Test #2Chapters 2, 3, & 4

Chapter 5

“St Louis Blues” :Race Records and Hillbilly Music,

1920s and 1930s

Chapter 5 (outline)• Race Records• Classic Blues• Understanding Twelve-Bar Blues• The Country Blues

- Charley Patton- Blind-Lemon Jefferson…- Robert Johnson

• Early Country Music: Hillbilly Records• Pioneers of Country Music• Popular Music and the Great Depression

The Blues (basic traits) [p. 134-6]

• Standard form – 3 phrases of 4 measuresA – statementA(‘) – restatement (or intensification)B – completion/conclusion

• “12-bar Blues” (simple harmonies)I I I I

IV IV I I V IV I I• “Call and Response” (voice & instruments)• Double entendres (“I need a little sugar in my bowl, I

need a little hotdog on my roll….”: Bessie Smith)

Bessie Smith (1894-1937)• Street busker (Chattanooga)• Performer on T.O.B.A. circuit• 1923 – Recordings for Columbia -

marketed as “race” records

• Highest paid Black performer• Exs.

- Bessie Smith (Down Hearted Blues, 1923) Jazz Legend – YouTube

- Bessie Smith - St. Louis Blues (1925) – YouTube (Textbook LG, p. 132-4)- Bessie Smith (Empty Bed Blues, 1928) Jazz Legend – YouTube

- Bessie Smith- I need A Little Sugar In My bowl

• “Empress of the Blues”

Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893-1929)• born East Texas• Sharecropper family• Itinerant street musician• Active in Dallas, TX (1920s)• Records in Chicago (1925/26)

- Gospel (“Deacon Bates”)- Blues (under own name)

• Wildly successful- sales in 100,000s (and more)- over 100 Tracks recorded- controversy over royalties

• EXAMPLES- Black Snake Moan - Blind Lemon Jefferson – YouTube (Textbook LG w/ lyrics, pp. 140-2)- 'See That My Grave Is Kept Clean' by BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON (1928) Classic Texas Blues - YouTube

- Blind Lemon Jefferson - Match Box Blues - YouTube

“Country” Music• “Hillbilly” = rural, Southern white

- “a Hill-Billie is a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him.” (New York Journal, c. 1900)

• Folk songs, ballads, dance tunes, hymns, etc.- many of Scotch-Irish origin, but….

• Influenced by commercial popular music• Accompanied (mostly) by String instruments• Amateur performers• Unwritten (oral) tradition

Early Country Music Recordings• Centered in Atlanta (1920s-30s)• Polk Brockman (Furniture salesman) &

Ralph Peer (Okeh Records agent, talent scout, etc.)• “Fiddlin John” Carson (1868-1949)

- “Little Old Log Cabin” (1923)The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane Fiddlin John Carson - YouTube

• Vernon Dalhart (1883-1948)- “light classical” singer for Edison, et al.- “Wreck of the Old 97” (1924 – 1st country “hit”)Vernon Dalhart - Wreck Of The Old '97 (1924). - YouTube

• Radio Stations & Networks- WSB (Atlanta), WBAP ( Ft. Worth), WLS (Chicago), WSM (Nashville) [all 50,000-watt clear channel stations]- “Barn Dance” Programs, e.g., “Grand Ole Opry”, “Louisiana Hayride”

The Carter Family

A.P. “Doc” Carter(1891-1960)

Sara [Dougherty] Carter (1898-1979), married. A.P.

1915, divorced 1939

Maybelle [Addington] Carter (1909-1979),

married Ezra Carter

Carter Family (cont’d)• Clinch Mts., VA• 1st recordings - 1927• Public Domain songs

- “Doc” found & arranged- copyrighted by Peer & Carter

• “Carter Scratch” Exs.- the carter scratch – YouTube- LICKTIONARY- JAMES TAYLOR 101 / CARTER PICKING

• EXAMPLES- Carter Family-Gospel Ship – YouTube[Textbook Ex., p. 150-1]- Can the circle be unbroken - The Carter Family - YouTube

- The Carter Family - Keep on the sunny side - YouTube

“First Family of Country”

Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933)• born Southern MS/AL• Railroad worker• Tuberculosis• Itinerant Entertainer

- WWNC (Asheville, NC)- recorded by Peer (1927)

• Professional Entertainer- 1st Country Music Superstar

• EXAMPLES- Jimmie Rodgers - Blue Yodel No 1 (T For Texas) - YouTube- Blue Yodel No. 2 by Jimmie Rodgers (1928) – YouTube [Textbook Ex., p. 148-50]

- Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting for a Train - YouTube

“The Singing Brakeman”

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967)

• Depression (1929-39)- decline in record sales- rise in radio & live

• “Okies” (Dustbowl to CA)

• Woody – itinerant performer- Carter and Rodgers songs- music as political statement

• EXAMPLES- Woody Guthrie- This Land Is Your Land - YouTube- Woody Guthrie~ All You Fascists Bound To Lose - YouTube- Wood Guthrie Ludow Massacre

• Folk song revival (1960s)