Chapter 9: Country Western Music
Chapter 9 examines how country music developed from regional folk traditions into a nationally recognized genre during the early and mid-twentieth century. Radio, recording companies, the Grand Ole Opry, and Hollywood expanded the music's audience, while performers introduced new styles such as honky-tonk, country crooning, and bluegrass that appealed to different listeners.
Important Terms
Country and Western Music – A style of American music that developed from Southern folk traditions, gospel, blues, cowboy songs, and string band music.
Hillbilly Music – An early commercial term used to market rural Southern white music before the name "country and western" became common.
Dust Bowl – A period during the 1930s when severe drought and dust storms devastated farmland across the Southern Plains.
Great Depression – The economic crisis that began in 1929 and lasted through much of the 1930s.
Appalachian Music – Folk music from the Appalachian Mountains that became a major source of early country music.
String Band – A group built around stringed instruments such as fiddle, banjo, guitar, and bass.
Race Records – Historical recording industry term for recordings marketed primarily to African American audiences.
Hillbilly Records – Historical recording industry term for recordings marketed primarily to white rural audiences.
Yodeling – A vocal technique involving rapid movement between chest voice and falsetto.
Falsetto – A vocal register above the normal singing range.
Bristol Sessions – Ralph Peer's 1927 recording sessions in Bristol, Tennessee, often called the "Big Bang of Country Music."
Copyright – Legal protection that gives creators ownership of their original work.
Royalty – A payment made to a songwriter or copyright owner when music is sold, licensed, or performed.
Carter Scratch (Carter Family Picking) – Maybelle Carter's guitar technique in which the thumb plays the melody while the fingers strum rhythm chords.
Three-Part Harmony – Three vocal parts sung together to create harmony.
Bluegrass – An acoustic country style emphasizing fast tempos, instrumental solos, and close vocal harmony.
Honky-Tonk – A country style developed in bars and dance halls featuring amplified instruments and songs about heartbreak, drinking, and loneliness.
Country Crooning – A smooth, pop-influenced country vocal style built around softer singing and polished arrangements.
Lap Steel Guitar – A guitar played horizontally with a steel bar to produce sliding notes.
Pedal Steel Guitar – A steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change string pitch while playing.
Glissando – A continuous slide between two musical notes.
Blue Notes – Notes intentionally sung or played slightly below standard pitch to create expressive tension.
Melisma – Singing a single syllable across multiple notes.
Bottleneck Slide Guitar – A guitar technique using a glass or metal slide to move smoothly between pitches.
Border Blaster – A powerful radio station broadcasting from Mexico to reach listeners in the United States.
Clear Channel Station – A high-powered radio station assigned an exclusive frequency to broadcast across long distances.
Affiliate Station – A local radio station connected to a national broadcasting network.
American Federation of Musicians (AFM) – Labor union representing professional musicians.
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) – Organization that collects royalties for songwriters and publishers.
BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) – Performance rights organization founded to represent songwriters outside ASCAP, especially country, blues, and gospel musicians.
Performance Rights Organization (PRO) – An organization that collects licensing fees and distributes royalties to songwriters and publishers.
Shellac – The material used to manufacture 78 RPM records before vinyl.
Singing Cowboy – A country performer who combined cowboy imagery with singing in films, radio, and television.
Artists Discussed
Ralph Peer – Recording producer and talent scout who discovered the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.
Fiddlin' John Carson – One of the first commercially successful country recording artists.
Riley Puckett – Early country singer known for introducing yodeling to commercial recordings.
The Carter Family – Foundational country music group whose recordings helped establish the genre.
A.P. Carter – Leader of the Carter Family who collected traditional songs throughout Appalachia.
Sara Carter – Lead singer of the Carter Family.
Maybelle Carter – Guitarist who developed the Carter Scratch technique.
June Carter – Singer who later married Johnny Cash.
Jimmie Rodgers – Early country music star known for blending folk, blues, and yodeling.
Woody Guthrie – Folk singer known for writing songs about the Great Depression and Dust Bowl.
Gene Autry – Singing cowboy who became one of country music's biggest stars through radio, film, and television.
Roy Rogers – Singing cowboy and country music entertainer.
Roy Acuff – Country singer known as the "King of Country Music."
Hank Thompson – Honky-tonk singer.
Ernest Tubb – Honky-tonk pioneer.
Kitty Wells – Honky-tonk singer who became one of country music's first major female stars.
Hank Snow – Country singer associated with honky-tonk.
George Jones – Country singer whose career began in the honky-tonk tradition.
Eddy Arnold – Country crooner known as "The Tennessee Plowboy."
Patsy Cline – Country singer influenced by the country crooning style.
Jim Reeves – Country singer associated with country crooning.
Bill Monroe – Founder of bluegrass and leader of the Blue Grass Boys.
The Blue Grass Boys – Bill Monroe's band that gave bluegrass its name.
Hank Williams – Honky-tonk singer and songwriter who became one of country music's most influential artists.
Rufus "Tee-Tot" Payne – Blues musician who taught Hank Williams guitar and blues techniques.
Fred Rose – Songwriter, producer, and one of the first inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Ralph Peer II – Later leader of Peermusic.
Songs Referenced
"Your Cheatin' Heart" – Hank Williams
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" – Hank Williams
"Crazy Blues" – Mamie Smith
"The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" – Fiddlin' John Carson
"The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Going to Crow" – Fiddlin' John Carson
"Rock All Our Babies to Sleep" – Riley Puckett
"Keep on the Sunny Side" – The Carter Family
"Worried Man Blues" – The Carter Family
"Can the Circle Be Unbroken" – The Carter Family
"My Honey Lou" – The Carter Family
"Wildwood Flower" – The Carter Family
"Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" – Traditional hymn
"Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)" – Jimmie Rodgers
"Sleep, Baby, Sleep" – Jimmie Rodgers
"The Last Roundup" – Billy Hill
"The Great Speckled Bird" – Roy Acuff
"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" – Kitty Wells
"Make the World Go Away" – Eddy Arnold
"Bouquet of Roses" – Eddy Arnold
"Lovesick Blues" – Hank Williams (written by Cliff Friend and Irving Mills)
"Move It On Over" – Hank Williams
"Hey, Good Lookin'" – Hank Williams
"Cold, Cold Heart" – Hank Williams