Roots of Country Music Exam #1

Pentatonic Scale

a five-note scale (usually 1-2-3-5-6, or do-re-mi-sol-la), commonly used in folk music from different cultures

Puritans

religious freedom-seeking Protestants, migrated to New England, bringing with them a deeply religious and communitarian culture

popular tunes

often performed as rounds or in call and response style

dance music

jigs, reels, and hornpipes

hymns

heard in church services or other religious gatherings

folk songs

that told stories of love, adventure, work, and ballads that recounted famous events

english folk music

its roots in the medieval and Renaissance periods and was characterized by the use of sea shanties, work songs, dance tunes, and ballads about love and betrayal. Instruments used included the fiddle, pipe and tabor, and harp

Welsh folk music

its roots in the country’s ancient Celtic heritage and was characterized by its use of harps, fiddles, and traditional instruments such as the crwth, a bowed lyre, and the harp-like telyn. sometimes features intricate vocal harmonies and complex melodies

Scottish folk music

closely tied to the country’s Gaelic language and Celtic heritage. It was known for its use of bagpipes, fiddles, and other traditional instruments such as the clarsach. Songs often told stories of history and mythology.

Irish folk music

closely associated with the country’s Celtic heritage and its long-standing storytelling tradition. known for its use of fiddles, uilleann pipes, and other traditional instruments. It was often characterized by its lively, upbeat rhythms.

Cavaliers

aristocrats and their indentured servants came from southern England to Virginia, bringing a hierarchical and aristocratic culture

Quakers

migrated from the North Midlands to the Delaware Valley, bringing with them a culture of egalitarianism and pacifism

Borderers

brought a culture of self-reliance, stubborn pride, and honor. were also a violent and unruly bunch, having survived many generations of border conflicts between England and Scotland and religious wars between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland.

Appalachian Mountains

an 800-mile-long mountain range that covers areas of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, where the borderers ended up

ballad

a song that tells a story, which may be of seduction, murder, revenge, or historical events, such as train derailments, floods, mine disasters, and bank robberies

kalangu

a talking drum with origins in Africa

banjar

the African instrument that is the ancestor of the banjo

improvisation

the act of spontaneously composing and performing music

shakere

a seed-filled gourd covered with a bead net

call and response

a musical phrase, often melodic, that is most often played or sung by one performer and answered by the other performers

falsetto

a method of voice production used by male singers, especially tenors, to sing notes higher than their normal range.

minstrelsy

a travelling show where the primary feature was comical and derogatory/racist jokes

Ethiopian songs

Plantation songs, songs that stereotyped Southern folklife and sometimes negative racial depictions

James Bland

the most famous black minstrel composer

Stephen Foster

The most prolific and famous composer of Plantation songs whose songs include many that are still sung today, such as “Hard Times Come Again No More”

the great revival

a Protestant religious revival in the early 1800s sometimes referred to as the Second Great Awakening.

African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.)

the first independent Black church in America, organized in 1793 by the Rev. Richard Allen

shape-note singing

an a cappella vocal choir style that uses a notation system with shaped noteheads characterized by its robust, full-throated delivery, simple harmonies, lack of dynamics, and congregational participation; also known as Sacred Harp singing

gospel

a new genre of church music that began to appear in the late 1800s, named after the songbook Gospel Hymns published in 1875 by Ira Sankey and P. P. Bliss.

Vaughan School of Music

a prominent singing school that published shape-note hymnals in the early 1900s and sent quartets out on tour to promote them

string bands

consisting of some combination of fiddle, banjo, and/ or guitar, and perhaps a tambourine or some other percussion instrument, were popular and commonly found

cecil sharp

(1859–1924) began collecting folk songs in his native England in the early 1900s, eventually publish-ing hundreds of them. He toured the South backcountry from 1916–1918 and recorded hundreds of more folk songs, many of them of British origin.

John Lomax

important musicologists

who traveled extensively throughout the South, making field recordings and publishing books of their findings, directly responsible for the 1934 release of Louisiana State Penitentiary inmate Huddie Leadbetter, who, better known as Leadbelly, became an important contributor to the blues and folk scenes until his death in 1949

Hillbilly

1. A derogatory depiction of a Southerner as rural, poor white trash, 2. A label used for the music from the South created by hillbillies.

Thomas Edison

The first recording device, the phonograph, had been invented only recently, in 1877

acoustical recording process

the first commercially used recording process used before 1925 that used acoustical horns instead of microphones and other electric devices.

electrical recording process

the recording process developed around 1925 that used microphones and other electrical devices

Tin Pan Alley

the name given to

the music publishing business in New York City in the first half of the 20th century.

race label

a record label that produced and distributed race records directed to the Black consumer audience.

race record

a record featuring Black artists released by a race label to be distributed to the Black consumer audience.

Eck Robertson

In 1922, two fiddlers, Texan Alexander Campbell “Eck” Robertson, and Oklahoman Henry Gilliland decided on a whim to go to New York to get themselves recorded. They ended up at the Victor Studios in New Jersey, where on June 30 they recorded the instrumental tunes “Arkansas Traveler” and “Turkey in the Straw.” The next day, Robertson recorded an instrumental version of the tune “Sallie Gooden” as a solo, demonstrating his self-taught virtuosity. Robertson and Gilliland had just been to a Civil War veteran’s reunion and were still dressed in a Confederate uniform and Indian war regalia when they showed up at the studio.

KDKA Radio

the first commercial radio station in the United States, located in Pittsburgh; it went on the air in 1920.

clear channel

Frequencies designated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on which high-powered radio stations with up to 50,000 watts could operate.

WSM radio

a radio station in Nashville, home of The Grand Ole Opry.

Fiddlin’ John Carson

On September 9, 1922, local Atlanta musician made his radio debut on WSB. grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Fannin County, Georgia, took up the fiddle in his teens, and worked a number of blue-collar jobs into his early 40s. Like many fiddlers of the era, music was a passion delegated to evenings and weekends, if for no other reason than there was no money to be made playing professionally

Polk Brockman

Carson’s radio appearances also got the attention of an

Atlanta music enthusiast, Polk Brockman. Brockman (1898–1985) worked at his grandfather’s furniture store in Atlanta, where he managed the phonograph department. His specialty was selling race records, and by 1921 he was the country’s largest regional distributor for Okeh records, a major pur-veyor of race records. His business dealings with Okeh led him to Ralph Peer, the Okeh producer of “Crazy Blues” in 1920. In the wake of the “Crazy Blues” phenomenon, Peer came to Atlanta with two Okeh engineers in June 1923 to find more blues musicians to record.

Recording Industry of Association of America (RIAA)

a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States

Vernon Dalhart

Overall record sales may have been falling off a cliff , but hillbilly records were a growth industry. There is no better example of this from the early to mid-1920s than Vernon Dalhart, a pop and musical theater singer whose career was waning. Seeing the popu-larity of Carson and others, Dalhart (1883–1948) persuaded Victor Records to let him record “The Wreck of the Old 97” and “The Prisoner’s Song” in 1924 with a manufactured hillbilly vocal deliv-ery. “Old 97,” true to the British folk tradition, is a ballad telling the story of a train wreck on the Southern Railway in 1903 that killed 13 people. With “The Prisoner’s Song” as the B-side, the record became country music’s first million-selling hit, with some reports indicating its sales were in excess of seven million

Carson Robison

Dalhart would sometimes collaborate with Carson

Robison, who provided guitar and background vocals on Dalhart’s famous 1924 recording. Robison (1890–1957) wrote a number of songs Dalhart recorded, including “Wreck of the Number Nine,” “Zeb Turney’s Girl,” “Little Green Valley,” and “Way Out West in Kansas.” The two ended their relationship in 1928 over a disagreement, but Robison kept writing, and became known for writing “event” or “saga” songs such as “The John T. Scopes Trial” about the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, and “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Today, Robison is considered to be the first quasi-professional country songwriter.

barn dance

a type of live music radio program featuring hillbilly and country music performers and square dancing, the most popular being The Louisiana Hayride , The National Ban Dance , and The Grand Ole Opry

WLS Radio

a radio station in Chicago, home of The National Barn Dance.

National Barn Dance

with its debut on Chicago’s WLS Radio in 1924, it became the first barn dance program to gain a true national following.

Red Foley

irst appeared on the show as a member of John Lair’s Cumberland Ridge Runners, the house band. Foley later joined the Grand Ole Opry, hosting the NBC Radio portion of the show from 1946–1954 when it was called The Prince Albert Show after its chewing tobacco sponsor. A singer with an almost pop-sounding delivery, Foley recorded 10 #1 country hits in a career that lasted well into the 1960s. His 1949 recording of “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” went to #1 on the pop charts and became his signature song. Foley also hosted the first popular country music show on network TV, the Ozark Jubilee, throughout its five-year run in the 1950s.

Patsy Montana

as a member of the Prairie Ramblers string band, vocalist Montana was a regular on the show starting in 1933. She was born Ruby Rose Blevins in Beaudry, Arkansas, the only girl in a family with 10 boys. Heavily influenced by Jimmie Rodgers, she learned to play the guitar, sing, and yodel. Around 1930 she moved to California and began appearing on local radio stations as “Rubye Blevins, the Yodeling Cowgirl from San Antone.” She added the “e” to her first name because she thought it gave her a bit more status. It was as a member of the group The Montana Cowgirls that Blevins changed her name to Patsy Montana. In 1933 she went to Chicago to audition for The National Barn Dance as the lead vocalist for the Prairie Ramblers and became a regular on the show for several years. In 1935 she recorded her signa-ture song “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” for the ARC (American Record Corporation) label in New York.

Bradley Kincaid

(1895–1989)—was a regular on the show from 1926–1930. He had moved to Chicago in 1924 to attend George Williams College, and from there his reputation as a singer of old-time songs garnered him an audition on WLS. Kincaid’s clear, sweet tenor voice foreshadowed the direction country music singers would take in the future. His debut on the NBD was a hit with listeners, and soon he was receiving up to 100,000 letters a year from fans. Build-ing on his success as a performer, in 1928 he published what may be the first country music songbook, My Favorite Mountain Ballads. In its first five years of publication, the book sold 400,000 copies. Kincaid called himself a “singer of mountain songs.” He hated being called a hillbilly, reasoning that the word was associated with lowlifes and prisoners. He preferred songs that offered a message of old-fashioned morality and loved to sing sad ballads, 19th century sentimental songs, religious hymns, and contemporary folk tunes. Working at WBZ Radio in Boston in 1935, he discovered future Opry star Grandpa Jones (Louis Marshall Jones). His recording career lasted into the 1970s.

ozark jubilee

a popular barn dance program broadcast on KWTO Radio in Springfield, Missouri beginning in 1955.

My favorite mountain ballads

A country music songbook published by Bradley Kincaid in 1928

the grand ole opry

a music program performed at the Grand Ole Opry House and broadcast on radio station WSM

George D HAy

Edwin Craig scored a major business coup in early November 1925 when he hired George D. Hay away from his job as the announcer for WLS’s The National Barn Dance. Hay (1895–1968) became a national celebrity while at WLS and was named America’s Favorite Announcer in 1924. Only 30 years of age, Hay was quite the character. He called himself “The Solemn Old Judge” and dressed in a long-tailed black coat and bowler hat. He often blew a wooden riverboat whistle he called “Hushpuckena” during his WLS broadcasts. At WSM, it wasn’t long before Hay envisioned a barn dance program for the station, based on the success of the NBD. On Saturday, November 28, 1925, just a few weeks after he was hired, Hay introduced the WSM Barn Dance to the world. Featured on the first show was Uncle Jimmy Thompson, a local 77-year-old fiddler who had recently won an eight-day fiddling contest in Dallas.Thompson was recom-mended by his niece, Eva Thompson Jones, who worked as an accompanist for the station. The show began at 8:00, with Hay announcing that Thompson would be taking requests from listeners. Telephone requests immediately began to pour into the station. After tearing through one fast fiddle tune after another, Hay asked Thompson if he needed a break after playing for an entire hour. “An hour?” the old man replied. “Fiddlesticks! A man can’t get warmed up in an hour. The program’s got to be longer. Tell the neighbors to send in their requests, and I’ll play them if it takes me all night”9

Needless to say, Thompson, who would go on to appear on the show weekly through 1927

Harry Stone

In 1930, Harry Stone became the station program director. Stone brought with

him changes to the Opry that both modernized and monetized it. At the time the show had no sponsors and did not charge an admission. Stone divided the show into three-song time slots for each performer, and brought in a sponsor for each slot. The three-song rule still applies at Opry shows, ensuring that no artist would become bigger than the Opry itself. Stone created the Artist Service Bureau to organize tours and negotiate recording contracts for Opry performers.

ryman auditorium

the former church building built on Fifth Avenue North (now Rep. John Lewis Way North) in Nashville that was the home of The Grand Ole Opry from 1943 until 1974; it is known as the “Mother Church of Country Music”.

deford bailey

DeFord Bailey—known for his virtuosic harmonica playing, Bailey (1899–SONG SYNOPSIS

“Fox Chase” was recorded live on April 27, 1927, in New York City and released on the Brunswick label. The song is an Irish bagpipe tune that Bailey heard his grandfather play on the fiddle. This recording caught the attention of fellow harmonica player Humphrey Bate, who urged Judge George D. Hay to put Bailey on The Grand Ole Opry. Bailey made his Opry debut later that year.

1982) became the first African American performer to gain national recognition and a regular spot on the Opry. Bailey’s captivating performances on the show captivated audiences across the country and catapulted him to national fame. He became known as the “Harmonica Wizard” and was celebrated for his remark-able playing style. His recording of the song he performed on the Opry on December 10, 1927, “Pan American Blues,” showcased his exceptional har-monica skills and innovative playing techniques. His 1927 live recording of “Fox Chase” is another fine example. Bailey became a hit and introduced a new sound to country music, influencing future generations of musicians. Bailey’s success as an African American artist in the predominantly white country music scene was a significant achievement during a time of deep racial segregation and discrimination, especially in the South.

Uncle Dave Macon

Uncle Dave Macon—with his unique banjo playing style, energetic stage pres-ence, and humorous performances, Uncle Dave (1870–1952) became the Opry’s first big star and became one of the most endearing entertainers in early country music. Macon got a late start to his recording career, which began in 1923 when he was 53 years old. His earliest recordings, for the Vocalion label, showcased his skillful banjo picking and his ability to fuse traditional folk and old-time music with the emerging sounds of country music. Macon’s recordings featured a mix of traditional ballads, comedic songs, his own songs, and lively dance tunes that captured the essence of rural Southern music. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Macon recorded extensively, often accompanied by his band, the Fruit Jar Drinkers. His recordings featured his signature banjo playing, which combined intricate fingerpicking, rhythmic strumming, and a distinctive percussive style. Some of his notable recordings include “Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy,” “Way Down the Old Plank Road,” and “The Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train.” He performed at the Opry regularly from his debut in 1926 until his death.

Roy acuff

Roy Acuff—when NBC Radio began broadcasting the first half hour of the Opry in 1939, they chose Roy Acuff as its host. Acuff would later team up with songwriter Fred Rose to form the important and influential publishing com-pany, Acuff-Rose Music.

Columbia Phonograph Company

a major record label named after the District of Columbia, where it was founded in 1889

Edison Phonograph Company

founded by Thomas Edison, it was one of the largest record companies in America in the early 20th century

Victor Talking Machine Compsny

one of the major record labels from the early 20th century, founded in 1901 in Camden, New Jersey; it was bought by RCA in 1929

Okeh Records

one of the most important race record labels from the early 20th century

8000 Series

a subsidiary of Okeh Records created to sell race records

A & R

artist and repertoire, the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters

Bristol Sessions

the first important country music recordings made in the summer of 1927 under the direction of Ralph Peer

The tennessee two

Johnny Cash’s backup band

Carter

At the end of Chapter 1, we looked at what historians Bill C. Malone and Tracey E. W. Laird described as a hypothetical folk musician in 1920. They made six assumptions: that person was male, white, Protestant Christian, rural, tradition-oriented, and from the South.While the Carter Family fit neatly into five of these assumptions, by virtue of having two women in the group, they shattered a glass ceiling of sorts by not adhering to the first one. Although Alvin Pleasant Delaney (A. P.) Carter (1891–1960) was responsible for forming the group and finding and arranging most of their music, it was the contributions of A. P.’s wife Sara Carter (1898–1979) and her cousin Maybelle Carter (1909–1978) that made the group’s music popular, influential, and relevant even to this day. The Carters were the quintessential poor, white, rural folk who called the folds and hollers of Appalachia their home, who lived off the land to forge a meager subsis-tence, went to church on Sunday, and made music an important part of their home life. (Prior to the Bristol Sessions, the idea that someone would actually buy records of them performing was a concept none of the Carters could have fathomed.) It is in this context that they fashioned a distinctive sound and style that has had a lasting impact on country music and beyond. They sounded unique in their time, and they still do.

Jimmie Rodgers

Jimmie Rodgers’ (1897–1933) life can be neatly summed up into two parts: that which came before the Bristol Sessions and that which came afterward. His first 30 years were marked by wanderlust, a series of short-lived, low-paying jobs, aimless drifting, and an inability to earn a decent wage or hold on to money. During the last years of his life, Rodgers became one of the most popular entertainers in America, a folk hero to his many fans, selling millions of records while playing to sold-out crowds on cross-country tours. His down-home, unpretentious personality and singing style would influence country singers for generations. “To many,” says his biographer Nolan Porterfield in Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Times of America’s Blue Yodeler, “Jimmie Rodgers made ‘sincerity,’ ‘honesty,’ and ‘heart’ the compelling forces of country music.” But because of the ravages of tuberculosis, which he contracted in 1924 at age 27, the last eight years of his life were marked by declining health issues that made touring and recording increasingly difficult and in the end, took his life

yodeling

a vocal technique used in many cultures throughout the world

the singing brakeman

is a short film made in 1929 starring Jimmie Rodgers

vitaphone

a system developed by Warner Brothers in 1926 that used 33-1/3 rpm records that were physically coupled to a film projector motor

swing era

the name given to the period from roughly 1935 to 1945 when big band jazz was the most popular music in America

X stations

stations operating just across the Mexican border that were outside the jurisdiction of US broadcasting limitations and often transmitters capable of 100,000 watts or more

XERA radio

the first of the Mexican X stations, based in Villa Acuña, Mexico; it went on the air in 1931 with 100,000 watts of power.

Skillet lickers

One of the most popular and influential string bands of the late 1920s and

early 1930s was the Skillet Lickers. The Lickers hailed from the Appalachian region of North Georgia, a hotbed of old-time music and folk traditions. Formed in 1926, the original lineup included founder Gid Tanner on fiddle, Riley Puckett on guitar and vocals, Clayton McMichen on fiddle and vocals, and Fate Norris on banjo. Later, they were joined by Lowe Stokes on fiddle and Bert Layne on guitar, among others.

the delmore brothers

The Delmore Brothers were one of the first of this type of group to become popular and exert a strong influence on the brother group genre.

brother groups

There were many popular country duos in the mid-20th century, many of whom were made up of real-life brothers

the callahan brothers

The Callahan Brothers were also influential contrib-utors to the brother group genre. Brothers Walter (1910–1971) and Homer (1912–2002) grew up in the mountains of Madison County, North Carolina, where they were exposed to traditional Appalachian music from an early age. They began performing together as teenagers, with Walter primarily on guitar and Homer alternating between the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, ukulele, tenor banjo, harmonica, and bass.The brothers often yodeled, a talent that would become one of their signature sounds.

the blue sky boys

Bill and Earl Bolick, better known as The Blue Sky Boys grew up near

Hickory, North Carolina on a small farm. Bill (1917–2008) and Earl (1919–1998) were deeply influenced by the old-time and gospel songs they heard in their community and began performing together as teenagers.

the dixon brothers

The Dixon Brothers, Dorsey (1897–1968) and Howard (1903–1960)—grew

up in a family of textile mill workers in Darlington, Lancaster, Greenville, South Carolina, and East Rockingham, North Carolina. While maintaining a 30-year music career, the brothers also spent most of their lives working in the mills. Both went to work there in their preteens; Howard died on the job at 57, and Dorsey retired from the mills in 1951 at age 54.The two started playing together as a duet in the early 1910s, with Dorsey on fiddle and Howard on guitar. It wasn’t until 1931 that the brothers, now 34 and 28 respectively, embarked on a professional career. While working at the Little Hanna Picket Mill in East Rockingham, they met white blues guitarist Jimmie Tarlton, who had returned to the mill after his own duo broke up.Tarlton’s blues-infused style influenced Howard to switch from acoustic guitar to the National steel guitar, which is featured on their humorous tune “Intoxicated Rat.” At the same time, Dorsey switched from fiddle to guitar and developed a unique fingerpicking style. In 1934 they landed a spot on WBT Charlotte’s Crazy Water Crystals Saturday Night Jamboree, where they gained enough popularity to sign with Bluebird. Over the next five years, they recorded nearly 30 sides for Bluebird and the Montgomery Ward label. Their most famous recording is “I Didn’t Hear Nobody Pray,” which Dorsey wrote, and the brothers recorded in 1938. Roy Acuff And His Smoky Mountain Boys recorded the most popular version of the song in 1942, retitled “Wreck on the Highway.”

the allen brothers

The Allen Brothers, Austin (1901–1959) and Lee (1906–1981) were

born and raised in Sewanee, Tennessee. With Austin on banjo and Lee on gui-tar and kazoo, the brothers got their start playing at vaudeville and tent shows in the early 1920s. In 1927 they signed a contract with Columbia

Mac and Bob

Two non-brother duo groups also deserve mention. Lester McFarland (1902–1984) and Robert A. Gardner (1897–1978) were two blind musicians from Gray, Kentucky, and Oliver Springs, Tennessee, respectively. They met in 1915 while enrolled at the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville, and began playing music together, Lester on mandolin and Robert on guitar. The two began performing at fairs and schoolhouses in 1922, and by 1925 they began working at WNOX in Knoxville. In 1931 they moved to The National Barn Dance in Chicago and began going by the name Mac and Bob. They stayed with the NBD from 1931–1935 and again from 1939–1950. Over the course of their career, Mac and Bob recorded over 200 songs for Brunswick and the American Record Company.

Karl and Harty

grew up in the Mount Vernon, Kentucky area and were

childhood friends. Karl Davis (1905–1979) and Hartford Taylor (1905–1963) joined The National Barn Dance in 1931 as part of John Lair’s Cumberland Ridge Runners. Davis played the mandolin, and Taylor played guitar, and both sang in a rather formal style. They are best known for the songs they introduced to the country music repertoire, including “I’m Just Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail,” “The House Where We Were Wed,” and “Kentucky.”

Elsie McWilliams

Elsie McWilliams (1896–1985), with whom he wrote at least 20 songs. Because McWilliams later acknowledged that she would not take credit for some of her collaborations with Rodgers either because she thought the subject matter of the song was too ris-qué or she just wanted Jimmie to collect all the royalties, it is widely accepted that she actually wrote 39 songs with Rodgers. Although she assisted in the writing of some of his famous blue yodels, she wanted nothing to do with taking ownership of them. “I helped him straighten them out,” she told Porterfield, who interviewed her shortly before her death, “but I didn’t want my name on them. I’ve always been mighty strait-laced.

parlor songs

sentimental songs written primarily by Northern composers (i.e., not country composers) for urban middle-class audiences.

Blind Andy

Andrew “Blind Andy” Jenkins (1885–1957) was one of the most prolific

of the new breed of songwriters, having written more than 800 songs during his career. He was born in Jenkinsburg, Georgia, and showed a talent for writing songs and playing virtually any instrument by ear at an early age. He made his radio debut on Atlanta’s WSB in August 1922 with his wife and two stepdaugh-ters, billing themselves as the Jenkins Family. They made their recording debut for Okeh in 1924, which may be the first by a family band in country music. Although Jenkins was already an ordained minister at the time, roughly around 30 percent of his songs were secular. His most famous songs were “Billy the Kid” and “The Death of Floyd Collins.” The latter tune, a fine example of an event song if there ever was one, was recorded by Vernon Dalhart at the urging of Atlanta businessman Polk Brockman. Dalhart’s version sold 300,000 copies.

Dick Burnett

was a fiddler and songwriter from Monticello,

Kentucky. As a child, he learned how to play the dulcimer, banjo, fiddle, and guitar. Orphaned at the age of 12, he was blinded in 1907 at age 24 when he was shot in the face during a robbery attempt. From that point on, he became an itinerant musician and songwriter who sold songs printed on postcard-sized “ballets.” In 1913 he compiled a songbook of six songs that contained his auto-biographical “Farewell Song.” Although Burnett never recorded the song, his friend Emry Arthur recorded it in 1928, renaming it “Man of Constant Sorrow fom the opening line to the song. Under the new name, it has been covered many times by many artists, perhaps most famously by the Stanley Brothers in 1950. Burnett, along with his traveling partner Leonard Rutherford, traveled the country for many years, making frequent appearances on barn dance programs. They signed with Columbia in 1926 and with Gannett in 1928.

alfred reed

Another blind musician and songwriter, Alfred Reed (1880–1956), made

his first recordings on July 28, 1927, at the Bristol Sessions. Invited by Ralph Peer, Reed recorded four of his originals that day, including “I Mean to Live for Jesus,” and “Walking in the Way with Jesus,” both of which reflect his interest in writing religious tunes. Reed also wrote humorous songs as well as songs with political or social commentary themes. Reed would go on to record 21 sides for Victor. His most famous song, “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?” was recorded just a few weeks after the stock market crash in 1929. It has been covered many times by artists such as Ry Cooder, Bruce Springsteen, and The New Lost City Ramblers. In 2007, he was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, which celebrated the occasion by releasing Always Lift Him Up: A Tribute to Blind Alfred Reed, which featured updated versions of Reed’s songs by some of the state’s best-known musicians.

Alsie Rex Griffin

Alsie “Rex” Griffin (1912–1959) was one of country music’s first singer/

songwriters. He was born near Gadsden, Alabama, the second of seven children of Marion and Selma Griffin. Little is known about his early life other than he didn’t attend much school and wanted no part of the farming or factory life that he seemed destined for. Musically, he started on the harmonica and quickly grav-itated to the guitar. His first professional job was at the local Gadsden Theater in 1930; after that he left town and began appearing on radio shows throughout the South. By this time he had dropped his first name Alsie, replacing it with Rex. In 1935, he signed with Decca Records, and on March 25 and 26 he recorded 10 songs, all originals, with tenor guitarist Johnny Motlow. At this point in his career, Griffin’s style—especially his singing, and yodeling—was heavily influ-enced by Jimmie Rodgers. At his next session the following year, he recorded another original composition “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby,” a song that is often mistakenly attributed to Carl Perkins and that the Beatles recorded in 1964. Griffin also recorded the Tin Pan Alley song “Lovesick Blues,” a record that Hank Williams later imitated for his first big hit. Griffin’s biggest hit came in 1937 when he recorded his suicide-themed song “The Last Letter.” Failing health from alcoholism and diabetes led to an early death at age 47. Rex Griffin’s songs have been recorded by Willie Nelson,Waylon Jennings, Ernest Tubb, Eddy Arnold, and Red Foley, among others.

Woody

Although Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie (1912–1967) is generally not thought of as a country musician, his influential role in the early years of country music cannot be overlooked. Because of his later embrace by the folk community and his status as an icon of left-wing political protest, it can be easy to fail to appreciate his roots in country music. As Malone and Laird put it in Country Music USA, he “occupies a unique position in American country and folk music that makes him admittedly difficult to categorize.” He was born in Okemah, Oklahoma, and although his was a middle-class family, young Woody’s youth was not a carefree one. His father Charles was reportedly involved with a lynching in 1911 and became a member of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915.

Bound for glory

s the autobiography of Woody Guthry, published in 1943.

Cynthia May Carver

(1903–1980) was a singer and multi-instrumentalist

who was known professionally as Cousin Emmy. She was born into a family of sharecroppers in either rural Barren County, Kentucky, or a few miles south in Lamb, a small village a few miles from the Tennessee line. Carver’s entire fam-ily was musical, and as a young girl, she learned to play the guitar, banjo, fiddle, harmonica, and ukulele. Her first big break came in 1935 when she began per-forming with Frankie Moore’s Log Cabin Boys on WHAS in Louisville. That same year she won the National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest, the first woman to do so. By the late 1930s, she was a regular on radio stations throughout the Midwest, including WNOX in Knoxville and KMOX in St. Louis.These appear-ances led to a contract with Decca Records, although nothing much really came of it. Her one notable single was “Ruby Are You Mad at Your Man?,” which became a bluegrass standard performed by the Osborne Brothers and Buck Owens. Like Uncle Dave Macon and later Minnie Pearl, Aunt Emmy’s stage shtick was characterized by a brassy, outrageous personality. It was not unusual for her to come onstage dressed in an outlandish costume, begin blowing up a rubber glove for a gag, or pull a harmonica from her cleavage. She was one of country’s first show women.

Myrtle

Myrtle Eleanor Cooper (1913–1999) was born in Boone, North Carolina.

SONG SYNOPSIS

“Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?” was written by Scotty Wiseman—the Scotty of Lulu Belle and Scotty—for the 1944 musical film, “Sing, Neighbor, Sing.” The duo did not record this version of the song until 1947 (and again in 1956, the version on this playlist), and it became their biggest hit. “Have I Told You” has been recorded countless times over the years by both country and pop singers, including Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart, and Ringo Starr.

She joined The National Barn Dance in 1932 as a singer and comedian, where she worked first with Red Foley and then with singer and banjo player Scott Greene Wiseman. Naming themselves Lulu Belle and Scotty, they became one of the NBD’s most popular acts and stayed on the program for 20 years. They married in 1934. Their act consisted of comedic repartee, novelty, and sentimental songs, with Cooper being the main attraction. Her lively and high-spirited personality allowed her to pull off a convincing wisecracking country girl routine in the show. In 1936 she won a Radio Digest poll as the most popular radio entertainer in America. During their career together, Lulu Belle and Scotty recorded prolif-ically with a host of labels, including Vocalion, Columbia, and Bluebird. Their most famous recording, Scotty’s “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?,” has become a country and pop standard that has been covered many times.They also appeared in several movies, including Shine On, Harvest Moon in 1938, Village Barn Dance in 1940, and The National Barn Dance in 1944. After their retirement in 1958, Cooper served two terms in the North Carolina House ofRepresentatives from 1975 to 1978.

the dezurik sisters

The DeZurik Sisters, known professionally as The Cackle Sisters, were

in real life Mary Jane (1917–1981) and Carolyn (1918–2009) DeZurik. They were born on a dairy farm in Royalton, Minnesota, to a musical family, where they developed a distinctive style of yodeling, along with the ability to produce birdlike sounds of whistles and trills, all in perfect harmony. Their only accompaniment was the guitar strumming of Carolyn. The DeZurik’s made their debut on The National Barn Dance on October 17, 1936. On the show, they were billed as trick yodelers, and their clucking style of harmony led to comedic impersonations of chickens that led to their stage name. In 1937 they appeared on the Purina Mills Checkerboard Time radio show. In 1941 they moved on to the Midwestern Hayride and in 1945 to The Grand Ole Opry, thereby becoming the first female performers to star on both the Opry and The National Barn Dance. The sisters recorded only once, in 1938 for Vocalion, which resulted in six sides.