1. Country & Western Roots
of Rock and Roll

2. Original Folk/Country
 Early Sources: English Scottish
Ballads
 Folk Song Collector Francis James
Child, found English ballads.
Published 1882-98
 Childs Ballads often referred to by
number
 Early Irish Settlers kept music alive

3. Appalachian Mountain
Ballads
 Old Songs Kept Alive by Mountain
Settlers
 Jean Ritchie, dulcimer, Sang Songs
With Her Family
 BA Sociology, Moved to New York
1946
 Brought Her Family Songs To NYC:
Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, Oscar Brand

4. Jean Ritchie & Dulcimer

5. 1st Country Recording
 1922 Eck Robertson & Henry Gilliland
recorded Turkey in the Straw (Zip
Coon)
 1923 Ralph Peer recorded on location
he discovered Fiddlin’ John Carson
 1927 Peer recorded in Bristol TN &
discovered the Carter Family &
Jimmie Rodgers

6. The Carter Family
 One of the Most Popular Acts from
1927-1936.
 Broke up in 1936, Maybelle Carter
performed with her Daughters
 Maybelle Carter, thumb-brush guitar
style
 June Carter became a regular Grand
Ole Opry
 Married Johnny Cash

7. Jimmie Rodgers
 Father of Country Music, The Singing
Brakeman.
 Worker on the railroad, collected
African-American songs from workers
 Blue Yodel, or T For Texas (blues
without the response)
 Died 1933 at age 35

8. Country Harmony
 The Sound of Country Harmony likely
came from Shaped-Note Singing
(Sacred Harp)
 Religious Songbooks used different
shaped notes to indicate harmony.

9. Shaped-Note Music

10. Barn Dance Radio Shows
 National Barn Dance, WLS Chicago,
1924
 Grand Ole Opry, WSM Nashville, 1925
 National Life & Accident Insurance
 WSM = We Shield Millions
 Several Locations, 1940 The Ryman
Auditorium
 1970s Opry House, Opryland Hotel &
Convention Center

11. Western Music/Cowboy
Songs
 John Lomax, Cowboy Songs and
Other Frontier Ballads (1911)
 1st Recorded Cowboy Song Carl T
Sprague, When The Work’s All Done
This Fall
 The Hollywood Singing Cowboy, Sons
of the Saddle (1930)
 John Wayne started as Singing
Cowboy (1933)

12. Western Music cont.
 Singing Cowboys:
 Gene Autrey, 1935 a serial The
Phantom Empire (outer space and
cowboys).
 Roy Rogers (Leonard Sly) Song of the
Pioneers led to Movie & TV Career
with Dale Evans.
 Both Autrey and Rogers had TV
Shows

13. Western Swing
 A Combination of Swing and Cowboy
 String Band with Trumpets,
Saxophones, and Drums
 1931 Burrus Mill & Elevator Company
started the Light Crust Doughboys
 Bob Wills & the Playboys; Bob Wills
left the Doughboys in 1931 and
formed the Playboys

14. Bluegrass
 A Stylized version of Old Time Country
music
 Instrumentation:
Fiddle, Mandolin, Banjo, Guitar, String
Bass
 Vocals feature high male harmony, High
Lonesome Sound
 Monroe considered Father of Bluegrass
 Monroe Brothers recorded 60 songs
19363-8
 Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys
formed 1939 played Grand Ole Opry

15. Bluegrass
 Well-Known Bluegrass: Stanley
Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs

16. Honky Tonk
 Origin of the term is vague:
1889 there was a theater in Ft
Worth, TX called Honky Tonk Theater
 Texas/Oklahoma Bar featuring music
 Move off Farm for Urban Employment
& Breakdown of Family Structure

17. Honky Tonk cont.
 Bands: Steel Guitar & Fiddle are
Featured
 Themes: Alcohol, Adultery, Lost
Love, Loneliness
 Floyd Tillman, Hank Williams, George
Jones, Ernst Tubb, Hank Thompson