A Brief Fact of Country Music
You will discover multitudes of music genres in today's musical world. Country music is truly one of my personal favorites and so I thought I would provide a little bit of country history to the forefront. If you don't know a great deal about country music the reality is a large number of country songs tell a tale. It has been said most of these songs are about our lives, who we are and where we came from. Country music generated a couple of the most notable selling solo musical artists in history in the US. Elvis Presley's early career was naturally country hillbilly music and he proceeded to become one of the defining figures in the birth of Rock n Roll. Garth Brooks is the second bestselling solo artist in United States history and has a very popular show in Las Vegas. That's quite an amazing start. Going back in history, however, we find that Country music goes back to the early 1920's in America and it has its roots in classic folk music, Celtic music, Blues, Bluegrass and Gospel music. Early country music was termed "Hillbilly" music although the words changed to Country Music in the early 1940's. In its beginnings, Country music was pure American; the country music audience was American, its musicians and singers were American and its sound was American.
1925 brought in the era of the "Singing Cowboy" when the first cowboy song was recorded by Carl T. Sprague. The full rise in popularity of the singing cowboy wasn't really defined until talking movies starring Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter and even a young John Wayne became popular in the 1930's. John Wayne, however, didn't in reality sing; he just played the movie part of the cowboy while some other person presented the singing voice. But he was off to an awesome movie career. With the release of Television to the American people, the era of the singing cowboy movies ended in the 1950's. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers carried on their roles as "singing cowboys" in a few of the first western series produced for television. In the film Toy Story 2, "Woody's Roundup" was shown as a depiction of one of those first television series.
The 1960's introduced alterations and diversification to the country music genre as Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, June Carter Cash, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Marty Robbins, Eddie Arnold and others took over as Country music stars. Several of the country songs recorded in the 1960's crossed over to the Pop charts adding another music culture to the country sound. Many country music singers employed their songwriting skills for both themselves and other artists. Kris Kristopherson wrote many songs for country artists, however, he also wrote "Me and Bobby McGee" which Janis Joplin made popular before her untimely death. A very popular Elvis song "Kentucky Rain" was written by Eddie Rabbitt; another really good country music songwriter. Eddie Rabbitt also wrote songs for films such as the title song for "Every Which Way but Loose" starring Clint Eastwood. The 70's and 80's brought different changes to the country music scene. With the recognition of the film "Urban Cowboy" in 1980 starring John Travolta, artists like Barbara Mandrell, Alabama, the Oak Ridge Boys, The Bellamy Brothers, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and George Strait became popular among many others in the country music field. Everybody wanted to be a cowboy. As the times have developed, country music has reinvented itself to fit to these changing times. To name a few, vocalists like Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Reba McIntyre, Zac Brown Band, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts are all making their mark on the country music scene.
In closing, you should listen closely to the words of the country music songs…hear the stories about life and find out if you can locate a small amount of yourself and your life in these wonderful songs.
1925 brought in the era of the "Singing Cowboy" when the first cowboy song was recorded by Carl T. Sprague. The full rise in popularity of the singing cowboy wasn't really defined until talking movies starring Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter and even a young John Wayne became popular in the 1930's. John Wayne, however, didn't in reality sing; he just played the movie part of the cowboy while some other person presented the singing voice. But he was off to an awesome movie career. With the release of Television to the American people, the era of the singing cowboy movies ended in the 1950's. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers carried on their roles as "singing cowboys" in a few of the first western series produced for television. In the film Toy Story 2, "Woody's Roundup" was shown as a depiction of one of those first television series.
The 1960's introduced alterations and diversification to the country music genre as Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, June Carter Cash, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Marty Robbins, Eddie Arnold and others took over as Country music stars. Several of the country songs recorded in the 1960's crossed over to the Pop charts adding another music culture to the country sound. Many country music singers employed their songwriting skills for both themselves and other artists. Kris Kristopherson wrote many songs for country artists, however, he also wrote "Me and Bobby McGee" which Janis Joplin made popular before her untimely death. A very popular Elvis song "Kentucky Rain" was written by Eddie Rabbitt; another really good country music songwriter. Eddie Rabbitt also wrote songs for films such as the title song for "Every Which Way but Loose" starring Clint Eastwood. The 70's and 80's brought different changes to the country music scene. With the recognition of the film "Urban Cowboy" in 1980 starring John Travolta, artists like Barbara Mandrell, Alabama, the Oak Ridge Boys, The Bellamy Brothers, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and George Strait became popular among many others in the country music field. Everybody wanted to be a cowboy. As the times have developed, country music has reinvented itself to fit to these changing times. To name a few, vocalists like Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Reba McIntyre, Zac Brown Band, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts are all making their mark on the country music scene.
In closing, you should listen closely to the words of the country music songs…hear the stories about life and find out if you can locate a small amount of yourself and your life in these wonderful songs.
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