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Presented here are some of the artists and their contributions to music who will be featured in the Southern Music Hall of Fame.
(Click on a listing for details)
20th Century Black Gospel
African-American Influence on Bluegrass
African Influence on Southern Music
African Music
African-American Spirituals
America's Golden Music
The African-American Who Influenced Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe & Other Bluegrass Greats
Blind Blake
Cajun
The First Family of Country Music
Chet Atkins & The Nashville Sound
Delta Blues
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Early Bluegrass
Early Jazz in New Orleans
Early R&B
Early Rock N Roll
Elvis
Fasola Folk
Father of Hillbilly
Fisk Jubilee Singers
From Bebop to Modern Jazz
The Father of Country Rock
The King of Soul
James Europe
Jimmie Rodgers
John & Alan Lomax
Gertrude "Ma" Rainey
Moravians
Piedmont Blues
R&B and Alan Freed
R&B Lives On
Ricky Skaggs Returns to Bluegrass
Rockabilly
Southern Colonial Music
Storyville
Tex Mex
The Jukebox
Twentieth Century Black Gospel
Even though most of the 20th century black gospel singing took place in Chicago churches it was Afro-Americans from the South like Georgia born Tom Dorsey and Roberta Martin, originally from Arkansas, that made history in modern black gospel. Dorsey who had been playing around the Chicago area was given the opportunity in 1931 to become the music leader of the church along with Theodore Frye. Dorsey even went on to create the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses in 1932 along with establishing the Dorsey House of Music. This led to eventually Dorsey being proclaimed the Father of Gospel Music.
Certainly one of the leading female influences in that church was Roberta Martin who started working with Dorsey and Frye when they came to the Ebenezer Baptist Church. She had been in Chicago since age 10 and had a solid musical background. She realized that gospel music could not only be a talent for the Lord but also a very lucrative career. She was the first to combine both men and women into a choir that became The Roberta Main Singers who began to record and tour around the United States.
Roberta toured right into the 1940s when she decided to devote her time to both writing and arranging music and running her own publishing house. She composed over fifty songs and published close to three hundred pieces of gospel sheet music during her career from 1939 till her death in 1969.
Martin also helped to lead the way for other performers like Bessie Griffin, Marion Williams, Clara Ward and Mahalia Jackson of New Orleans, who were her contemporaries in Chicago.
African-American Influence on Bluegrass
There is no question that Bluegrass was influenced by musical traditions developed by African-Americans and before them their ancestors in Africa. We certainly know that the banjo originated from Africa.
However there are other influences especially as related to the structure of the music. For instance, when we speak of "gapped scales" we find that both Scottish-based Folk Music and African-American spirituals used the same pentatonic scale. This is noted especially with the African love of cross-rhythm which is also noted in the Scottish gaits. The African gapped scales also were found in Gaelic songs.
One major consideration is the African-American Blues tonality that is closely related to the ancient modes of British Folk Music. This blues tonality which is found in not only the Blues but also black spirituals can be found in mountain, country and jazz songs. Appalachian banjoist Doc Boggs says that he learned many of his songs from listening to race music records.
The Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe [LEFT], once said: "If you listen to my work you see that there's Blues in it." Most of the Scottish and Irish Folk songs that became the basis of Monroe's songs had a great deal in common with Blues tonality.
Certain "phrasing" in the songs and music are noted in the Blues, black spirituals and later in white Country and Bluegrass. Both Blues and Bluegrass share the so-called animated "talking" quality. Bluegrass is also characterized by what is called "high, lonesome sound" as featured in Monroe's Muleskinner Blues and Blue Moon of Kentucky. This is very much reminiscent of Afro-American "hollering" featured by singers like Lead Belly and Howlin Wolf.
Before there was Blues or Bluegrass there was English Folk Music that featured the singer singing in the highest possible pitch. This same trait was observed at an African-American festival in the early 19th century. Blues singers like Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell and Blind Lemon Jefferson also used the high pitch singing.
African Influence on Southern Music
Most of the African music that influenced Southern Music came from East Africa, which included Angola, the Ivory Coast, Dahomey (now Benin) and the western Congo (now Zaire). The slaves brought over on the ships were from numerous tribes including the Ashanti, Dahomeans, Yoruba, Bini and tribes from the Congo.
Song was the primary musical expression of these tribes who had a song for marriage, work, love, war, worship and death. They did a great deal of their communicating and story telling through songs. Of course they also had dances for the different areas of their lives that were mostly combined with songs.
The famous “call and response” that has been used in Afro-American music and song came from West African songs.
No one knows where these spirituals really originated; however we do know the impact they have had not only on Southern music and history but even worldwide. We do know that they all had themes of good vs. evil, God vs. the Devil. To these early blacks the evil was certainly slavery. The only “good” life most blacks during slavery had to look forward to was the afterlife.
The slaves were usually forced to attend the slave master’s church and learn the white man’s religion. However that did not stop them from taking the songs and changing the words to suit their circumstances or their African heritage. One of the observers of early black spirituals was English actress and writer Fanny Kemble who noted: “Presently the whole congregation uplifted their voices in a hymn, the first high wailing notes of which – sung all in unison…sent a thrill through all my nerves.” Famous songs from this era include: Heaven BellA-Ring, Lay This Body Down, Michael Row The Boat Ashore, Religion SoSweet, Can’t Stay Behind andNo Man.
In the late 18th century, blacks finally were able to form their own churches with the most notable being the African Episcopal Church. In 1801 Reverend Richard Allen published A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns Selected from Various Authors, which became the first hymnbook used by a black congregation written by a Blackman.
One of the first supporters of the Southern Music Hall of Fame and also on the Board of Advisors, Harry Turner [LEFT], has written a very informative book telling about his life-long love for R&B entitled This Magic Moment. Over the years Harry has been become friends with hundreds of the artists that have made what he calls “America’s Golden Music”.
Here’s what Harry had to say about the beginning of R&B: “And with the advent of R&B music, music traditionalists were repulsed by this unsophisticated music form. To them, music should only have been performed and recorded by trained students of music. Imagine how offended they must have been by this upstart music, performed largely by less educated blacks and aimed at black audiences!”
Besides The Clovers and Ruth Brown, Harry states that Joe Turner, Chuck Willis, Ray Charles, Lavern Baker, the Drifters, Clyde McPhatter and Ivory Joe Hunter were also pioneers in R&B music.
As R&B became more popular the music world began to see what has been called by the music industry: cross over and “cover” records.
“Sales of records by black artists increased 'crossover' appeal to white kids,” says Turner. “And seeing the popularity of the music among us teenagers, record companies (even major labels) realized there was a simple way to appeal to more kids. Using popular mainstream artists, they re-recorded songs that were already moving up the record charts. radio stations that never would have aired the original black or country versions quickly played the homogenized versions.”
“This was the birth of the infamous 'cover' record,” continues Turner. “The covers were tamer that the originals, and parents’ fears were eased sufficiently to allow their kids to buy more records.”
Here are some of the records that were “covered”:
Song Cover Version Original Version Ain’t That A Shame Pat Boone Fats Domino Tutti Fruitti Pat Boone Little Richard Sincerely The McGuire Sisters The Monglows Earth Angel The Crew Cuts The Penquins The Hilltoppers Only You The Platters Bo Weevil Teresa Brewer Fats Domino Shake Rattle & Roll Bill Haley Joe Turner
The African-American Who Influenced Bill Monroe
When you think of Bluegrass you may not normally think of African-Americans since Bluegrass has been referred to as "white blues." However the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, attributes Arnold Shultz, the son of slave, to helping him develop what would become Bluegrass.
Shultz was born in 1886 in Ohio County, Kentucky into a musical family that toured the county playing as a family band. Shultz became known for his "thumb-style" guitar playing that would become associated with Merle Travis and Chet Atkins. It was the forerunner of what would also become the jazz style of playing.
During the time that Monroe was growing up in Kentucky it was not likely that the white people of his region would associate with African-Americans. Also numerous people in this area of the Appalachians associated musical instruments with the "devil" since no instruments were allowed in the church services. Monroe had taken up music due to his severe eye problems even though it was considered a less than accepted profession. So Monroe was careful about letting anyone know about his trips to see Shultz.
It would be many years later after Shultz's death that Monroe would finally acknowledge the African-American influence of Shultz in what would become Bluegrass. This is what he said:
"There's things in my music, you know, that come from Arnold Shultz - runs that I use a lot in my music, I don't say that I make them the same way that he could make them 'cause he was powerful with it. In following a fiddle piece or a breakdown, he used a pick and he could just run from one chord to another the prettiest you've ever heard. There's no guitar picker today that could do that."
When Monroe was touring in the 40's he had African-American harmonica player, Deford Bailey, with him. Bailey went on to play for the Grand Ole Opry.
Bill Monroe & Other Bluegrass Greats
Bluegrass had its origins with the legendary Bill Monroe of Kentucky. Monroe played mandolin and his brother Charlie played guitar. The Monroe Brothers became regulars on Charlotte’s WBT beginning in 1936. This led to a RCA recording contract, however, by 1938 Charlie had left to form his own band called the Kentucky Pardners along with newcomer Lester Flatt of Overton, Tennessee. Bill formed his legendary Blue Grass Boys and landed a spot on the Grand Ole Opry by 1939, where he became a regular for the next 50 years.
Actually, the music we know as Bluegrass did not fully develop until 1945 when Bill signed with Columbia, recording his world famous Kentucky Waltz. By 1946 his band included Flatt on guitar, Earl Scruggs on banjo, Chubby Wise on fiddle and Howard Watts on bass.
In 1948 Flatt and Scruggs left to form their own band. Bill helped other bluegrass performers with their careers including Jimmy Martin, Vassar Clements, Buddy Spicher and banjoist Sonny Osborne. Bill went on to record Rawhide and Roanoke in the 50s featuring his signature mandolin playing and New Mule Skinner Blues with his signature yodeling.
Another famous bluegrass group was The Stanley Brothers of Virginia – Ralph and Carter. The Stanley Brothers have become famous for their raw, emotional duet and trio vocal harmonies. After Carter’s death in 1966, Ralph formed another band which later included well known performers Keith Whitley on guitar and Ricky Skaggs on the mandolin. In 1980 Ralph performed with Emmylou Harris on his The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn.
There is a great deal of uncertainty as to where Blind Blake [LEFT] was born – either Jacksonville, Florida or the Georgia Sea Islands but there is no controversy when it comes to naming Blake as one of the great blues artist of all times. Born in the late 1890s Blake had recorded for Paramount 80 recordings from the mid 20s to the early 30s. He has also accompanied Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, Leola Wilson, Papa Charlie Jackson and played with jazz clarinetist Johnny Dodds and pianists Charlie Spand and Little Brother Montgomery. His style of guitar playing influenced Rev. Gary Davis, Buddy Moss, Blind Boy Fuller, Josh White and even modern performers like Ry Cooder and Merle Travis.
The great Big Bill Broonzy [FAR LEFT] related to Alan Lomax [NEAR LEFT]the following story: “Well, he took my guitar – my little dollar and half guitar that I had at the time – and he set down and began to show me what a guitar could do. He made it sound like every instrument in the band – saxophone, trombone, clarinet, bass, fiddles, pianos – everything. I never seed then and I haven’t to this day yet seed no one that could take his natural fingers and pick as much guitar as Blind Blake.”
In November 1927 Blake and banjoist Gus Cannon recorded Poor Boy, Long Way fromHome; Madison Street Rag; Jazz Gypsy Blues, He’s in the Jailhouse Now; and My Money Never Runs Out. In 1990 he was finally inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
This form of music is centered in the areas of Louisiana and southeastern Texas. Originally this music descended from the French Canadians who being forced to leave their homes in Nova Scotia by the British settled in these areas of the South. They became what we know as the Cajuns who intermarried with other French people, Spanish colonials, African slaves and Native Americans. So the Cajun Music reflected this diverse heritage.
In later years the music also told about the life that the Cajuns led while living in the bayous and prairies of Louisiana. They developed a distinctive style of twin fiddling based on their old dance tunes. When the Germans began to settle in the area the Cajuns also added the diatonic accordion. So by the early 1900s a Cajun band would have at least an accordion, a fiddle, possibly a triangle and a guitar.
The first commercial recordings of Cajun Music was in 1928 when Columbia recorded accordionist Joe Falcon and his wife Cleoma. Then Victor (later RCA) and Brunswick recorded Dennis McGee, Amedee Ardion, Leo Soileau and the Walker Brothers. Prior to World War II Cajun Music was influenced by both country and western swing. During the 50s and 60s Cajun Music was influenced by both R&B and Honky-Tonk. This led to new Cajun Music stars like D.L. Menard, Aldus Roger, Doug Kershaw and Vin Bruce. The Balfa Brothers [LEFT] even played the Newport Folk Festival.
In recent years Cajun Music has again gained popularity with the hugely successful New Orleans Jazz and Blues Festival.
The First Family of Country Music
There is no question that The First Family of Country Music is the Carter Family that came from Virginia. It consisted of A. P. Carter, Maybelle Carter and Sara Carter. Alvin Pleasant Carter grew with music in his family since his Dad was a banjo player and his Mom was a ballad singer. Also his uncle, Flander Bays, who taught in singing schools, schooled A. P in shape-note music books. When A.P. returned from traveling around the country in 1915 he met and soon married Sara Dougherty, who he is reported to have met while she was sitting under a tree playing her auto-harp. A.P. and Sara began to entertain people in the surrounding area.
In 1927 Sara’s younger cousin, Maybelle Addington, joined with the Carters. She was already a very accomplished guitar player having developed what would become the “thumb brush” technique of playing and also marrying A.P’s brother Ezra. In July 1927 the Caters traveled to Bristol, Tennessee to record their first record with Victor for Ralph Peer. They recorded Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow, which would become one of the many songs that the Carters recorded for Victor over the next eight years. Other ones that became best sellers were Keep on the Sunny Side in 1928, Wabash Cannonball in 1929 and Worried Man Blues in 1930. In fact, the Carters recorded well over 300 songs for Victor, American Record, Sear’s Conqueror and Decca.
By the mid 30s the Carters were also recording for radio including the South-of-the-border giant XERA at Del Rio, where Keep on the Sunny Side became their theme song. XERA was the catalyst that enabled most of the United States to learn about the Carters. Also Maybelle’s daughters Helen, Anita and June (who later married Johnny Cash) joined and were singing at a Charlotte station when World War II broke out.
In 1943 the Carters also broke up. A.P. returned to Virginia to open a country store. Sara, who had already divorced A.P., went to California with her second husband. Maybelle and her daughters continued to perform and eventually moved to Nashville where June would meet and marry Johnny Cash.
Chet Atkins & The Nashville Sound
Many times when you think of Nashville you also think of what has become The Nashville Sound. So what is The Nashville Sound? The Nashville Sound was created when musicians and singers like Chet Atkins began to also produce music where the steel guitars and fiddles were replaced with vocal choruses and strings from the Nashville Symphony. Some of the more famous studio musicians of the Nashville Sound included Buddy Harman on the drums; guitarists Grady Martin and Hank Garland; bassist Bob Moore; steel guitarist Pete Drake and pianist Floyd Cramer.
Chester “Chet” Burton Atkins is considered one of the greatest country instrumentalists in history having influenced not only country but also rock and jazz. Atkins grew up in Luttrell, Tennessee where his father helped him musically since he was music teacher. It was while living with his father in Georgia that Atkins heard Merle Travis on WLW and became fascinated with Merles’ famous thumb and finger-picking style that led to Atkin’s own thumb and two-finger variation.
Finishing high school in Georgia, Atkins then went to Knoxville where he landed a job at WNOX in the early 40s where one of the radio executives discovered Atkin’s guitar playing talents which led to being featured at WNOX. He landed on WLS in 1946 where he was discovered by Red Foley who then took him to Nashville to be on the Prince Albert Show. After numerous other radio shows Atkins joined the Opry in 1950 at the age of 26. He also became one of the leading studio musicians recording with Hank Snow his famous Silver Bell. He was even made vice-president of RCA.
With rock n roll cutting into the country music profits Atkins began to produce what would become The Nashville Sound along with Owen Bradley of Decca, Don Law of Columbia and Ken Nelson of Capitol. Atkins took hard-country artists like Jim Reeves and Don Gibson and created successful hits that could crossover into the pop market. Other stars that Atkins produced for The Nashville Sound included Eddy Arnold, Skeeter Davis, Bobby Bare and Floyd Cramer. In 1965 Atkins signed Charlie Pride to RCA.
Atkins did not give up producing his own work and recorded with other RCA guitarists like Hank Snow, Jerry Reed, Merle Travis and Les Paul. He went on to win CMA’s Instrumentalist of the Year eleven times between 1967 and 1988. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973 and the greatest honor came when the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) gave him the lifetime achievement award in 1993.
Other well known performers that became involved with the Nashville Sound include the Anita Kerr Singers, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline and the Jordinaires.
The Blues came from the songs that the blacks sang across the cotton fields and at the plantations. The Blues according to researchers John and Alan Lomax originated from the cornfield where the famous “holler” originated. A “holler” is “a fragmentary bit of a yodel, half sung, half yelled. These “hollers” were used to tell about sadness, humor, satire, sexuality, prison and forced labor.
The Blues seems to have originated in the Mississippi Delta. Contrary to what some people may think blacks actually migrated to the Delta area in the 1890s expecting better wages. Some blacks found that if they could sing or play an instrument then they could pick up extra money.
One Blues great was Charley Patton, whom many consider the REAL Father of the Blues. He sang in cabins, on ramshackle roadhouses, in country dance halls, even in gardens and plantation house back yards. One of Patton’s most famous songs is PonyBlues.
Another great man of the Blues was “Big Bill” Broonzy who was one of 17 children born in a small Mississippi town in 1893. He found his own style, which made him one of the early recording stars of the Blues in the 1930s. He not only could sing but also played a guitar. His most famous recordings were Big Bill Blues, Bull Cow Bluesand Mistreatin’ Mama Blues. All and all he copyrighted more than 300 Blues songs!
One more great early Blues man was Robert Johnson, who is considered the Father of Delta Blues. Robert only lived until age 21 when he was murdered in 1937. His workmanship of the Blues went on to influence legends like Muddy Waters and even rock stars of the 20th century. Johnson was able to use both his voice and guitar to create astonishing effects.
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Did you know that the first so-called Jazz band was an all white group? This was the Original Dixieland Jazz Band of New Orleans. It was composed of five men who played the coronet, piano, clarinet, drums and trombone. Their first performance was in Reisenweber’s restaurant in New York in 1916. Afterwards the Band began to also play at private parties in New York and the vaudevile stage. Their first big hit was Livery Stable Blues and featured rooster sounds from the clarinet, cow moos from the trombone and horse neighing from the coronet. In addition to Livery Stables Blues the Band recorded Dixie Jass Band One-Step in 1917.
There is little disagreement that Kentucky born, Bill Monroe, is the Father of Bluegrass. However you might not aware of how music lovers came to know about this musical genre.
Mike Seeger, a well known figure in the world of folk singing from a well known family, heard Monroe and others performing at weekend festivals through out the Appalachians. Mike and his friend Ralph Rinzler, who would later become a major Bluegrass promoter, decided to make sure that people knew about bluegrass. Seeger went into Folkways studio with another of his favorites – Earl Scruggs, who Seeger considered the foremost banjo player that he had ever seen. It became the first Bluegrass LP and was titled American Banjo Scruggs Style. The brochure written by Ralph Rinzler told about Bluegrass and Bill Monroe. Rinzler wrote: “The banjo along with many of the old-time songs, had been revived and numerous ‘bluegrass’ bands, patterned on those of Scruggs and Monroe, were soon doing performances and making recordings for well-known companies.” This is refuted to be the first ever printed reference to Bluegrass music.
This record also became a crossover recording for Scruggs who was doing country in 1957. This recording also led to a major concert in Carnegie Hall staged by Alan Lomax called Folksong ’59. Scruggs and Seeger compiled another record several months later Mountain Music Bluegrass Style. Young folk music followers started taking an interest in Bluegrass and Alan Lomax wrote an article about the music in Esquire. Lomax called Bluegrass “folk music with overdrive” and “the brightest and freshest sound in American popular music today.” He further said: “The bluegrassers have developed the first true orchestral form in five hundred years of Anglo-American music, and their silvery, pinging sound provides a suitable, yet modern and ‘hot’ setting for the songs of the frontier with which America has recently fallen in love.” Lomax may have exaggerated the number of years; however; it certainly was at least three hundred.
Definitely what would become jazz got its start in New Orleans in the time just after the Civil War. The French and Spanish Creoles had been very active in the music world with performers like Lorenzo Tio, Sidney Bechet, Edward “Kid Ory and Jelly Roll Morton [LEFT]. Most Creoles had been classically trained; however with the new White League forming in 1874 the Creoles started experiencing racial prejudice and was no longer allowed to be in the higher social strata of New Orleans.
These Creole musicians began to join forces with the blacks that had been freed after the Civil War. The blacks had not been trained and basically used their blues, hollers, spirituals, field songs and African heritage for their music. Many of them had learned to play the marching band instruments that were available after the Civil War.
One of the leading black band leaders in New Orleans was cornetist Clairborne Williams and his St. Joseph Brass Band who not only played in parades but also for black cotillions in the 1880s. A Creole bandleader of renown was John Robichaux with his Excelsior Band. However it was cornetist Charles “Buddy” Bolden’s Ragtime Band that set the pace and also fixed the New Orleans jazz instrumentation of one or two coronets, clarinet, trombone, bass, guitar or banjo, and drums. These were the bands that became associated with New Orleans street performers for especially black funerals.
R&B or rhythm and blues was originally called “race” music and got its start in the Mississippi Delta region. Previous to receiving its new name from Billboard in 1949 R&B had also been called “the Harlem Hit Parade. This was the music that both southern and northern black communities listen to.
It was rooted in southern folk blues and then was further transformed by black musicians in Chicago and other northern cities. Lionel Hampton with his small band “jump-blues approach and Louis Jordan’s piano boogie-woogie added to the blues. A typical R&B group would have a rhythm section composed of a double bass or electric bass guitar, drums, guitar and either a piano or organ. The backup group would be a combination of voices, wind instruments, guitar or organ.
With the continuing popularity of R&B came the proliferation of new record companies like Savoy, King, Atlantic, Aristocrat-Chess and Sun. Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun told Jerry Wexler the following in the early 50s:
“There’s a black man living in the outskirts of Opelousaa, Louisiana. He works hard for his money; he has to be tight with a dollar. One morning he hears a song on the radio. It’s urgent, bluesy, authentic, irresistible. He becomes obsessed. He can’t live without this record. He drops every thing, jumps in his pickup, and drives twenty-five miles to the first record store he finds. If we can make that kind of music, we can make it in the business.”
Alan Freed made history by coining the term Rock N Roll. Rock N Roll became synonymous with rebellion and unruliness. Also Rock N Roll led to another musical first: crossover hits on Billboard. Before the 50s each genre of music stayed on its own chart. With Rock N Roll we saw Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock appear not only on the pop white music chart as Number 1 but also on the R&B chart in summer 1955. This was followed by Chuck Berry’s Maybellene hitting the R&B chart as Number 1 and then jumping over to the pop chart for a solid 14 weeks. Then Elvis came out with Heartbreak Hotel topping both the pop and country and western charts and then rising as far as Number 5 on the R&B chart.
There were some performers during the 50s that did not consider themselves rockers. One was Ray Charles who said: “My stuff was more adult. It was more difficult for teenagers to relate to…more serious, filled with more despair than anything you’d associate with rock n roll.”
Rock and Roll also help to lead another rebellion with Civil Rights taking front stage in the United States beginning in 1954 with the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. The Board of Education, followed by Dr. Martin Luther King’s successful desegregation of Montgomery, Alabama public transportation in 1955. It was during this time that white youngsters even in the racially torn South were saying YES to black R&B/Rock N Roll leading to a more interracial direction that is today for the most part an accepted lifestyle in the United States.
Of course, almost everyone knows that Elvis Presley [LEFT] is known the world over as the King of Rock N Roll. However what may not be known is how this Mississippian began his career. Even though he was born in Tupelo, Elvis spent most of his childhood and teens in Memphis. Elvis knew from a very early age that he wanted to be involved in the world of music and singing.
While most kids his age were playing cowboys and Indians, Elvis was spending hours and hours listening to the black radio station WDIA in Memphis that had a black deejay by the name of B.B. King, who also was from Mississippi. He also would hang out at Charlie’s music store listening to the jukebox full of recordings that cost Elvis a nickel per recording. He was not only listening to black R&B but also to stars like Eddy Arnold, Hank Williams, Teresa Brewer, Kay Starr, Bing Crosby, Eddie Fisher, Perry Como and even tenor superstar Mario Lanza and other performers on the Metropolitan Opera radio show.
Like many young aspiring performers Elvis began to follow gospel quartet music and became a Statesmen groupie.
However Elvis’s real break happened almost totally by accident when he was fooling around with some musician friends in the Memphis Sun recording studio that had been started by Sam Philips from Florence, Alabama. Philips had founded Sun so that young performers like Elvis and black R&B performers like Rufus Thomas and Junior Parker would have an opportunity to be able to play their music in a relaxed atmosphere. He once said:
“I thought to myself: suppose that I would have been born black. Suppose that I would have been born a little bit more down on the economic ladder (like Elvis). I think I felt from the beginning the total inequity of man’s inhumanity to his brother.”
Elvis recorded his first $3.98 recording for Sun shortly after turning 18 choosing a pair of sentimental ballads. Marion Kiesker, Philips’ assistant decided Elvis had “something” and put aside the recording with this note: “Good ballad singer, Hold.”
In 1954 Philips got Elvis together with Scotty Moore, a guitarist, who was looking for a lead singer. Elvis says that a song entitled That’s All Right popped into his mind and he began to play around with it. Moore later recalled the historic recording session:
“All of a sudden…Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill Black picked up his bass, and started acting the fool too, and I started playing with them. Sam, I think, had the door to the control booth open – I don’t know, he was either editing some tape, or doing something – and stuck his head out and said: ‘What are you doing?’ And we said, ‘We don’t know.’ ‘Well back it up,’ he said, ‘to try to find a place to start, and do it again.’”
As they say – the rest was history.
We are very familiar with black spirituals however many have not heard of the Fasola Folk music that originated in the South by rural singers, tune book compilers and singing school teachers. One of the compilers was Anaias Davisson who spent a great deal of time as singing schoolmaster in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley area. He published his Kentucky Harmony tune book in 1816. Another compiler was James P Carrell of Lebanon, Virginia who was also a Methodist minister, clerk of the courts and a wealthy farmer. He compiled The Virginia Harmony in 1831.
However the most famous compiler was William Walker whose The Southern Harmony was reported to have sold over 600,000 copies. “Singin’ Billy” Walker was a self-taught arranger who settled in Spartanburg, South Carolina at the age of 18. Walker’s brother-in-law Benjamin Franklin White compiled the most famous tune book – The Sacred Harp. He had collaborated with Walker on The Southern Harmony; however when it was published he found that he had received no credit. White pulled out of Spartanburg and took his family to Hamilton, Georgia where he compiled The Sacred Harp. White also created what would become today’s Sacred Harp conventions where choirs gather annually to sing the Fasola songs.
Few performers have done more to put Hillbilly on the map than Georgia born, “Fiddlin” John Carson. He was the first southern artist to sell a large number records of Hillbilly music.
Carson started playing the fiddle at a very young age and even spent time with three-time governor of Tennessee, Bob Taylor, who was also an accomplished fiddler. In 1900 Carson came to Atlanta to work in the mills; however due to a strike in 1913 he began to spent more time on the street corners fiddling for money. He gained a great deal of notoriety during the trial of Leo Frank, composing four songs around the lynching of Frank.
Carson also became famous for his participation in the Georgia fiddlers’ contest also beginning in 1913. WSB radio began to feature Carson on September 9, 1922 making him the earliest country artist on radio. On June 14, 1923 Carson became one of the first acts to be commercially recorded in the South with his The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane for OKeh Records. Their A&R man, Ralph Peer, was not impressed with Carson at first. However, when the first pressing of Carson’s recording sold out a month later, Peer changed his mind. This is when Peer and other record executives realized that Hillbilly music was an untapped market for commercial recordings. This helped launch Country Music to where it is today.
Carson continued to record for OKeh along with his daughter Moonshine Kate through out the 20s and formed his band called the Virginia Reelers. All and all Carson recorded 123 songs and fiddle tunes. These were also the early texts for Folk songs. Carson made one last recording for RCA Victor’s Bluebird label in 1934; however Hillbilly music was no longer the big seller.
Due to his friendship with Georgia governors Eugene and Herman Talmadge, Carson continued to be popular on the campaign trail and was rewarded coveted employment as an elevator operator in the capitol.
Fortunately people who wanted to hear what REAL Black spirituals sounded like were able to hear the incredible voices of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. This all black group originated from one of the first all black universities in the South – Fisk University in Nashville, TN.
Many of the black centers of higher education were facing major financial hurdles. The musical director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, George White, decided to take his group on the road to raise funds. When they first started out they met with less success than they had expected. They were basically copying the already successful format of opera and classic songs. When White decided to add a real black down home spiritual hymn to the program then the crowds responded with great enthusiasm. They found that the mostly white audiences were fascinated with the old black hymns like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Sometimes I Fell Like A Motherless Child;Nobody Knows the TroubleI’ve Seen; and I Want To Be Ready.
It was while in New York City that the Fisk Jubilee singers got a major break. One of the most respected and powerful preachers of the 1870s, Henry Ward Beecher, heard them and immediately recommended the Singers to other preachers and their congregations
The Fisk Jubilee Singers not only toured the United States but also Europe. In 1878 the Fisk Jubilee Singers severed their ties with the university forming a private touring company. They went on to play for audiences even in Australia, India and Japan. Within two years and six months of leaving the States they had toured the world. What had began, as eleven singers at Fisk University in 1869 was now a world class touring company sharing the power and magnificence of black spirituals.
One of the leading bebop musicians was Charlie Parker, who was from Kansas City, Kansas. Parker was one of the young musicians performing in New York on The Street who would go to Minton’s Playhouse with other greats like John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie in the early 1940s for after hours jamming. Minton’s was where these musicians would try out new material, techniques and approaches. The house piano player at Minton’s was North Carolina’s Thelonious Monk.
Bebop was principally about improvising and Parker was a maestro. However most of the jazz lovers did not like the new form. Most people were only familiar with the jazz that had originated in New Orleans, Chicago and Kansas City, which was for popular consumption. Previous jazz performers had been not only musicians but also entertainers who could also act, sing, dance and even tell jokes. This jazz was also tailored for large audiences in theaters and nightclubs and eventually for Hollywood’s silver screen.
Parker and the other beboppers decided to devote their careers to creation and performance as opposed to the traditional way of creating what audiences wanted and would most importantly buy. They were irreverent, nonchalant and even standoffish. Parker also was a known heroin user and heavy drinker. Unfortunately others started taking up these bad habits thinking that like Parker this might spark their creativity.
This bebop music was even considered by some white writers as the African-American’s version of classical music especially as related to Parker’s own Parker’s Mood. This piece was said to be in the vein of musical performance dating back to Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver and even Louis Armstrong. However, Parker’s Mood was also what would be considered the first major modern jazz composition. By the early 1950s Parker’s compositions were considered standards. Not only were saxophonists playing his records over and over but also other musicians realized his unique style of improvising. Parker became also the model for jazz musicians who wanted to push the boundaries like Monk, John Lewis and Miles Davis.
With the ever-increasing likelihood of music crossovers it was certain to happen with country and rock. The musician that has been considered the leading influence was Waycross, Georgia born Ingram Cecil Connor III who most of us know as Gram Parsons. He has been declared by many experts as the Father of Country Rock.
Parsons got his new name when his mother married a salesman named Robert Parsons after Gram’s real father committed suicide. Gram grew up listening to Elvis and other Sun recording stars. He was greatly influenced by pop, R&B and jazz. He formed his first folk singing group while attending Bolles military school in Jacksonville, Florida.
After graduating from Bolles, Graham headed to Harvard in 1965 where he formed the International Submarine Band that included songs by both Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. However it was when Gram formed The Flying Burrito Brothers in 1968 that the country influence became a major part of the band’s recordings with songs like Hickory Wind. Gram said in 1972 shortly before his death that Country was “a beautiful, beautiful idiom that’s been overlooked so much and so many people have the wrong idea of it.”
The Flying Burrito Brothers first album earned excellent reviews featuring songs like Sin City and Hot Burrito #1; however it was not a financial success. The second album Burrito Deluxe also was not a financial success even though it featured a superb rendition of Wild Horses which both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards sent to Gram before they recorded it. Finally after the Altamont Rock Festival, Gram left the band in late 1969.
Gram had heard about an Southerner that was singing at Washington, DC area folk clubs and went to see Emmylou Harris, who went on to become the First Lady of Country Rock. Parsons and Harris produced an album entilted GP, which did not do well financially but produced great reviews. The second collaboration between Parsons and Harris would be his last – Grievous Angel – since he was found dead in 1973 of an overdose of alcohol and heroin at the desert town of Joshua Tree, California. He use to love going there to recharge himself.
There have been many stories about what happen to Gram after his death. The truth seems to be that his long time friend and road manager, Phil Kaufman, stole Gram’s casket and took it out to Joshua Tree National Monument and tried to burn it. The body was recovered and today it is buried back in the South in a cemetery in New Orleans.
Gram left his fans at an early age but he is one performer/musician/composer that will be remembered for as long as we have Southern Music. He has been followed by such greats as Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, the Eagles, and Alabama. Even in the 1990s Joe Ely, the Tractors and Steve Earle have been influenced by the Father of Country Rock.
There is no question that Georgia born James Brown is the King of Soul. Brown, who was raised in Augusta began his career as a member of a vocal quartet in Toccoa, Georgia. However Brown had been preparing himself for a singing career since his early teen years when he would spend endless hours listening to the greats like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. He also had learned to play the guitar, drums and piano.
Brown also was greatly influenced by gospel music and especially the fire and brimstone preachers and the atmosphere that they would create with the congregation. He recalled particularly being taken with one preacher who not only was screaming and yelling but even dropped down on to his knees. From that came Brown’s famous struts and splits. Also Brown developed a craving for being on stage and pleasing audiences.
His first big hit was Please, Please, Please in 1956 and by the early 60s his James Brown Show was not only a concert but a full evening revue. Brown was performing 350 nights of the year. These numerous performances gave him time to hone his skills. He also was totally devoted to his audiences. He once said: “When you’re on stage, the people who paid money to get in are the boss, even if it costs them a quarter.” Audiences heard Brown across the country. “I played every place – arenas, auditoriums, clubs, ball parks, armories, ballrooms, any place that had a stage or a place you could put one.”
Brown made history when his LP recorded at the Apollo Theater in Harlem sold over one million copies. By 1964 Brown was not only recording for King Records but also supervising the recordings. It was then that Brown released his Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag that was long by modern day standards – 4 minutes. Also it was more about dance than song. It became the first “funk” record, which Brown invented. He also was the only 1950s R&B artist to bridge the gap successfully to soul artist in the 60s and funk artist in the 70s. Even in the 80s Brown’s influence can be seen in European new wave music, West African Afro-beat, and West Indian reggae.
James Europe was born in Mobile, Alabama but spent most of his youth in Washington, DC. He is best remembered as one of the leading black bandleaders and composer of dance music and marches.
Europe came to New York in 1904 at the age of 23 and found work as the musical director of the Cole-Johnson production of The Shoo-Fly Regiment and later Mr. Lode of Kole. Europe in 1910 organized the Clef Club which was originally a music union created to provide employment for black musicians especially in dance orchestras. As the conductor for the Clef Club Orchestra Europe produced a concert in Carnegie Hall that was the first pop music concert ever in the Hall in 1914. The orchestra was huge with 47 mandolins, 27 harp-guitars, 11 banjos, 8 violins, one saxophone, one tuba, 13 cellos, two clarinets, two baritone horns, 8 trombones, seven coronets, one pair of kettledrums, two string basses and ten pianos!
Europe called this his “Negro Symphony Orchestra” and a critic for the New York Post said that Europe’s orchestra was “one of the most remarkable orchestras in the world.” Europe had his other critics both black and white that chastised him for not playing “classical” symphonies like Haydn. Europe responded back in another New York Post article by saying: “You see, we colored people have our own music that is a part of us…Our symphony orchestra never tries to play white folk’s music. We should be foolish to attempt such a thing…Whatever success I have had has come from a realization of the advantages of sticking to the music of my own people.”
Working with the dance team of Irene and Vernon Castle, Europe devised the fox trot and other dance steps. Europe never played what we call jazz; however he is considered the most important transitional musician in the prehistory of jazz on the East Coast.
Europe went on to serve his country in World War I in what became the famous 369th Infantry Band of the Hell-Fighters. Later he returned to march in the New York victory parade where his band was billed as the 189th Infantry Jazz Band. He was tragically killed in a fight that broke out during a concert he was leading on the night of May 9, 1919 when he reprimanded a performer for walking across the stage during the performance.
There is one name that every expert agrees upon as the Father of Country Music – James Charles Rodgers, better known as Jimmie Rodgers the Singing Brakeman and America’s Blue Yodeler. Rodgers was the first inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Rodgers was able to evolve a style of music that included folk, early jazz, yodeling, the work chants of railroad section crews and Afro-American blues. Great country stars like Dolly Parton, Gene Autry, Ernest Tubbs, Hank Snow, Lefty Frizzel, Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Tanya Tucker all credit Rodgers with having a tremendous impact on their music.
Rodgers was born in Meridian, Mississippi in 1897 and grew up wanting to be in show business. He even ran away from home at 13 with a traveling medicine show. However after being stranded from home his father came and brought him back to Meridian where Rodgers would work on the railroad for a dozen years or so. All the time he was also learning songs and polishing his musical talents.
In 1924 Rodgers developed TB and quit the railroad. He took up playing where ever he could including tent shows and street corners. Finally in 1927 he got the opportunity to perform on WWNC in Asheville, North Carolina along with what would become the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers. After their radio show was abruptly canceled they learned that Ralph Peer, an agent for Victor Talking Machine Company was in nearby Bristol, Tennessee doing field recordings. However before they could record Rodgers and the Entertainers had a falling out. Rodgers convinced Peer to let him record by himself with just his guitar.
Rodgers was a first time success with the listening audiences with his Sleep Baby, Sleep and then went on to record for Victor his signature Blue Yodel (T for Texas) which led to national stardom, playing first-run theaters, a radio show in DC and a vaudeville tour on the Loew Circuit. Rodgers was with Victor for five years during which he toured and recorded 110 titles including Waiting For A Train, Daddy and Home, Frankie and Johnny, My Old Pal and his very successful sequels to Blue Yodel.
Rodgers appeared on the stage with Will Rogers, who used to call Rodgers “my distant son.” He recorded with the Carter Family and even Louis Armstrong being one of the first whites to record with a black. Rodgers reached the peak of his career during the years of 1928 to 1932. It was while fulfilling his recording obligations to Victor in May 1933 that Rodgers collapsed on the streets of New York dying of a massive hemorrhage a few hours later on May 26, 1933.
When one looks at the history of Folk and later country music both John and his son Alan Lomax played a major role. John Lomax actually did not play and sing. This Texan became the person that helped to preserve the music that we know as Folk and also Blues. John grew up with a deep interest in black music. He graduated from the University of Texas and went on to teach English and become a banker. When the Depression hit John found himself out of a job and a 65-year-old widower.
He had previously spent a number of years collecting cowboy songs and publishing his Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads in 1910 and even being elected as president of the American Folklore Society. John convinced Macmillan publishing to let him publish what would become American Ballads and Folk Songs. After this he developed a relationship with Carl Engel at the Library of Congress who agreed to let John have a state-of-the-art portable (weighing 350 lbs!) Dictaphone that was built into the trunk of his Ford, piles of blank aluminum and celluloid discs, and use of the name of the Library so long as John agreed to deposit the recordings at the Library.
With his 18-year-old son, Alan, accompanying him, John set out to record black folk songs in the summer of 1933. They went to visit principally Southern black prisons and penitentiaries. They spent four months and traveled over 16,000 miles. The Lomaxes were in Louisiana where they found a black prisoner by the name of Leadbelly and arranged for his parole. Leadbelly went on to record many songs between 1935 and 1948 for the Library of Congress’ archives.
When the Library began to be funded by Congress they hired John’s son Alan as a staff member and he went out across the South collecting songs. Alan more so than his father blended his political convictions with his collecting. He felt that these were the real songs of America and helped start a revival of interest in Folk music that was enthusiastically endorsed by the Roosevelts, Tugwells and Hopkinses. Alan and his sister, Bess even performed with the greats like Woodie Guthrie, Leadbelly, Burl Ives, Josh White, Pete Seeger and Aunt “Molly” Jackson.
When most people think of "Ma" Rainey they think of the Mother of the Blues. Truly she was one the greatest; however few may know that Rainey got her start in touring for an Afro-American Minstrel show with her parents.
She was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1886 and made her stage debut at fourteen in Columbus in a talent show. Soon she had joined her parents on the minstrel circuit playing black theaters and tent shows. By eighteen she had married William "Pa" Rainey and it was through this association that she got her nickname even though at the time neither were parents! They toured under the name of "Ma and Pa Rainey - Assassinators of the Blues" playing with the Moses Stokes Show and Fat Chappelle's Rabbit Foot Minstrels. It is reported that Bessie Smith toured with both the Stokes and Rabbit Foot Minstrels where she received encouragement from Rainey. By 1917 Rainey had her own group called "Madame Gertrude Rainey and Her Georgia Smart Sets.
She retired for a short period moving to Mexico in the early 20's. She returned and began her incredible recording career with Paramount Records in 1923 at 37. By 1928 she had recorded over 100 songs and was touted as the Mother of the Blues by Paramount. She also had been touring with Theater Owners Booking Association with her Georgia Wild Cats Jazz Band. She toured right through the early 30's. Then the Depression came along and ended her career but not before playing with Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson and other jazz greats.
She went back to her hometown of Columbus and opened up two movie theaters - one in Columbus and another in Rome - with some of her earnings. She also moved in with her brother where she lived until she died of a heart attack in 1939. She was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
The Moravians were to play a major role in especially North Carolina at Salem (later Winston-Salem) as related to religious music. Their music is considered some of the greatest religious works in US history. They settled in Salem where they brought with them organs for the churches. They enjoyed both sacred and secular music and had a partiality to trombones, which they would use to announce the death of one of their members.
The Moravians unlike the Puritans were not concerned that their musical instruments were being used for both religious and secular music. As one church elder responded: “Will you use the same mouth to preach with today which you now use in eating sausage?”
The Moravians had many different choirs based on gender and marital status: young girls, young boys, older girls, older boys, single women, single men, married couples, widows and widowers.
Johann Friedrich Peter of Holland came to Salem in 1780 spending ten years developing the musical abilities of the Moravians. It was at Salem that he composed six quintets for two violins, two violas and cello. He also composed over 100 sacred anthems and arias including his It Is A Precious Thing and The Lord Is In His Holy Temple.
When Bishop Johannes Herbst came to Salem in 1811 he brought with him his massive collection of manuscripts including over 100 of his own hymns.
When Governor Martin of North Carolina declared the Fourth of July as a time of thanksgiving and prayer the Moravians of North Carolina responded by creating the state’s only formalized program of celebration in 1783. Peter himself conducted the program featuring Psalm of Joy with seventeen numbers including chorales, anthems and recitatives.
Most of us are familiar with the Mississippi Delta Blues, the Chicago Blues and even the Kansas City Blues; however in the South several performers became known as the founders of the Piedmont Blues – Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee [LEFT].
Davis was born in Laurens County, South Carolina where he grew up singing gospel music and playing the banjo and guitar. By the time he was a teenager Davis was traveling through out North and South Carolina and Tennessee playing blues in houses of prostitution, roadside bars and street corners. It was during this time that he lost his sight after a fight.
Becoming very despondent over losing his sight, Davis turned to God and became a very skilled evangelist after being ordained in 1933. Also he returned to performing his music with Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Terry and Bull City Red in the Durham area. In the 40s he went to New York where he barely survived playing again on street corners and preaching in Harlem churches. It was while in New York that he was noted by the folk singers and asked to sing at the numerous folk cafes and festivals in the Northeast. After recording for some small folk labels like Bluesville and Prestige, Davis became a very sought after performer through out America’s college campuses and even toured Europe.
Blind Boy Fuller was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina in 1907 and like Davis was not sightless at birth. He became blind in his late teens and it was at this time that he began to perform music on street corners to earn a living. He moved to Durham and caught the attention of talent scout J.B. Long who arranged for Fuller to get a recording contract with American Recording Corporation in 1935. Long also had been working with Bull City Red and Gary Davis. He sent Red, Davis and Fuller to New York for recording sessions which resulted in songs like Rag Mama Ragand Baby You GottaChange YourMind. It was while recording for American that Fuller met and formed a partnership with Sonny Terry.
Sonny Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia in 1911. Actually named Saunders Terrell, Terry learned to play the harmonica while still a child. He would listen to his father play after a hard day’s work on the farm. He would then watch where his father put the harmonica after playing it. Terry would then get it the next day while his father was out in the fields. Finally his father figured out that Terry was getting his harmonica and decided to purchase another harmonica for Terry for a quarter.
Soon his harmonica abilities were known around the area and young Terry was asked to perform at numerous church concerts. He began to modify his style of playing that would enable him to make the sounds of animals, trains and even the rustling of wind through the trees.
Shortly after Terry’s Dad was killed in a transport truck accident he went totally blind. As mentioned he wound up in Durham playing on street corners with Davis, Fuller and Bull City Red. Shortly after this Terry and Fuller began to play together for American and Okeh.
Brownie McGhee from Knoxville set out to meet Blind Boy Fuller and also met Terry in 1939. Brownie McGhee was not blind like Terry and Fuller but had suffered a bout of polio as a child, which left him with a limp. This kept him from having to do a lot of the farm chores – leaving time for him to practice with his banjo that his uncle had made for him. He also took up the piano and later became the organist for his church.
By the time he was 13 McGhee decided to drop out of school and become a full time performer working the minstrel and medicine shows in Tennessee. He had to return to the farm in the early 30s but left again to go to Knoxville where he formed a number of small bands. Then things got tight in Knoxville and McGhee went back to playing the street corners in cities like Asheville and Winston-Salem, where he met and joined with Jordan Webb, a harmonica player. He then went to Durham and met Davis, Terry and Fuller. After Fuller’s death McGhee and Terry began to play together for J.D. Long. McGhee and Terry also made blues history when they were both invited to play in a Leadbelly Memorial Concert in 1950 in New York. This led to concerts around the world.
It was R&B that also led to the formation of radio stations devoted to this form of music in cities like Atlanta, St. Louis, Louisville, Memphis, New Orleans and even Los Angeles. It was also R&B that put a Cleveland deejay by the name of Alan Freed on the road to fame and fortune. Freed who had been a classical-record host learned from a local record shop owner that white kids were buying black R&B records as fast as they appeared on the charts. Freed saw a financial opportunity and created a new radio show called The Moondog Show, for youth that were buying these records. It was a huge success also leading Freed to begin to book R&B shows in the Cleveland Arena, which was one of the first venues where black and white youth mingled together. It drew a crowd of over 25,000 to a facility that could hold less than half that number.
However Freed gained his place in America’s music history when he renamed R&B – Rock N Roll. Most people had no clue where the term had originated from and still don’t to this day. It was a black slang term for sexual intercourse. If the white parents had learned this then that term would have probably gone into obscurity. Instead, ironically Rock N Roll became a term that white parents could live with that was associated with the black music their kids were listening to.
Yes, R&B has continued to grow in popularity and this is one of the reasons according to author Harry Turner of This Magic Moment:
“With all this going against it, how did R&B get even as far as it did? The jukebox certainly played a part. Millions of kids were greatly influenced by what they heard on the jukeboxes in establishments through out the country. Places that featured jukeboxes often had areas for dancing, so it was natural that jukebox operators provide as much danceable music as possible. R&B was the first danceable music of all, and there was no juke box censorship.”
Turner concludes his book saying that R&B has certainly not died. Just witness the movies that have capitalized on this form of music: American Graffiti, The Big Chill, American Hot Wax, Pretty Woman,Sister Act, etc. Also the sales of CDs by such greats as Fats Domino, James Brown and Elvis have sky-rocketed.
Then there is Madison Avenue’s use of the great R&B songs for commercials like:
Chevrolet Personality Chevrolet Kansas City Oldsmobile The Wanderer AT&T Dedicated To The One I Love American Express Stand By Me British Airways Up On The Roof Budweiser I Love Beach Music
Ricky Skaggs Returns to Bluegrass
Ricky Skaggs has returned to his roots and become one of the leading bluegrass performers and also, a spokesman for the music. Skaggs of Cordell, Kentucky began playing the mandolin at age five and was featured on the Flatt & Scruggs TV show by age seven. By age fifteen he was already a member of the Ralph Stanley band. He then went to work with the Country Gentlemen and even J.D. Crowe’s New South.
In the late 70’s, Skaggs joined with Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band. Afterwards he recorded for Durham, North Carolina’s Sugar Hill label, his highly acclaimed album Sweet Temptation. His real success came after signing with Epic. His recording of Bill Monroe’s Uncle Penn became the first bluegrass number by a solo artist to reach #1 on Billboard’s country chart. In 1982, Skaggs became the youngest member at the time to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.
Rockabilly has been described as a transition between Honky-Tonk and country boogie styles and what became rock and roll. Rockybilly added the blues guitar, a heavier dose of R&B tunes and the sounds of Bill Monroe’s bluegrass. The instruments of Rockabilly were basically like these other forms: electric and acoustic guitars, string bass, piano, steel guitar, drums and even a fiddle on some songs.
Even though no single artist can claim that he was the founder of Rockabilly there are some performers that we should single out. First would be Carl Perkins who would perform his music in bars around Jackson, Tennessee. His was more of a bluegrass based Rockabilly. Out in Texas was Sid King & His Five Strings was more of an R&B based Rockabilly. Of course, in Memphis was the King himself, Elvis, who along with Scotty Moore and Bill Black created Rockabilly built around Elvis’ country-blues vocals. Elvis helped create a home for Rockabilly at Sun Records followed by other performers like Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Another person influenced by both Presley and Perkins was Rick Nelson, who performed Rockabilly on his parent’s TV show The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet recording hits for Imperial Records. During this era both Wanda Jackson and Gene Vincent had Rockabilly hits.
The Rockabilly influence crossed the Atlantic in the 1970s were it developed a huge following in Europe. This led to a revival in the 80s in the United States with the band Stray Cats and has continued.
Our southern forefathers were very involved with making sure that the southern colonists had the opportunity to continue to enjoy the European musical heritage they had left when coming to America.
One of the leading cities in the South to make sure this was carried out was Charleston, South Carolina. Here is an announcement that appeared in the South Carolina Gazette on October 17, 1760: “A Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music” by “the Gentlemen who are the best Performers, both in the Town and Country.” These ‘gentlemen” were actually amateurs since there were very few professional musicians in the colonies.
Another greater lover of music was President Thomas Jefferson, who would play the violin at private concerts. Jefferson sorely missed the great music that he heard on his trips to Europe. Jefferson in addition to playing the violin encouraged the women of his household to play harpsichords and pianos. He also delighted in learning about the instruments and even fixing them when they needed it! He had a vast collection of musical works including operas, cantatas, sacred music, song collections and instrumental music. Jefferson was not a musical snob since he also had a book of drinking songs and country-dances.
When you think of the history of New Orleans and the birth of New Orleans jazz, then you to have realize that most of the performers had a relationship with Storyville.
So what was Storyville? Storyville was a section of New Orleans that housed the brothels. Many of the famous black musicians got their start playing in Storyville. Alderman Story wanted to make sure that only a certain section of New Orleans would have brothels. Storyville came into existence in 1897 and lasted twenty years until it was shutdown by the War Department in Washington. DC. With the closing of Storyville many of the musicians went north to Chicago and to Kansas City.
Storyville provided employment to over 200 musicians in the city and contrary to what most researchers have written the majority of the musicians did NOT play in the brothels but instead in the cabarets and gambling casinos. In fact, the last thing that a brothel wanted was a loud brassy band performing in the parlor!
Most of the performances in the brothels were by singers, string trios and solo pianists like the world famous Jelly Roll Morton. Morton was born in New Orleans in 1885. By the age of seventeen, Morton had composed his first blues composition entitle New Orleans Blues that became an immediate hit with the city’s bands. By 19 Morton had decided to flee New Orleans with its Jim Crow and Creole prejudices. His first stop was Mobile, Alabama where he wrote Alabama Bound and his signature King Porter Stomp, which would become the theme for Benny Goodman.
However it was Morton’s Jelly House Blues that became the first published jazz composition. He wrote it in St. Louis and then published it in Chicago in 1915. Morton is definitely the first jazz composer following with other hits like Grandpa’s Spells, Kansas City Stomp, Shreveport Stomp and Original Jelly Roll Blues.
In 1926 Morton became a recording star for Victor Company where he recorded what many critics consider the most carefully prepared and best rehearsed jazz recordings ever.
As the United States began to grow we find that Mexican immigrants also crossed the border into Texas. These Mexicans that settled in Texas were known as Chicanos. They also brought with them their own musical heritage. A typical Chicano group would have an accordion (adopted from Germans and Polish immigrants coming to Texas), guitar and s bajo sexto, which is a large rhythm bass guitar. The favorite music was known as conjunto music. The performers would sing both popular folk songs – canciones and also corridos that were like ballads.
One of the early performers of conjuncto music was accordionist Narcisco Martinez, who also wrote songs like La Chicharronera. Another accordionist was Santiago Jimenez, whose son Flaco Jimenez became even better known.
One of the leading Tex-Mex families of music was the Mendozas that appeared on the scene in the 1920s. One of the daughters became Lone Star prima dona of Tex-Mex music – Lydia. She became a solo performer in the 1930s singing and playing a 12-string guitar. She began to record in the 1930s songs like MalHombre, Amor Bonito, and Besando La Cruz. She retired in 1939 as “La Gloria de Texas” however; she was persuaded to go back on tour in 1947. In 1977 Lydia gave a performance for the Library of Congress where she performed at the Conference of Ethnic Recordings in America.
The arrival of the jukebox on the Southern Music scene in the late 20s and early 30s has greatly helped to distribute the recordings of R&B, rock and roll, country and pop. For the youth that may have not seem a early jukebox, it was a coin-operated record-playing machine that was a fixture at dance halls, cafes, honky-tonks, bowling alleys, skating rinks and drive-ins across the South. In addition to providing the latest songs for especially teens of the 50s jukeboxes also provided a place to gather to gossip and discuss the latest hits and their performers.
The first jukeboxes were in black “juke joints” in Florida and Georgia. These were small black clubs for dancing and drinking and “juking” referred to the dancing. During Prohibition these jukeboxes were popular for establishments that could not afford bands. In 1934 Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company introduced what would become what most of us know as the jukebox featuring the Art Deco design with brightly colored chrome and plastic exterior, fluorescent illumination and an openly displayed record-changing mechanism. Seeburg brought out a jukebox in the early 50s that would play 45s and by 1955 one of their jukeboxes was able to play 200 selections.
By 1941 close to 400,000 jukeboxes were operating across America. In fact, it was the songs on the jukebox that led to the creation of the Billboards top hits list. Several jukebox businessmen, Syd Nathan and Pappy Daily, actually began to have music that was recorded just for their jukeboxes.
Afterwards in the 50s with the birth of Rock N Roll, jukeboxes got another lease on life as teens were popping nickels, dimes and quarters into the jukeboxes every Friday and Saturday night during dates at the drive-ins. This also led to more and more 45s being sold to the kids.
Copyright 2007 AVagnation