Hayley Verrall Notes Week 4 PDF

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Week 4 -Sept 29 The 1920s and 1930s -During the years between WWI and WWII (1918-1940) companies targeted some new audiences derived from the folk traditions of the American South -Musical diversification encouraged by migration from rural communities to cities in the years following WWI Race Records and Hillbilly Music -Terms used by the American Music Industry (early 1920s- late 1940s) to classify and advertise southern music -Race Records were recordings of performances by African American musicians produced mainly for sale to African American listeners -Hillbilly or old-time music was performed by, and mainly intended for sale to, southern whites -Both bodies of music originated mainly in the American South and rooted in long-standing folk music traditions -Both genres blended older rural musical styles with aspects of national popular culture -Both genres grew out of the music industry’s efforts to develop alternative markets during a national decline in record sales -Both bodies of music provided the basis for forms of popular music that emerged after WWII Race Records -The term race was used in a positive sense in urban African American communities during the 1920s and was an early example of black nationalism -Okeh Records under the direction of Ralph Peer, was the first label to send mobile recording units into the South, seeking out and recording local talent -Paramount became one of the most important race record labels -Mostly blues, early blues -The music industry’s discovery of black music can be traced to a set of recordings made in 1920, featuring the black vaudeville performer Mamie Smith -Smith’s “Crazy Blues” was advertised in black communities and sold an astounding seventyfive thousand copies within one month -Record companies exploited and helped shape sense of a distinctive black identity Classic Blues -One of the most influential kinds of music disseminated on race records was the blues -Blues is a musical genre that emerged in black communities of the Deep South -The first blues records by African American singers were written by professional songwriters eager to cash in on the national fascination with “authentic Negro music” -Performed by vaudeville-trained rougher performers Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith -Popular with whites and blacks -More directly and deeply informed by African American musical traditions Father of the Blues: W.C Handy (1873-1958)

-The most influential of the classic blues composers -Cofounded the first African American-owned music publishing house -Biggest hit was the song “St. Louis Blues” (1914), which went on to become one of the most frequently recorded American songs of all time St. Louis Blues -Written by W.C Handy in 1914- covered many times -Represented a hybrid approach both to blues composition and to blues performance -Lyrics depict a representative blues subject and mood -Form was AABA model -A and C sections are representative of 12 bar blues songs -A sections gives way to a B section of contrasting form and character, and striking length -The B tune is arguably the one people most remember and most identify with St. Louis Blues -Graceful, insinuating rhythm of the B section suggesting aspects of both the habanera and the tango The recording we are listening to is from 1925 by Bessie Smith -Bessie Smith is accompanied by reed organ and cornet -Cornet is played by Louis Armstrong -Bessie Smith adds additional blue notes of her own to her performance and plays around the main pulse established by the accompaniment When I heard this piece it sounded very muffled and you could really hear the vocals and the cornet and the other instruments were very quiet in the background. As the song progressed and got to B the tempo changed a little bit and went a bit faster, I feel. I enjoyed hearing the cornet doing a lot of vibrato and swinging the notes. Twelve-Bar Blues -Refers to a particular arrangement of four-beat bars -Most common poetic setting is three-line stanza, in which the second line is a repetition of the first -Three essential chords that define the skeleton of the music struction is I IV V Country Blues -Also referred to as rural, down-home, or folk blues -Emerged in the Mississippi Delta -Distinctive regional styles of blues are based in the Mississippi Delta, the Piedmont region of the Carolinas and Virginia, East Texas and other parts of the south -Influenced by jump-ups, story songs, work songs, rhythmic songs -Early twentieth century the country blues was an entirely oral tradition -Process of recording shaped the evolution of the blues -Sound recording, a process rooted in urbanization and industrialization, became part of the oral tradition Charley Patton (ca. 1881-1934)

-One of the earliest known pioneers of the Mississippi Delta blues style -Charismatic figure whose performance techniques included rapping on the body of his guitar and throwing it into the air Tom Rushen Blues -Written and recorded by Charley Patton in 1929 -Has a twelve-bar form, three chords, and an AAB text When I heard this piece I only heard a piano and his voice. The tempo was a medium paced tempo, but more on the slower side. He also sounds drunk. Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897-1929) -Lived typical life of a traveling street musician by the age of fourteen; wandering from place to place -Differs from Patton’s Mississippi Delta blues styles -Vocal quality is generally more nasal and clearer -Guitar is used an extension of his voice That Black Snake Moan -Written and recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in 1926 -Voice has a moaning quality, sliding among pitches and sometimes sounding closer to speaking than singing When I heard this song, it was a faster speed and there was a riff leading into the first verse, and when I heard the voice it did sound like moaning and singing like a guitar. With lots of guitar solo parts whether it be just little notes, or a riff. -This song is much more personal the Tin Pan Alley songs in some ways Robert Johnson (1911-1938) -No country blues artist had a greater influence on later generations of blues and rock musicians -Robert Johnson’s brief life is shrouded in mystery and legend -Only eleven records (22 songs) were released during his lifetime Cross Road Blues -Written and performed by Robert Johnson, 1936 -Guitar is forcefully rhythmic and used principally as a chordal instrument -Makes use of the bottleneck technique, common among Mississippi Delta guitarist -Its like a slide, but uses neck of bottle When I heard this song the guitar was used so well, and you could really hear the guitar and how it used chords, and rhythms. Hillbilly Music -Later rechristened country and western music -The first southern musicians to be commercially recorded grew up under the influence of minstrelsy vaudeville, circuses, and the medicine show -Radio was crucial to the rapid growth of the hillbilly music market

-Musical elements -Clear, honest vocal style -Southern dialect (accent) -Nasal vocal timbre, no vibrato -Most other elements of country music come from other sources -European folk music, parlor songs, jazz, and blues -Grand Ole Opry -Nashville, home of the Grand Ole Opry is the center of country music -Was a radio show broadcast from Nashville on WSM -Many farmers and working class people who could not afford to buy new phonograph records were able to purchase a radio on a monthly installment plan Pioneers of Country Music -Country music has always been about the relationship between the country and the city, home and migration, the past and the present -Early country music records provide us with a stereoscopic image of tradition in a period of rapid change -The Carter family and Jimmie Rodgers were both discovered at the recording session in the Bristol Tennessee in August 1927 Carter Family -Born in the isolated foothills of the Clinch Mountains of Virginia -One of the most important groups in the history of country music -Leader of trio A. P. Doc Carter (1891-1960) who collected and arranged the folk songs that formed the inspiration for much of the group’s repertoire -His wife Sara Carter (1899-1979) sang most of the lead vocal parts and plated autoharp or guitar -His sister-in-law Maybelle (1909-1978) sang harmony, played guitar and autoharp, and developed an influential guitar style -Their repertoire included adaptations of old songs from the Anglo-American folk music tradition, old hymns, and sentimental songs reminiscent of turn of the century tin pan alley hits -Their image borne out in radio appearances and interviews, was one of quiet conservatism When I heard one of their songs there was lots of harmonies, and sounded like a traditional bluegrass tune with just 2 guitars and voices. Southern Gospel Music, Black and White -Commercial recordings of sacred music were popular in the South -Sacred music was important in southern culture -There were significant differences between white and black styles of gospel music

Carter Family - Gospel Ship -Straightforward, unadorned performance style on records like Gospel Ship and Can the Circle

be Unbroken is indicative of the humility and devotion that marked authentic religious faith -The unique dark vocal timbre of lead singer Sara Carter calls immediate attention to the significance of the words she is singing Black Gospel Music -Rural black churches made extensive use of music -Encouraged the development of a distinctive style for African American gospel music -Black gospel music also separated itself from other musical traditions in the black community itself -Black gospel artists were expected to perform sacred music only, not to indulge in dirty music like the blues -This explicit division between religious and secular music remained an important characteristic of African American culture for a considerable time “The Sun Didn’t Shine” The Golden Gate Quartet -Black gospel music tended to favor extroversion and an intense expressivity -This music can be highly omate -It emphasises the personal and ecstatic aspects of religious experience -These characteristics are evident in the performance with its remarkable displays of vocal virtuosity and rhythmic intricacy When I heard this piece it was acapella and it was a very fast tempo, and was easy to follow. It also sounded like a barbershop quartet, which I think this is. Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933) -The most versatile, progressive, and widely influential of all the early country recording artists -Celebrated the allure of the open road -Early country music’s biggest recording star -His influence can be seen in the public images of Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and almost every contemporary male country music star Recordings of Jimmie Rodgers -One major reason for his success was his receptivity to African American influences -In a highly successful series of recordings called blue yodels he adapted the poetic and musical forms of the blues, and aspects of blues performance styles, to his own purposes -Rodgers’s blue yodeling was a “high, lonesome sound” Rodgers’ Blue Yodel #2 1929 -Particularly close to rural black models -Conveys a sense of freedom through unpredictable phrasing and of course through the yodels that occur between stanzas -Uses guitar strictly as accompaniment Rodgers’ Waiting for a Train (1928) -Most enduringly popular record

-Ensemble of steel guitar, cornet, clarinet, and string bass joins the standard guitar backing Rodgers’s vocals -The myth of the outcast -the resourceful, lone wanderer - presented so effectively in Waiting for a Train has proven to be a potent force in country music up to the present time -Based on a strophic form When I heard this piece it sounded very bluegrass, and very old country. Rodgers’ Dreaming with Tears in My Eyes (1933) -A newly composed song by Rodgers, and Waldo L. O’Neal that also looks to the past -Lyrics provide a wonderful example of humble virtually invisible artistry -Prominent triple meter recalls waltz songs of the 19th century like “After the Ball” When I heard this piece it sounded like After the Ball, plus it also has the guitar lick of C and G. It also sounds like a waltz, and the tempo is medium, but on the slower side. Popular Music and the Great Depression (1929- ca. 1939) -Threw millions of Americans out of work, had a major impact on the music industry -Network radio became even more influential -The race record market was crushed by the economic downturn -Hillbilly and blues singers injected a note of social realism into popular music Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie -Born in Oklahoma in 1912, began his career as a hillbilly singer -In the late 1930s he migrated to California as part of the stream of impoverished “Okjes” -Guthrie composed songs were more overtly political in nature -i.e “This Land is Your Land”, “Talking Dust Bowl Blues” and “Ludlow Massacre” -After 1940 he was known primarily as a protest singer...