Country Music: Hillbilly, Bluegrass, Cowboy, and Country

Another original American music genre, like spirituals, blues, Rhythm and Blues, and Jazz, is Country Music. And like these other genres, Country Music also contributed a lot to Rock music. In fact, it is probably the heavy emphasis on the guitar as the instrument of choice that influenced the use of the guitar in Rock and Roll, and later Rock music.

Hillbilly / Old-Time Music

In a previous lesson we learned that Elvis Presley’s style was partially based on a type of “hillbilly music.” This type of music (also known as “old-time music”) is a form of North American folk music, which “grew out of the folk ballads of the British Isles” (Crossroads in Music, p. 213), i.e. England, Scotland, and Ireland. In other words, Hillbilly music is a type of folk music. The main instruments used in Hillbilly music are stringed instruments like the guitar, banjo, and fiddle. Traditionally the fiddle functioned as the main melodic instrument. Hillbilly music includes songs with a high rhythmic density, usually used for dancing, as well as songs with slower tempos, usually ballads.

Below is an example of a hillbilly song called “Big Eyed Rabbit” by Samantha Bumgarner and Eve Davis. Notice in this song that the orchestration stays the same, basically a fiddle and banjo playing the same melody and harmony repeatedly.



Bluegrass

While bluegrass developed out of the Old-Time folk music, it is not considered folk music.

In the late 1930s and 1940s, the musician Bill Munroe and his band the Blue Grass Boys started to experiment with different orchestration and settled on the fiddle, guitar, mandolin, five-string banjo, and string bass. Listen to an example by Bill Munroe called “Southern Flavour.”



You’ll notice that in this orchestration, unlike in Old-Time Music (Hillbilly Music), the focus shifts from one instrument to another. First the mandolin played the lead, then the fiddle, the focus shifts back to the mandolin, next the acoustic guitar takes the lead, the focus returns once more to the mandolin, and finally all the instruments increases in dynamics, to play equally loudly. Bluegrass music has this in common with jazz music: the focus is shared by different instruments to play the main melody and improvising around it.

This style of music, inspired by Bill Munroe and his Blue Grass Boys, became known as bluegrass music. Crossroads in Music (p. 216) describe the vocals in bluegrass as follows: “The vocals usually take the form of solos or duets. In the duets, the harmony part is higher than the melody. Bluegrass tunes are also distinctive in that their tempo tends to be rather fast.” Also typical of bluegrass vocals are the high pitched singing, with men usually singing tenor and woman soprano.

A famous bluegrass song is “Man of Constant Sorrow”. The song has folksong roots and dates back to at least the early 1900s. Listen to it performed as part of the soundtrack of the movie O Brother Where Art Thou?, featuring George Clooney. The lead vocalist is Dan Tyminski of The Union Station. While listening to the song, identify the different instruments that play the melody during the interludes.



The spirituals focused exclusively on religious themes; while bluegrass music may also mention religious themes, it is not exclusively religious. Although the song “Man of Constant Sorrow” refers to heaven (“God’s golden shore”), it is not strictly a religious song.

Cowboy Music & Country Music

These days cowboy music refers to the more traditional country music, specifically as it developed in America’s “Wild West,” particularly the “South,” i.e. Texas. It is also known as “Western Music,” and was originally the songs that were composed and sung by the cowboys (and cowgirls). For this reason, a main theme in Country / Western music is the life of the cowboy.

(You can listen to traditional “cowboy music” here.)

Below is the famous story of “Little Joe, the Wrangler”:



This sad song is typical of Country and Western music. Crossroads in Music (p. 213) mentions a Newsweek article that notes a direct relationship between radio time devoted to country music and suicide rate.

Country Songs are Story Songs

A very important feature of both Western and Country Music is that they always tell a story. Sometimes the story is spoken, rather than sung. Listen to Johnny Cash tell the story of “A Boy Named Sue”:



Another famous story-song is “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers. In this song the act of playing cards (Poker) wisely, becomes an analogy for living life wisely.



Probably one of the most famous story-songs in the Bluegrass tradition is Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” – listen first to the version by Charlie Daniels himself, and then to the rendition by funk-metal band Primus.





For more reading on country music, visit Tom Zarecki’s page about country music history.