Country and RnB

(Jan 8) Roots and Routes +

How do we define rock? : Rock N Roll VS Rock

Rock:

  • broad and inclusive musical genre

  • serves as a general catch-all category for a wide range of musical styles.

  • It emerged in the 1960s and has since seen significant fragmentation (1960s onwards see subdivisions of rock, fragmentation of rock)

Influences on Rock:

  • Rock music has roots in different genres, notably incorporating elements of Country + Western and Rhythm + Blues (RnB)

Rock 'n' Roll:

  • specific form of pop music that gained prominence in the post-World War II era, particularly in the 1950s.

  • emerged as a cultural phenomenon during a period of significant societal change, reflecting the post-war era's shift in attitudes and values.

  • The genre's popularity can be attributed to the younger audience seeking new forms of expression.

Brainstorm: How do we define rock?

  • band (physical instrumentals)

  • rebellion

  • sense of freedom

  • pushing back against establishment

  • faster tempos (heavy/hard sound)

  • sound distorted (gritty)

  • form of expression for social outsiders

  • usually 4 beats per bar (4/4) known as back beat (it is on 2 and 4)

  • counter culture (really known in 1960s challenging in issues like human rights)

  • youth/teen

Music Categories emerging in 1920’s

  1. Race records (blues music, african american music)

  2. Hill billy (rural music, white people, becomes country and western)

Race Records / Rhythm + blues (RnB)

  • driving rhythms, small combos of instruments

  • use of the backbeat, usually 4 beats per bar (4/4) known as back beat (it is on 2 and 4)

  • 1920s when recording industry was in the rise

  • supported by many small independent record labels (at the time Atlantic Records)

Wynonie Harris (1915 - 1969)

  • Mr blues

  • King records

  • offered a blue print for rock n roll artists a few years later

“Good Rockin Tonight” in 1948

  • can hear back beat during claps

  • stop time in the song = dramatic sharp pause of music, vocal continues, then instrumentals continue

  • rockin = meaning sex

Ruth Brown (1928 - 2006)

  • emerged in 1949

  • in 1950s made so many hits that Atlantic records becomes a dominant industry and no longer a small one (Atlantic records = the house that ruth built)

  • hall of fame in 1993

  • influential RnB singer of the 1950s

  • an advocate who had fought for the royalties Atlantic records had promised and not yet given to her

  • “Miss Rhythm”

Chart topper for 11 weeks = “teardrops in my eyes”

1949

  • In 1949, the focus shifted from the term "race records" to the broader and more inclusive category of Rhythm and Blues (RnB), reflecting a more encompassing genre designation.

  • During this period, major record labels underwent a shift in their focus, diverting attention away from African American music (more attention to genres like Country and Western)

Country and Western

  • replaced “hillbilly records” in the 1940’s

  • Associated with the major recording companies such as MGM records and Mercury Records

  • show AABA song form/32 bar song form= repetition of A, with B as the contrast

Hank williams (1923-1953)

  • father of country music

  • MGM records (11 songs, 1 million copies each)

  • troubled and reckless life

  • singer song writer (125 songs in total)

  • drinking problem, then addicted to pain killers (destructive behaviour known for rock stars)

Hey Good Lookin” by Hank Willliams

  • written in song form thats very popular in first half of 20th century

  • shows AABA song form = repetition of A, with B as the contrast

Terms for this Week

BACKBEAT

  • usually 4 beats per bar (4/4) known as back beat (it is on 2 and 4)

  • seen in the song Good Rockin Tonight by Wynonie Harris

STOP-TIME

  • A musical technique

  • involving a sudden pause or break in the regular rhythm, vocal continues, then instrumentals continue

  • seen in the song Good Rockin Tonight by Wynonie Harris

AABA SONG FORM OR 32-BAR SONG FORM

  • seen in the song Hey Good Lookin” by Hank Willliams

  • repetition of A, with B as the contrast (A = Verse , B = Chorus, Bridge)

  • It is named after the four sections that typically make up the song