Big Band A big band is a type of musical ensemble that originated in the United States and is associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately 12 to 25 musicians. The terms jazz band, jazz ensemble, jazz orchestra, stage band, society band, and dance band may describe this type of ensemble in particular contexts. Instrumentation[edit] Typical seating diagram for a big band. A standard 17-piece instrumentation evolved in the big-bands, for which many commercial arrangements are available. Some arrangements call for saxophone players to double on other woodwind instruments, such as flute, clarinet, soprano sax, or bass clarinet. History and style[edit] Paul Whiteman and his orchestra in 1921 Radio and movies[edit] Big Bands also began to appear in movies in the 1930s right on through to the 1960s. Rise and fall of swing[edit] Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee Big Bands played a major role in lifting morale during World War II.
Country Early origins[edit] Ryman Auditorium, the "Mother Church of Country Music" Immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of the Old World along with them for nearly 300 years. They brought some of their most important valuables with them, and to most of them this was an instrument: "Early Irish settlers enjoyed the fiddle because it could be played to sound sad and mournful or bright and bouncy."[7] The Irish fiddle, the German-derived dulcimer, the Italian mandolin, the Spanish guitar, and the West African banjo[8] were the most common musical instruments. According to historian Bill Malone in Country Music U.S.A, country music was "introduced to the world as a southern phenomenon "Country music is the combination of African and European folk songs coming together and doing a little waltz right here in the American south. Country music is often erroneously thought of as solely the creation of European Americans. Hillbilly boogie[edit]
Western Swing This article is about the musical subgenre. For the dance, see West Coast Swing. Western swing differs in several ways from the music played by the nationally popular horn-driven big swing bands of the same era. In Western bands—even the fully orchestrated bands—vocals and other instruments followed the fiddle's lead. Additionally, although popular horn bands tended to arrange and score their music, most Western bands improvised freely, either by soloists or collectively.[11] Prominent groups during the peak of Western swing's popularity included The Light Crust Doughboys, Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys, Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies, and Spade Cooley and His Orchestra. According to legendary guitarist Merle Travis, "Western swing is nothing more than a group of talented country boys, unschooled in music, but playing the music they feel, beating a solid two-four rhythm to the harmonies that buzz around their brains. History[edit] Origin of the name[edit] Bob Wills
Outlaw Country Willie Nelson History[edit] Origins[edit] The roots of the outlaw movement can be traced to the 1950s. David Allan Coe at the time was a patched member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, a notorious one percenter motorcycle club. The 1960s was a decade of enormous change, and that change was also reflected in the music of the time. L-R Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings at Willie's 1972 4th of July Picnic. Development[edit] Other Texans, like Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle and Guy Clark, have developed the outlaw ethos through their songs and their lifestyles. Although Johnny Cash spent most of his time in Arkansas and Tennessee, he experienced a revival of his career with the outlaw movement, especially after his live albums At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin, both of which were recorded in prisons. Female outlaws[edit] Another woman who achieved the Outlaw success of her male counterparts was Sammi Smith, a singer from California. Texas country[edit] Notable artists[edit]
Bluegrass Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. Bluegrass was inspired by the music of Appalachia.[1] It has mixed roots in Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English[2] traditional music, and also later influenced by the music of African-Americans[3] through incorporation of jazz elements. Bluegrass music has attracted a diverse following worldwide. Characteristics[edit] Instrumentation[edit] Unlike mainstream country music, bluegrass is traditionally played on acoustic stringed instruments. Instrumentation has been an ongoing topic of debate. Vocals[edit] Apart from specific instrumentation, a distinguishing characteristic of bluegrass is vocal harmony featuring two, three, or four parts, often with a dissonant or modal sound in the highest voice (see modal frame), a style described as the "high, lonesome sound Themes[edit] History[edit] Creation[edit] Classification[edit] Origin of name[edit] "Oh, (Monroe) was the first. First generation[edit]
Old-Timey or Hillbilly Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of various cultures of Ireland, Britain, Africa, and Continental Europe. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, flatfoot dancing, buck dancing, and clogging. The genre also encompasses ballads and other types of folk songs. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering on a combination of fiddle and plucked string instruments (most often the guitar and banjo). History[edit] Reflecting the cultures that settled North America, the roots of old-time music are in the traditional musics of the British Isles (primarily English and Scottish) and Ireland. The term "old-time"[edit] With its origins in traditional music of Europe and Africa, old-time music represents perhaps the oldest form of North American traditional music other than Native American music, and thus the term "old-time" is an appropriate one. Other sources[edit] Revival[edit] Appalachia[edit]
Bakersfield History[edit] Two important British Invasion-era rock bands also displayed some Bakersfield influences. The Beatles recorded a popular version of Owens' "Act Naturally". Years later, The Rolling Stones made their connection explicit in the lyrics of the very Bakersfield-sounding Far Away Eyes, which begins: "I was driving home early Sunday morning, through Bakersfield ...". The Bakersfield Sound has such a large influence on the West Coast music scene that many small guitar companies set up shop in Bakersfield in the 1960s. The biggest of significance was the Mosrite guitar company that still influences rock, country, and jazz music to this day. Buck Owens and The Buckaroos[edit] Buck Owens and the Buckaroos developed it further, incorporating different styles of music to fit his music tastes. Other successful artists[edit] In an interview, Dwight Yoakam defined the term "Bakersfield sound": References[edit] ^ Jump up to: a b c d e McNutt, Randy (2002). External links[edit]
Honky-tonk The term "honky-tonk" has also been applied to various styles of 20th-century American music. Many Country music musicians, such as Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and Ernest Tubb, got their start in honky-tonks. Etymology[edit] The origin of the term honky-tonk is unknown.[1] The earliest-known printed use of the word is a report in the Fort Worth Daily Gazette, January 24, 1889 that a, "petition to the council is being circulated for signatures, asking that the Honky Tonk theater on Main Street be reopened The fact that the early uses of the word in print mostly appear along a corridor roughly coinciding with cattle drive trails extending from Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas and into South-Central Oklahoma, suggest that the origin of the word may have been a localism spread by cowboys driving cattle to market. One theory is that the "tonk" portion of the name may have come from a brand name of piano. History[edit] "Do you know what a honky tonk is? Origins of the establishment[edit] Bars[edit]
Ragtime Second edition cover of "Maple Leaf Rag." It is one of the most famous rags. Ragtime (with Joplin's work at the forefront) has been cited as an American equivalent of minuets by Mozart, mazurkas by Chopin, or waltzes by Brahms.[10] Ragtime influenced classical composers including Erik Satie, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky.[11][12] Historical context[edit] Ragtime originated in African American music in the late 19th century, descending from the jigs and march music played by black bands.[13] By the start of the 20th century, it became widely popular throughout North America and was listened and danced to, performed, and written by people of many different subcultures. Some early piano rags are entitled marches, and "jig" and "rag" were used interchangeably in the mid-1890s.[13] Ragtime was also preceded by its close relative the cakewalk. The emergence of mature ragtime is usually dated to 1897, the year in which several important early rags were published. Musical form[edit]
Western Swing Western music is a form of American folk music composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Directly related musically to old English, Scottish, and Irish folk ballads, Western music celebrates the life of the cowboy on the open ranges and prairies of Western North America.[1] The Mexican folk music of the American Southwest also influenced the development of this genre. Western music shares similar roots with Appalachian music (also called hillbilly music), which developed in Appalachia separately from, but parallel to, the Western music genre. Reflecting the realities of the open range and ranch houses where the music originated, the early cowboy bands were string bands supplemented occasionally with the harmonica. Otto Gray, an early cowboy band leader, stated authentic Western music had only three rhythms, all coming from the gaits of the cowpony–walk, trot, and lope. In 1908, N. Notes Bibliography Cannon, Hal.