby (vocals), Riley Puckett (guitar and vocal) and Robert Lee Sweat (guitar). New York City record label Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin' John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records (series 15000D "Old Familiar Tunes") (Samantha Bumgarner) in 1924, and RCA Victor Records in 1927 with the first famous pioneers of the genre Jimmie Rodgers, who is widely considered the "Father of Country Music", and the first family of country music the Carter Family.[27] Many "hillbilly" musicians recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s.[28]
During the second generation (1930s–1940s), radio became a popular source of entertainment, and "barn dance" shows featuring country music were started all over the South, as far north as Chicago, and as far west as California. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville and continuing to the present day. During the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood, many featuring Gene Autry, who was known as king of the "singing cowboys," and Hank Williams. Bob Wills was another country musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a "hot string band," and who also appeared in Hollywood westerns. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, would become known as western swing. Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938.[29] Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had been played at Carnegie Hall, when Johnny Barfield recorded "Boogie Woogie".
The third generation (1950s–1960s) started at the end of World War II with "mountaineer" string band music known as bluegrass, which emerged when Bill Monroe, along with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs were introduced by Roy Acuff at the Grand Ole Opry. Gospel music remained a popular component of country music. The Native American, Hispano, and American frontier music of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico, became popular among poor communities in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas; the basic ensemble consisted of classical guitar, bass guitar, dobro or steel guitar, though some larger ensembles featured electric guitars, trumpets, keyboards (especially the honky-tonk piano, a type of tack piano), banjos, and drums. By the early 1950s it blended with rock and roll, becoming the rockabilly sound produced by Sam Phillips, Norman Petty, and Bob Keane. Musicians like Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ritchie Valens, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash emerged as enduring representatives of the style. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the Nashville sound turned country music into a multimillion-dollar industry centered in Nashville, Tennessee; Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves were two of the most broadly popular Nashville sound artists, and their deaths in separate plane crashes in the early 1960s were a factor in the genre's decline. Starting in the 1950s to the mid-1960s, western singer-songwriters such as Michael Martin Murphey and Marty Robbins rose in prominence as did others, throughout western music traditions, like New Mexico music's Al Hurricane. The late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres. In the aftermath of the British Invasion, many desired a return to the "old values" of rock n' roll. At the same time there was a lack of enthusiasm in the country sector for Nashville-produced music. What resulted was a crossbred genre known as country rock.
Fourth generation (1970s–1980s) music included outlaw country with roots in the Bakersfield sound, and country pop with roots in the countrypolitan, folk music and soft rock. Between 1972 and 1975 singer/guitarist John Denver released a series of hugely successful songs blending country and folk-rock musical styles. By the mid-1970s, Texas country and Tejano music gained popularity with performers like Freddie Fender. During the early 1980s country artists continued to see their records perform well on the pop charts. In 1980 a style of "neocountry disco music" was popularized. During the mid-1980s a group of new artists began to emerge who rejected the more polished country-pop sound that had been prominent on radio and the charts in favor of more traditional "back-to-basics" production.
During the fifth generation (the 1990s), neotraditionalists and stadium country acts prospered.
The sixth generation (2000s–present) has seen a certain amount of diversification in regard to country music styles. It has also, however, seen a shift into patriotism and conservative politics since 9/11, though such themes are less prevalent in more modern trends.[30] The influence of rock music in country has become more overt during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Most of the best-selling country songs of this era were those by Lady A, Florida Georgia Line, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Swift.[31] Hip hop also made its mark on country music with the emergence of country rap.[32] As a result, the difference between what is considered country music and other types of musical genres nowadays has less to do with the music and more to do with a performer's clothing, accent and cultural references in a song.
Al Hurricane and Al Hurricane Jr. performing New Mexico music at a fiesta in Old Town Albuquerque (2014)
Culture[edit]
Race in modern country music[edit]
The history of country music is complex, and the genre draws from influences from both African and European musical traditions.[220] Despite this multicultural origin, country music is today largely associated with white Americans. This has been attributed to the efforts to segregate the music industry by record labels, beginning in the 1920s.[221] However, because country music is a wide genre, subgenres including Indian and Hispanic country, have existed since the early 1970s.[222][223][224] Furthermore, one of the first artists to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, a famous country music show, was DeFord Bailey, who was African-American.[225] African-American rapper Lil Nas X, whose breakout song Old Town Road, a mixture of country and rap, has achieved widespread success. His aforementioned song topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs list, before controversially being removed, sparking a debate around whether the removal was racially motivated. Billboard denied these allegations, stating that the decision was purely based on musical composition.[226]
The close association of conservative values and contemporary country music began as a counter-reaction to the anti-war movement of the 1960s. Prior to this, virtually all country music, up until that point referred to as hillbilly music, lacked specific political alignment, and was instead focused on everyday problems and angst of the working class.[225] Merle Haggard's 1969 album Okie from Muskogee brought a staunchly political, conservative take on country music, which proved popular. Republican president Richard Nixon further cemented this conservative musical association during his years in office, by frequently hosting country musicians, declaring October 1970 to be country music month, and by politically pandering to audiences where country music was popular.[227]
The Country Music Association has awarded the New Artist award to a black American only twice in 63 years, and never to a Hispanic musician. The broader modern Nashville-based Country music industry has underrepresented significant black and Latino contributions within Country music, including popular subgenres such as Cajun, Creole, Tejano, and New Mexico music.[228][229][230]
Black country-music artist Mickey Guyton had been included among the nominees for the 2021 award, effectively creating a litmus-test for the genre. Guyton has expressed bewilderment that, despite substantial coverage by online platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, her music, like that of Valerie June, another black musician who embraces aspects of country in her Appalachian- and Gospel-tinged work and who has been embraced by international music audiences, is still effectively ignored by American broadcast country-music radio.[231] Guyton's 2021 album Remember Her Name in part references the case of black health-care professional Breonna Taylor,[232] who was killed in her home by police.[233]
In 2023, "Try That in a Small Town" by Jason Aldean became the subject of widespread controversy and media attention following the release of its music video. Tennessee state representative Justin Jones referred to the song as a "heinous vile racist song" which attempts to normalize "racist, violence, vigilantism and white nationalism".[234] Others understood the lyrics to be supportive of lynchings and sundown towns.[235][236] Aldean himself responded to the criticism by stating that the song at no point made any references to race, nor did he believe that such interpretations were accurate.[237]