Chapter Six:Gospel, Blues ,

Country and Folk

• A family of religious music styles : there is white and black gospel music. Black gospel music has had the more profound influence on popular music.

• Created by Thomas Dorsey and others around 1930’s.

• Influenced Rhythm and Blues, since early 1950’s

Gospel MusicDefinition

Gospel Music

• Through the decades gospel music remained virtually unknown outside the black community it gained wider audience after world war II gospel songs included traditional hymns such as :

• “Amazing grace” • “precious Lord”• “ How I got over”

• Gospel came by its blues times naturally, Black gospel blends white protestant hymnody , the black spiritual and more fervent religious music which is blues.

• Life is bad at times, gospel is strictly good news .

• This music lifted to muck and mire of property out of muck and mire of proverty and loneliness of being broke and gave them hope anyway

Gospel Music

• Collected cowboy songs in 1910.

• Thanks to his efforts the American Folk Song archive was created in 1928.

• Signed a contract with a company to record folk ballads in 1932.

• Recorded with Huddie Leadbetter ( Lead Belly)

John Lomax

• Was known by the black community as a songster.

• Songster: An entertainer that plays many different kinds of music.

• He performed different types of music including blues, ballads, folk songs and children songs.

Lead Belly

Most Famous Songs of Lead Belly:

• Belly performed both songs without any trace of his blues style or his husky voice. Guitar is simple and straight forward.

• He assumed a different musical persona when singing “white songs”.

• “Goodnight Irene” became a hit song for “The Weavers”, an american folk song quartet, for the pop singer Jo Stafford and for the country singer Ernest Tubb.

• Blues and country appeared on recordings targeted at marginalized audiences.

Jo Stafford-Goodnight Irene

Skip to my louGoodnight Irene-Leadbelly

Ray Charles

Scandalized the black church community by giving the gospel hymn “Jesus is all the world to me” new words and a new beat to create a song called “I got a woman”.Ray Charles- I got a Woman

Gospel Music

Ray Charles explored many genres such as:JazzBig Band His song “I got a woman” was number one in the R&B billboard lists He has influenced many artists until this day.

• Considered the father of black gospel music.

• Blues pianist known professionally as Georgia Tom

• He acknowledged blues on gospel music.

• Dorsey Acknowleged the blues on gospel music also gave gospel its name first gospel hit “if you see my savior” another hit “tell him that you saw me” written in 1926.

Thomas Dorsey

Gospel harmony: as it developed during the thirities and forties and forties gospel took its harmonic language from the nineteeth-century European hymns and colored it with blues harmony.

Gospel Music

Amazing Grace-blue grass gospel version

• Deep African influence in Gospel and Folk music.

• Griot: is the healer the witch doctor the tribe historian the preserves its history in his songs, the griot in African history in his songs.

• The Griot in African culture has been the blues man. Like the griot, he tells stories through songs ands earns admiration and respect for his abilities.

• Country and folk music: Before there was country music and folk there was folk music from the country.

• Some types of folk music came from the british isles: England, Scotland ,Wales and Ireland.

• Blind Lemon Jefferson: The black Snake moan was the blind Jefferson first recordings 1927

• Country blues : We hear no pop no jazz  just a man with his guitar

Country and Folk Music

Hokum and Blues• Popular between the two world wars,

Hokum songs were a different side of blues up beat salacious good humored, and light hearted.

• One of the most famous hokum blues song is “ Its tight like that” 1928 recording by Georgia Tom  guitarists Tampa red.

• Lyrics from “its tight like that” introduce  the Hormonic form of the song is 12 bar blues but lyrics replace the conventional rhymed couplet with the verse / chorus scheme.

It's tight like that

Boogie woogie• Is a blues piano style that chases the blues

away it is typically exuberant even boisterous loud and strong.

• Its creator was the pianist who performed in noisy working class bars and clubs variously called juke joints, barrel houses honky tonks.

• To be heard over the crowd pianists created a power full two handed style in which they played active left hand pattern in lower part of the instrument. and repeated riffs on the upper part.

• It flourished in the 1930s and 40s and spread beyond the black neigorborhoods in main stream America.

1936 : The hit “Roll em, Pete” Featuring joe turner and pianist Pete Johnson one of the kings of boogie -woogie piano . “ Roll em pete” is a straight forward blues form.

Boogie Woogie Bugle Man

Roll em pete

Folk Music

• Music, usually of simple character and anonymous authorship, handed down among the common people by oral tradition.

• Folk music of white southern people became Country Music.

• Ralph Peer was arguably the most influential man in country music during his first three decades .

• He set up the first race record recording sessions on which were produced with Mamie Smith along with Hillbilly music he had recorded

Ralph Peer and Hillbilly Music

• The term Hillbilly had been in used since the term of the century to identified white southerners music.

• But its musical association dates from 1925 recording sessions with Al Hopkins

• First country music hits were recorded by Vernon Dalhart first two hits:

• “Prisoners” and wreck of the old 97

• They dealt with common themes in country music and where melodically traditional

• The Carter family is one of the most influential groups in the history of country music.

• Traditional country: vocal sound flat, nasal, and without much inflection

• Thumb-brush style: plays the melody in the lower strings and between melody, notes brush the chords on the upper string.

• Consisted of Alvin Pleasant A.P. Carter , his wife Sarah and his sister in law Maybelle. .

• Developed one of the most widely imitated guitar styles in the history of country

Carter Family Guitar Style

Jimmie Rodgers had a brief but extraordinary influential carrier it was estimated the perhaps 75% of modern country music performers were directly or indirectly influence to become entertainers through hearing Rodgers in person of through his recordings.

Among the artists that Rodgers influenced we have:Muddy Waters, Chester Burnett and others.

Jimmie Rodgers

Western Swing:

• Western swing is ballroom dance music with a Western flair, played primarily on stringed instruments. However, horns were and are used in many Western-swing bands.

• Other characteristics are an emphasis on a heavy rhythm sound for dancing, and the aforementioned improvisation.

• Bob Wills: Putted the swing in country music. Bob Wills-Sittin' on top of the world

Bill Monroe:

• A singer at Mandolin player .

• Is known as the father of bluegrass.

• He was responsible not only for the sound but the name Monroe Bluegrass music.

• Descends directly from the early string bands.

• Broadside: is a typical text swing to well known tune

Electric Steel Guitar:• An acoustic guitar with a metal

resonator built into the body, often played with a slide and producing a twangy, variable tone.

• Country Rock :Identifiable "rock" creation that used at least one element of standard country instrumentation. Either pedal steel or fiddle, kept the arrangement largely acoustic except for bass, and utilized country like , Appalachian-style harmonies.

Important Dates:

• 1925-Start of broadcasting

• WSM became radio home of Grand Ole Opry radio record let to opportunities to perform live.

• Records help spread the sound of old time music beyond the south

Key Notes• Songster• Country Blues• Griot• Hokum• Boogie-Woogie• Gospel• Folk Music• Country Music• Traditional Country Vocal• Sound-thumb-brush style• Western swing• Electric Steel Guitar• Country Rock beat• Broadside• Bluegrass