Nineteen Twenties, Thirties and Forties
- shaped by three cultural events: WWI, stock market crash and WWII
-After WWI: - resulted in desperate recklessness with emergence of new riotous forms of literature, arts and music
- Dubbed the “roaring twenties” and also known as the jazz age
-roaring twenties was snuffed out by the stock market crash in 1929
- Many Americans found themselves out of work during the 1930’s
- Governments answer was Roosevelt’s “new Deal” which attempted to create government work programs
- Emergence of Hitler
- 1941 America declared war on Germany
- After WWII: - more people attended college then ever
- “Baby boom”
- Baby boomers had money to spend and wanted music that was their own: emergence of rock n’ roll
The World before Rock and Roll
- 1956 – “Elvis the Pelvis” appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show
- Elvis became the central figure for rock and roll
- Rock and roll exploded in 1955 & 1956 nationwide
- developed out of three principle Sources:
-mainstream pop music
-Rhythm and Blues
- Country and Western
Building a National Audience for Music and Entertainment
National versus Regional
-No TV or internet created pockets of different regional isolated styles
- Development in radio and motion pictures played an important role in making music available to everyone
- When NBC went national in 1928 it allowed everyone to access the same music
- Mainstream pop developed by a national audience, not regionally
- Radio music was directed at the white middle class audience
- Country and blues were considered for the lower class and were only featured on regional radio
The Rise of Radio Networks in 1920’s
- Two reliable ways of reaching large audiences through radio
1. High power transmitters – reaches a large radius of several hundred miles

2. Link local and regional stations together to form a network
- could not play record on the radio before 1945, everything was performed live
-Network radio programming – soap operas, adventure shoes and comedians were all popular
The Migration of Big Corporate Money away from Radio to Television
- By late 1940s people started purchasing televisions
- All popular radio shows became popular television shows
Tin Pan Alley
Street Music Publishers and Professional song Writers
- In the first half of 20 th century sheet music was the primary way to sell music
-business was centered in an area of NYC called Tin Pan Alley
- the term Tin Pan Alley has become shorthand for not only the music produced at that time but also the way of doing business in pop music
- Tin Pan Alley Songs:
-were a sectional verse-chorus format
-the sectional chorus of the song was the part of the song that listeners were most likely to recognize
- Sectional verse chorus songs were often cast in 32 measure structure called AABA form –
(“Somewhere over the Rainbow”)
-songwriters were not performers, which often made it difficult to get songs picked up by performance artists
- Musical theatre was a great gateway to get songs heard
- Films also promoted Tin Pan Alley songs
- Best way to promote song was to get it on the radio
- The heart of the business was the sale of sheet music, so the best thing for the publisher to was to have the song recorded by a wide variety of artists
The Singer Steps Forward
The singer and Big bands
- Publishers had to bargain with band leaders and singers as well as radio producers to get songs played
- Singers and bandleaders would not perform a song if it did not serve their own career interests
-1935-1945 was considered the big band eras
- It was music that was appropriate for dancing
Frank Sinatra
- He made the singer, not the band, the star of the show
-started as a singer with the Harry James and the Tommy Dorsey Bands
- became an immediate teen idol when he went solo
- By the 1940s the big band era was over as it was too expensive to employ so many musicians
Sound of Pop in the Early 1950s
- was produced for a family audience

- sounded very “corny and stiff” (“How much is that doggy in the Window”)
Regional Styles
Country music in the Southeast in 1930’s
-remained regional until after 1945
-mostly derived from folk music of the British Isles
- Ralph peer – in search of “Hill Billy Music”
Western Music in the Southwest and California in the 1930’s
- associated with the Prairies and Cowboys
- Western swing: style of big band with a “cowboy” twist – featured rhythm section, horns, fiddles and steel guitar
Jimmie Rodgers, the First Star of Country Music
-movies helped promote western music
- Jimmie Rodgers was a national star for a brief time (died in 1933)
- Performances were solo with an acoustic guitar
Recordings and Radio Further a National Sound for Country and Western Music
Super Station Radio Broadcast in Prime Time
- Few stations played country music
- First country radio station (Opry) was launched in 1932
- By 1939 could be heard coast to coast
- went from local to national
Country Music during WWII
- When soldiers went to war it gave them an opportunity to share their culture with other people from other part of the states
- Country became popular among US Armed Forces
- When troops headed home they took their new found love for country music with them
- Many southerner s also migrated north to fill a great number of factory jobs created by the war
- This also sparked the migration of country music
Nashville Becomes Country and Western head Quarters
- For both recording and publishing
- Convenient to have everything located in one place

Hank Williams, Country Music Singer – Song Writer in the Big Business of Country and Western
A Short Career that Cast a Long Shadow
-Hank Williams stood for country music
- By 1948 was enjoying his first taste of success
-Died in 1953 however his music would be recorded for decades
Blue Grass, the new, Old-time Country Music
Bill Monroe and His Blue grass Boys
-1960’s television show Beverly Hillbillies theme showcases blue grass – “duelling banjos”
-Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys gained great popularity by the late 1940s
-more focused on instruments than singing
-by early 1950s, country had gone from mostly regional music to one a style known to most
Americans
Rural and Urban Blues
Migration Patterns from the Rural South to the Urban North
-blues was popular with black musicians and was intended for a black audience
- existed outside of mainstream pop
-result of racial segregation
- Many black southerners had to leave their field jobs in hope of finding better work up north
- When they left they brought their music with them
- Music often featured combos of electric guitars, bass, piano, drums and harmonica
Regional Radio and the Black Experience in 1950’s America
- As the white middle class began tuning into television, the radio stations scrambled to find new listeners
- Radio station in Memphis began designing their programming around local black listeners
Independent Labels and target Regional Audiences
- Sun records, Chess records, King Records, and Atlantic records are just a few examples of successful rhythm and blues labels
- major record labels only dealt with pop music, allowing small record labels to deal with the rhythm and blues market
Rhythm and Blues as a Marketing category that includes a Broad Range of Musical Styles
The Influence of Gospel Music and Rural Southern Church Traditions

- Many Southern blacks learned to sing in church
-lots of sophisticated harmony, vocal emphasis and embellishments
Chess Records and Chicago Electric Blues
- founded in 1947 by Phil and Leonard Chess
- Ike Turner scouted in bars and churches
- did the best with what they had to make r&b music
- Electric blues records had a big influence on rock and roll
Atlantic Records and Black Pop
-tried to reach a broader audience
- founded in 1948 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson, they worked on a more polished mainstream sound
- Most prominent in their era
Doo-Woop: Urban Vocal Music
-groups emerged from neighbourhoods of American urban areas
- Singers were often not able to afford instruments so groups were acapella
Rhythm and Blues as a “Dangerous Influence” on American White Youth
Stagger Lee and the Black Male Swagger
- White teenagers were becoming increasingly drawn to rhythm and blues
- Stagger Lee Myth: the idea that black men are especially driven sexually and that their greatest consequent are white women
Music2150-Unit 2
Chapter 1 Dominant Culture vs. Underground Cultures

Russian Revolution in 1917, “Red Scare”, Many Americans were afraid that a worker’s (socialist) revolution was imminent and that their way of life would be ended forever. The Scare made many Americans very suspicious of unions.

They saw unions as a manifestation of socialism, where the means of production was controlled by the workers. Many workers, on the other hand, were living in poverty and worked very long hours. They wanted a living wage and an 8-hour work day.

The Red Scare had the effect of pitting the working class against the middle and upper classes.
This minor class war (as we know, there was no revolution) was mirrored in differences between

 the music of the lower and middle classes.
Blues and country, marketed to the lower working classes, valued sincerity and earthiness.
Tin Pan Alley music, marketed to the middle class, valued polish, sumptuousness, and romantic love. Many music industry professionals assumed that the classes did not listen to each other’s music.

Marginalization of music known to appeal to lower-income white and black people on mainstream, national radio.


The reason this music was often ignored by radio programmers was largely economic, though there were certainly racist motives as well. Radio stations made money by selling advertising; advertisers targeted the largest audience that was most likely to purchase their products: the middle class. Most advertised products are aimed at the middle class.

The lower class is larger; however, it doesn’t have the disposable income available to try a variety of new products.
Mainstream before 1955
National versus regional audiences

Emergence of a national audience

Style of music were identified with particular regions of the country

The radio and motion pictures made the same kinds of entertainment available in all parts of the country with regional differences

Radio was developed at the end of the 19 th century and was originally used for military purposes and to communicate with ships over sea

1920 KDKA in Pittsburgh and WWJ in Detroit went on the air with a blend of news, local information and live music

Some pop styles became national while other styles stayed regional o Mainstream pop (Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra) heard nationally, directed at white, middle-class listening audience o Country/western and rhythm and blues were regional
Radio networks

NBC used AT&T phone lines to link up 69 stations across the country in 1928, the same news, music, drama and comedy were available everywhere in the country o Tremendous range of programming to chose from o Run from one central location, New York


The music was played live in the recording studio
Offered soap operas, adventure shows, comedies and shows and feeds from dance clubs o “The Guiding Light” in 1937 and “The Lone Ranger” in the 1930s and 40s are some examples of shows o “Amos ‘n’ Andy” in 1929—racial stereotypes
Emergence of television

By the late 1940s audience moved to television o Sound with pictures would be even more profitable o Radio shows became television shows


National television important for the emergence of rock
Radio returned to its local and regional audiences
Tin Pan Alley
Publishers and songwriters

Sheet music was the principal way to sell music

Tin Pan Alley concentrated in NYC
Tin Pan Alley follows a formal pattern

Most of these publishers belonged to ASCAP. “ASCAP” stands for the “American Society of
Composers, Artists, and Publishers”

o Purpose was to protect and license the rights to the printing of the lyrics and compositions of its members as well as charge fees for live performances of their members’ music.

Sectional verse-chorus: sectional chorus song listeners are likely to recognize (the hook), sectional verse sets the scene for the song o Verses usually tell a brief story and the chorus comments on the story or reacts emotionally to the story

AABA form: basic 32 measure structural pattern, two verses, followed by bridge and then a return to the verse

Most of the songs are love songs or fantasy
 The vocalist is often accompanied by a full band or orchestra

Successful song was recorded by a series of artists, each trying to tailor the tune to suit his or her personal style
Marketing

Usual way to get a song known was to convince a professional to perform the tune as part of a show

Broadway musicals became a prime vehicle for getting songs heard

When sound films became popular in the 1930s, musicals were released in film versions

Records helped promote songs

Best way to get a song out was to get it on the radio

Best thing for a music publisher was for a song was for it to be recorded by a wide variety of artists
Important early singers

Singers helped to popularize songs in dance bands
Big band era, 1935-1945

Celebrity of the band was the leader

Music appropriate for dancing o Rhythm section (bass, drums, piano and guitar o Horn section (trumpets, trombones and saxophones)

More emphasis to the band o Some popular songs had no words

The vocalist provided the variety

Close relationship between big band music and jazz
Bing Crosby

Pop singer in the 1930s, 40s

Relaxed, easy going

“White Christmas”

Acted in films, hosted his own radio variety show
Andrews Sisters and Mills Brothers’

Harmony singing
Frank Sinatra

Established a new model–the pop-music singer as star

Went solo in 1943

Performed with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey bands

Teen idol

“I’ve Got a Crush on You”

Most successful singers


Other big band vocalists followed
Pop in the early 1950s

Patti Page “How much is that doggie in the window”, Eddie Fisher, Tony Bennett “Rags to riches”, Johnnie Ray “Cry” o Focused on the singer

Family entertainment, avoided topics unsuitable for general audiences
Transition from pop to early rock

Directed at young people o Rowdier, youth oriented rock and roll

Tin Pan Alley caught off guard
Country and Western before 1955
BMI

“BMI” stands for “Broadcast Music Incorporated” and was formed in 1939 for the purpose of licensing the performing rights to the music of its members. o Regional music o Blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, and country/western music among others. o It was also the first organization to represent rock and roll music. o During the 1940s and 1950s, BMI was largely an organization of independent labels and artists, while ASCAP was an organization of major labels and artists. o Prior to 1940, most of the music represented by BMI would be heard only on regional radio stations, not national networks.

In 1940, a brief spat between ASCAP and the national radio networks occurred when the contract between the organizations expired. ASCAP demanded double its old fee in the new contract; the radio networks refused. o It took about a year for the issue to be resolved and in that time, no ASCAP music was heard on the air. Radio networks needed content for the airwaves and turned to the more marginal genres represented by BMI. o The national audience was briefly exposed to genres it had not heard before. When Tin
Pan Alley music returned to the air, the regional styles were not completely banished back to the margins: BMI content, especially country/western, continued to reach the mainstream audience
Regional styles
Country in the southeast

Nashville was established as the central location for this type of music in the late 1940s

Folk traditions in Appalachia, “country”

In the west “western”

Country music derives in part from British Isles

First recordings by Ralph Peer “hillbilly music”
Early artists

"Fiddlin' " John Carson

Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers

Carter Family

Roy Acuff
Western music in the southwest and California

Cowboy films helped support music, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers biggest stars

Western swing

Big band with a cowboy twist

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys

Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies
Jimmie Rodgers

Most important figure in the history of country music

"Blue Yodeler," rustic backporch singer

"Singing Brakeman," roving hobo

Constructing homespun images become the specialty of the country barn-dance radio shows
National sound for country and western

In the 1930s and 1940s most country and western music was still regional

Grand Ole Opry blanketed southern evenings with country music o NBC picked it up in 1939

Barndance did the same for the mid-west o NBC picked it up in 1933
Impact of WWII

Northerners heard country music from the people they served with

Country music became very popular among US Armed Forces
Migration

Washington, D.C., Chicago became the home of southerners who brought country and western music with them
Rise of Nashville

Grand Ole Opry had become the most highly regarded radio show in country music

Nashville became the centre for country music recording and publishing

Acuff-Rose publishing did not rely on sheet music
Hank Williams

Talented songwriter

Regular on Louisiana Hayride radio show

“lovesick blues” “Hey good looking”

Regular on Grand Ole Opry

Enjoyed less than five years of success but his music would be recorded by generations of country singers to follow

“pure country”, important influence
Bluegrass

Traced back to Bill Monroe and his blue Grass Boys

New form of commercial music, 1939

Some compare bluegrass with jazz o Virtuous instrumental soloing
*Country and western was assumed to be the music of low income whites
Rhythm and Blues before 1955
Rural and urban living
Migration and segregation

Intended for black listening audiences

Racial segregation o Middle class Americans were simply unaware of most aspects of black culture


Historical roots of blues records can be traced to the 1923 selling hit “Down hearted blues” by
Bessie Smith

W.C. Hand “Memphis Blues” and “St. Louis Blues” sold well nationally

Rural blacks began to migrate to Memphis in 1930s and 40s o Strong black music scene

Rural blues style allowed for tremendous flexibility, artists could easily add extra beats or measures

Electric blues (using electric guitars) made its way to Chicago o Most important blues centre in the country

Most of the development of rhythm and blues remained regional and outside of pop mainstream, the jump blues of Louis Jordan and his Tympani Five became popular with pop listeners
Regional radio

Commercial radio makes its profits by selling advertising time; radio stations program music that will attract that specific group being advertised to

WDIA in Memphis began programming and advertising especially to the local black population, playing rhythm and blues o These radio stations popped up across the country
Independent labels

Regional companies o Sun records in Memphis o Chess records in Chicago o King records in Cincinnati o Atlantic Records in New York

Major labels of the period had resources o Decca o Mercury o RCA-Victor o Columbia o Capital o MGM

Independent labels had to focus on local or regional markets o Could prosper because major labels were so big focused on pop leaving rhythm and blues to the independent labels/ they could thrive
Rhythm and blues, marketing, and range of style
Gospel influence

Learned to sing in church

Sophisticated harmony

Call and response between soloist and the chorus drawn from gospel practice
Chicago electric blues Chess Records

Rough-edged emotional directness

Raw, technically unsophisticated record sound

Aura of honesty

Made few concessions to white, middle-class sensibilities

Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley
Atlantic


Worked for more polished pop sound

Followed mainstream practice of focusing on singer and song

Backup arrangements structured and controlled
Doo-wop

Emerged from urban neighborhoods after WWII

Vocal arrangements were self-contained without need of accompaniment (“a capella”)

Groups form one block would challenge another in contests

Featured solo singer against vocal accompaniment

Sometimes AABA
Rhythm and blues as a dangerous influence

Racial stereotypes in the white community o Stagger Lee myth: black men are especially driven sexually and their greatest conquests are white women o White parents believed rhythm and blues was a bad influence
Hokum blues

Sexual double-entendre o Full of subtle wordplay designed for adult amusement, pocked fun at various aspects of adult relationships (sexual relations)

Big Joe Turner’s "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" o Obscene in white middle-class culture in the mid 1950s o A man tells his lover to get out of bed and make him some breakfast
Chapter 2

The 1920's, 30's, and 40's

Three crucial events shaped the 20's, 30',s and 40's
 world war one (the great war)
 the stock market crash of 1929
 world war two
 following world war one:
 10 million soldiers had died though a very small amount of these casualties were
American
 with the war over, relief was felt by americans and reflected in new literature, art, and of course, music
 radical new jazz sounds of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong helped define the
20's as the jazz age
 it became more acceptable for women to drink, smoke, and dance with men
 after the stock market crash of 1929:
 the american economy was in turmoil
 many were unemployed

Franklin Roosevelt was elected as president and promised to relieve Americans of the economic depression
 in Germany, Adolf Hitler took control and began to relieve Germans of the economic depression but under more radical and military focused way

 created the axis with Italy and Japan and led them into world war two
 During and after world war two:
 the United States were not initially involved in the war but were attacked by Japan on December 7 th , 1941
 the war ended when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
 with a large population returning to the States and with great optimism, a baby boom occured
 the implication of the baby boom was a large youth culture that soon had their own money to spend much of which was spent on music
 for the first time, much of the popular music was in the hands of the youth culture and it could be called their own: Rock and Roll!

The World Before Rock and Roll

The world of Mainstream Pop in the years leading up to 1955
 something that was distinct in popular music in the first half of the century was the emergence of a national audience
 in many parts of the country there was no quick access to media and most musical styles were contained to their particular regions
 most music was transferred between people via sheet music
 local stores would sell sheet music of popular music to be taken home and learned on pianos
 often a pianist would be on hand in a store to play pieces for customers to see which piece they liked the most
 radio technology was developed in the early nineteenth century for military purposes
 the first public broadcasts were in the 1920's with KDKA in Pittsburgh and WWJ in
Detroit broadcasting news, local information, and live music
 People in the country could tune in and hear music from nightclubs in the city

NBC went coast to coast in 1928 and regional boundaries blurred
 people all over america could hear the same broadcast at the same time
 much of the music of the 30's and 40's was directed at the white middle class
 some music, such as country and western, or rhythm and blues maintained their local boundaries as they were seen as low income music and would not get air time

The Rise of the Radio Networks in the 1920's (how did they work?)

Initially, the government would only allow a few radio stations to have exclusive use of a particular frequency
 the most effective way of reaching a large audience was to link several stations together to forms a network

NBC was the first station to do this and did so using AT&T telephone lines
 in 1928, they made their first coast to coast broadcast by linking 69 stations
 programmes could be run live from a central location and be heard in real time coast to coast
 'affiliate' local stations could also broadcast local news under large network names

 this system is still used today
 it was considered unethical to play records on the radio during the 1920's
 audiences felt tricked into thinking that they were hearing live music when it was recorded
 this provided musicians with ample work
 this influenced the formation of the American Federation of Musicians who took large steps during the 1940's to make sure records could not be played on the radio
 though the radio was centred around music, new programming such as soap operas and comedies became large hits
 to conclude, the invention of the radio and its spread from coast to coast created pop culture

The Migration of Big Corporate Money Away from Radio to Television
 by the 1940's, the audience created by radio was moving towards televisions

The radio corporation of American (RCA) directed by David Sarnoff was a key player in developing the radio and networks from the beginning

Sarnoff turned his attention towards television post WWII as more americans began to be able to afford tv's
 the transformation of local and regional radio in response to the television is what helped the development of country/western, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll

Tin Pan Alley

Sheet Music Publishers and Professional Songwriters
 though radio and television introduced people to a lot of different kinds of music, sheet music was the method through which it was sold
 the sheet music industry was concentrated in an area of new york where a large population of songwriters and producers clustered together
 it was called tin pan alley because the combination of so many artists writing songs together made it sound like a group of people hitting tin pans
 some of the more well know tin pan alley writers were irving berlin, cole porter, george and ira gershwin and jerome kern
 tin pan alley songs follows a distinct format
 known as a sectional verse-chorus where the sectional chorus is a part of the song listeners will recognize and the sectional verse tells a story or sets the scene for the song
 generally they are 32 measures written in the AABA form
 think of white christmas or over the rainbow
 sometimes there would be small deviation to the AABA form like ABAC but still took place over 32 measures
 verse chorus is rare in rock but the AABA form is common
 a successful tin pan alley song would be performed by a variety of different professional musicians who would tailor it to their own likings
 it was rarely performed by the songwriters
 this made the songwriter and producers more money
 to get the song played, producers would pitch the song to well known musicians to have

it played as part of a show
 sometimes producers would place someone in the audience who would stand up midshow and offer a rendition of a new song
 this was seen as unethical and could get the 'song plugger' in a lot of trouble
 broadway became a vehical for tin pan alley songs and was followed by movies
 ideally, producers would get their songs played on the radio
 the best form of success was to have it be recorded by a variety of musicians
 The Singer Steps Forward

The singer and Big Bands
 the era from 1935 to 1945 is considered the big band era
 the most popular kind of music to play for these bands was dance music
 a heavy rhythm section of bass, drums, piano, guitar, with horns created arrangement of tin pan alley songs which provided music for dancing and showed of the musical skill of the musicians
 some leaders of big bands were benny goodman, tommy dorsey, jimmy dorsey, and glen miller
 singers were featured artists
 emphasis was placed on the band and singers were not always focused on making some aspects of tin pan alley big band music much the opposite of rock and roll
 close ties between big band music and jazz can be made
 some singers established themselves as frontliners in the big band era
 the most notable of which bing crosby
 he was also a well known actor and promoted a wholesome, easygoing and relaxed image
 the andrews sister and the mills brothers also made themselves important figures
 often sang harmonies and can be attributed to influencing the doo-wop and girl groups of the 1950's and 60's

Frank Sinatra
 frank sinatra established himself by building on bing crosby's accomplishments making the singer the center of the big bank and paved the way for rock and roll singers such as elvis and pat boone
 sinatra made himself into a rebelious and sensual teen idol
 sinatra was a preview of the roc and roll hysteria that would take place a decade after him having fans grabbing at him and fainting at his concerts
 however, he never let go of his musician roots and gave much credit to his study of singing
 played to packed well into the 80's and was one of the most successful singers of the post war era
 big bands began to break up just after the war as large bands were too expensive to employ
 smaller bands began to take over but still played rhythm based dance music
 though unfortunate for big bands, tin pan alley saw this as a good thing

 smaller bands meant more of a focus on singing which made easier sales for tin pan alley
 The Sound of Pop in the Early 1950's
 in the early 1950's much pop music is dismissed as corny and stiff in comparison to rhythm and blues of the time
 an important aspect of early 1950's pop is that is was directed towards family audiences
 pop avoided anything that might be offensive
 'im sittin on top of the worl' by les paul and mary ford is an example of happy and wholesome sound of early 1950's pop
 however, it is very technically complex and has the first example of layering
 though much of the music of the early 1950's was directed at the white middle class, some aspects of the music began to turn to a rowdier youth culture
 by the mid 1950's pop culture had created a platform for rock and roll
 with singers as the focus and performances aiming for sensuality and emotion

The Growth of Country and Western Music

Regional Styles

Country music in the southeast in the 1930s
 Until 1945, country and western music remained local music styles
 it didn't enter the main stream until the late 1940's when it nashville established itself as the country western center
 country music in the south east can be traced back to british isle folk music and the first recordings were made by Ralph peer who was a producer and played what was known at the time as hill bill music
 peer would go from town to town setting up his recording equipment
 recorded the carter family
 the three carter sisters sang white goespel influenced music
 peer also recorded roy acuff whos band introduced the hawaiian slide guitar a style that later developed into the pedal steel guitar
 western music in the southwest and california in the 1930s
 country music is often associated with the appalachians while country is usually associated with the open prairies of the southwest
 gene autry was the first of the singing cowboys to appear in western movies
 he and roy rogers dominated the silver screen with patsy montana making her mark as the first move cowgirl
 bob wills and his texas playboys as well as milton brown and his musical browning gave big band music a western twist
 using big bands as well as, fiddles, a steel guitar, and mariachi style trumpet parts to give a south of the border feel
 by the 40's bob will was appearing in movies and developing america's taste for western music beyond cowboy songs

Jimmie Rogers, the first star of country music
 the most important figure in early country music is jimmie rogers

 rogers was the first person to 'yodel'
 rogers was cast the image of a roaming hobo by one of his songs, the blue yodeler
 however, he was said to often where stylish clothes and be clean cut
 the manipulation of rogers image signifies the first steps towards marketing country music
 Recordings and Radio Further a National Sound for Country and Western Music
 Superstation Radio Broadcasts in prime time

Towards the mid 20's regional and national radio stations started playing country music

WSM in Nashville had the grande old opry and WLS in Chicago had the national barndance
 by 1932 WSM had become a far reaching station and by 1939 NBC started playing half hour installments of grande old opry
 national barndance had more immediate success being programmed by NBC in 1933 but grande old opry became the more predominant show
 country and western were somewhat of a novelty and had far less exposure than mainstream pop

Country Music during WWII
 during the war, americans from coast to coast found themselves living together over seas during the war
 many soldiers came home and sought out country and western music
 in addition, many southerners moved to larger cities for manufacturing jobs during the war and brought their music with them
 country and western became very popular in many bars and night clubs
 Nashville becomes country and western headquarters
 The west coast saw growth in the country western seen but nashville took ownership of the business
 nashville had been the home of the grande old opry which started in 1925 and by 1940 was the highest regarded country and western radio show
 roy acuff and fred rose began a music publishing company in 1942
 they marketed themselves differently than tin pan alley by not selling sheet music but by have musicians record their songs
 in 1946, fred rose signed hank williams as a song writer

Hank Williams, Country Music Singer Songwriter in the Big Business of Country and
Western

A short career that cast a long shadow
 hank williams is widely regarded as the most iconic country western singer/songwriter
 in 1948 willaims started performing and had his first hit with a tin pan alley song
 he became a regular on grande old opry
 he died at in 1953 at the age of 33
 his legacy became a romantic fantasy (hard living writer who died young)
 his performances were simple and came from the heart
 Bluegrass, the new, old-time country music


Bluesgrass sounds old and original but wasn't developed until the post war era
 the origin can be traced to 1939 by a bill monroe performance
 the style did not bloom until the late 40's
 in addition to singing, much bluegrass contained virtuosic musicianship and many compar bluegrass musicianship to jazz
 to conclude, the main players who pushed country and western into the mainstream were, gene autry, jimmie rogers, roy acuff and hank williams
 country was seen as the music of low income whites

Rhythm and blues in the 1940's and 50's

Rhythm and blues developed just after the war but was very contained to itself and not very maintstream
 however, this does not go to say the rhythm and blues industry itself was not developed
 white people had no familiarity with rhythm and blues
 result of racial segregation
 the reasons that white southerners moved to the big cities was the same reason many black southerners moved to the cities
 brought rhythm and blues with them
 the first blues song widely sold was down hearted blues by bessie smith
 memphis became a center for the black community and the rhythm and blues
 record companies would often go to the rural south to find musicians that may be able to repeat the success of bessie smith
 among those found was robert johnson who was very influencial to rock and roll
 johnson would often stray from a solid song structure but as blues moved into the cities and began to turn to electric instruments the structure of the songs became more concrete
 chicago became the electric blues centre
 the blues to make it to the mainstream in the 40's was 'jump' blues by louis jordan which had fast tempos, horns, and a rhythm which was easier to dance to

Regional Radio and the black experience in 1950's America

As television took over the national audience, radio needed to compete
 to hold onto a black audience, stations that featured predominantly rhythm and blues would play adds that the black community would be interested in
 this helped hold onto a black radio audience

Independent labels target regional audiences
 sun records in memphis, chess records in chicago, king records in cincinnati, and atlantic records in new york emerged as independent rhythm and blues labels
 these labels could survive because the bigger labels didnt target the black audience
 when white teenagers began to listen to rhythm and blues on the radio, the stage was set for rock and roll
 Rhythm and Blues as a marketing category that includes a broad range of musical styles

 the influence of gospel music
 many of the rhythm and blues singers learned to sing in church
 call and response was developed between priests and congregations
 Chess Records and Chicago Electric blues
 phil and leonard chess helped to develop the chicago electric blues scene
 signed howlin wolf, muddy waters, john lee hooker, little walter and bo diddley
 chess records used low quality recording equipment which made them distinct in sound and different from large labels

Atlantic and Black Pop
 atlantic tried to reach to the pop culture audience
 signed artists such as ruth brown, big joe turner, clyde mcphatter and ray charles
 atlantic singers are usually cleaner, more vocally oriented and poppy

Doo-Wop (Urban Vocal Music)
 doo-wop emerged post WWII
 it was very urban and many singers could not afford instruments so they would focus on singing
 part of the doo-wop culture was to challenge other groups and have contests on the street
 Urban talent was later found by record companies who would bring in musicians to accompany the singing
 the songs then took on an AABA form
 Rhythm and blues as a 'dangerous influence' on American (White) youth
 Stagger Lee and the black Male Swagger
 white parents worried about teens increasing interest in r&b
 this came from racial segregation and stereotyping
 Hokum Blues and fun with double meaning
 within american pop culture, limits began to be pushed with double meaning lyrics and song titles
 pistol packin papa by jimmie rogers for example
 within the black culture, a kind of music based solely on double meaning started called hokum blues
 big joe turner made a lot of hokum blues songs such as shake rattle and roll
