Country-Western Music

Country-western music is derived from several folk traditions of the southern and southwestern United States. The most decisive influence is that of the folk culture of the southern Appalachian region. Anglo-Saxon and Scotch-Irish migrants to the New World brought a rich folk cultural tradition across the Atlantic. A sense of isolation among these mountain dwellers was reinforced by the rugged terrain, which proved a barrier to communication, transportation, and the diffusion of urban culture.

The limited fertility of mountain soils made these regions unsuitable for the large-scale plantation agriculture of the southern lowlands. Westward migration transplanted the folk culture of the Southern Appalachian region to the Ozark region of Missouri and Arkansas and eventually to the Texas Hill Country. Today, all of these regions are recognized as important country music hearths. From these regions, too, is derived the term "hillbilly" music, which in the past was applied uncritically to the entire genre of country music.

The folk culture of the southern mountains blended with several other folk traditions to form the basis of modern country music. The various traditions of African-American music were woven into the fabric of emerging country music, and the religious heritage of the rural South influenced both its lyrics and musical form.

The transition from these origins to today's popular country music began in the early twentieth century. In 1925 radio station WSM in Nashville, Tennessee, began to broadcast the "Grand Ole Opry" (Figure 6-5). Today, Nashville—often called Music City—remains an important center of country-music activity. Although popular country entertainers have grown up in diverse locations throughout the United States and abroad, a majority are based in Nashville. Distinctive substyles of country- western music have emerged throughout its history. Examples are the bluegrass style of the Southeast, the country-rock and "outlaw" movement centered on Austin, and the western swing movement of the 1930s centered on the cities of Tulsa and Fort Worth.

Figure 6-5 The "Grand Ole Opry." Nashville, Tennessee is considered the center of country-music activity. In 1925, radio station WSM began broadcasting the "Grand Ole Opry," promoting the transition of country music from folk culture to popular culture

Gradually, however, country music became more popular outside its southern and southwestern core area. The spread of country music's popularity can be related to the large-scale migration of rural Southerners to northern cities during and after World War II. By the 1950s, such northern industrial cities as Cincinnati, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Akron, Flint, and Chicago were home to large communities of native Southern whites who worked in the cities' factories and brought with them their love for the hillbilly musical tradition of their hometowns.

The yearning of these migrants for the familiar rhythms of rural Southern life also contributed substantially to the content of country music. Today, the popularity of country music continues to grow. Over two thousand radio stations in the United States and Canada devoted air time to country music in 1988, as compared with just 83 stations in 1961.

Despite this nationwide diffusion, country music remains most popular in the South and Midwest. In the North and East, there are fewer radio stations devoted to country music (Figure 6-6). Not surprisingly, a large majority of country-music performers come from rural areas of the South and Southwest. Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia have produced the most country-music performers per capita.

Figure 6-6 Country-Western Music Radio Stations in North America. Although country music has diffused throughout the United States and Canada, it is still most popular in the South and Midwest, especially in less urbanized areas. Its popularity elsewhere is growing however

The contrasting images of city and country expressed in country music have helped to cement its popularity among Americans descended from natives of the rural South. Some songs evoke nostalgia for simpler places and times. Rural images recall happy childhood memories and the lost, simple values of days gone by.

Other songs depict cities as threatening, dangerous, lonely, complex, impersonal, and materialistic. The loneliness of the Southern migrant in the big city is expressed succinctly in Mel Tillis's classic "Detroit City," in which a transplanted automobile assembly-line worker describes his life in Detroit: "By day. I make the cars, by night. I make the bars." Songs like "Sidewalks of Chicago." "I Wouldn't Live in New York City." "No Milk and Honey in Baltimore." and "I'm Stuck Up Here [in New York] with Dixie on My Mind" are based on the same theme. Los Angeles is described in one popular song as "the tinseled land of lost and broken dreams."