| Country music (also known as country and | | | | copies quite a feat in any form of music even |
| western music or just country western), is a | | | | now. Your Cheatin Heart, cut by Williams in |
| blend of popular Southern US musical. With | | | | 1953, is perhaps one of the best-known |
| its roots deeply set in folk music, Celtic | | | | records of the honky-tonk era. It was not his |
| tunes, blues, and gospel music it evolved | | | | only hit though; in his lifetime Williams |
| rapidly in the 1920s. The term Country Music | | | | went on to record more than one hundred |
| began to be commonly used in the 1940s and | | | | songs. |
| was fully accepted and embraced by the mass | | | | |
| in the 1970s, while the use of terms like | | | | While honky-tonks were filled with its fans, |
| country and western declined. However, | | | | theatres were filled with fans of the cowboy |
| country music is actually a one-size-fits-all | | | | songs made popular, again, in Texas and |
| category that embraces several different | | | | Oklahoma. The often-romanticized and |
| genres of music like the Nashville sound, | | | | thrilling life of the cowboy; heroic but |
| bluegrass, a fast mandolin, banjo and | | | | lonely, drifting, fit in perfectly with this |
| fiddle-based music popularized by Bill Monroe | | | | style of music that took its sound from the |
| and by Flatt and Scruggs; Western, which | | | | hills of Tennessee and the bayous of |
| encompasses traditional Western cowboy | | | | Louisiana. Those days, more often than not at |
| campfire ballads and Hollywood cowboy music | | | | least one part of the western song would |
| made famous by Roy Rogers, The Sons of the | | | | include a lonesome whistle from the flute or |
| Pioneers, and Gene Autry the list can go on | | | | other mellow sounding wind instrument. This |
| forever. | | | | went on to be known as the country western |
| | | | style. |
| Whatever be the style, each is unique in its | | | | |
| execution, its structural chord and its use | | | | Some of those famous for this western style |
| of rhythms and many songs have been adapted | | | | were Gene Autry, Americas singing cowboy, and |
| to the different country styles and cater to | | | | Roy Rogers, who later teamed with wife Dale |
| different tastes and palates. One example of | | | | Evans to become a famous due of the genre. |
| one tune used by many in different styles is | | | | Rogers also had been a part of The Sons of |
| the tune Milk Cow Blues, an early blues tune | | | | the Pioneers, a band that brought the |
| by Kokomo Arnold that has been performed in a | | | | frontier sound to over 80 westerns between |
| wide variety of country styles by everyone | | | | 1935-1948. |
| from Aerosmith to Bob Wills to Willie Nelson, | | | | |
| George Strait to Ricky Nelson and Elvis | | | | Mix n Match of these styles always resulted |
| Presley. | | | | in something interesting. Country music |
| | | | morphed once again in the early 1950s with a |
| In the 80 plus years of country music | | | | sound that became known as rockabilly a mix |
| history, the chords, sound and style has | | | | of the southern hills music and the blues. |
| changed dramatically, at least in some | | | | This sound was made popular by many |
| respects. In its infant years, it was the | | | | performers who developed staying power in the |
| honky-tonk sound from the likes of Ernest | | | | country music industry. They include the |
| Tubb and Hank Williams that made up the genre | | | | Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway |
| of country music. It was a crowd puller in | | | | Twitty, Carl Perkins, and, of course, the |
| roadside pubs and meeting houses throughout | | | | king himself Elvis Presley. |
| Oklahoma and Texas that were packed every | | | | |
| Friday and Saturday evening with fans and | | | | This form of country, with its faster paced |
| curiosity seekers alike, anxious to listen to | | | | sound and constant rhythm, quickly worked its |
| the fast-rising sounds of steel guitars and | | | | way up the record charts as Americans, too, |
| drums. Those pubs were popular not just for | | | | found themselves living a lifestyle that was |
| the latest craze in American music, but the | | | | a much quicker pace than the generation of |
| repeal of prohibition in 1933 also relaxed | | | | their parents. |
| the minds of many when it came to public | | | | |
| drinking; now the audiences could enjoy their | | | | Today country music is perhaps at its highest |
| favorite music and alcoholic beverages at the | | | | peak of popularity the road to success paved |
| same time. | | | | by Cline, Tubbs, Williams, Wells, and others |
| | | | is now treaded upon by mega-stars like Garth |
| Although Tubb and Williams had their share of | | | | Brooks, the team of Brooks and Dunn, Reba |
| popularity with the honky-tonk tune, it was | | | | McIntire, Vince Gill, and dozens of others |
| Al Dexter who cut the first label with the | | | | who are quoted with their thanks and |
| words honky-tonk in 1936. Tubb's single, | | | | gratitude to the pioneers of the sound of |
| Walking the Floor Over You, released in 1941, | | | | country music. The Sound of Music goes on and |
| would go on to sell more than one million | | | | on. |