Country MusicVI. Honky Tonk

VII. The Nashville Sound

VIII. Countrypolitan

VI. Honky Tonk A. What is a honky tonk?

– 1. Bar with musical entertainment in south and southwest

a. Rough, working class, sometimes prostitution and/or attached gambling house

b. Replaces the terms juke joint (juke box) in southwest as separate from blues and jazz joints

B. Word Origin

– 1. Honky (hunky=Polish, Hungarian, and German immigrants)

a. Blacks began calling whites honky as a general term in the Chicago meat packing plants

– W.C. Handy called whites “hunkies”

– 2. Tonk – type of piano

Possibly from Ernest A. Tonk…in Chicago and New York

“I Ain’t Honky Tonkin Anymore” Ernest Tubb - 1941

VI. Honky Tonk

C. The Honky Tonk Scene– 1. Blue collar working-class life– 2. Themes of tragedy

a. loneliness, heartbreak, alcoholism, despair, and self-pity b. also included songs of energetic, up-tempo hillbilly boogie.

D. 1st style called Honky Tonk– 1. Piano emphasizing rhythm over melody; similar to ragtime

a. Influenced by missing keys and poor equipment b. Related to classic blues tonal structure c. Tempo slightly stepped up d. Suited for dancing

– Influenced boogie-woogie – Jelly Roll Morton “Honky Tonk Music” and Meade LuxLewis’s “Honky Tonk Train Blues” (the latter covered by Oscar Peterson)

E. Distinguishing Features– 1. Often featured guitar, fiddle, string bass, and steel guitar– 2. Nasally vocals like Hank Williams, but later developed clear

and sharp such as George Jones “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” Hank Williams – 1949

“Your Cheatin’ Heart”

VI. Honky Tonk F. Notable Figures

– 1. Hank Williams

– 2. Ernest Tubb a. Took the sound to Nashville

b. First musician to play electric guitar on

Grand Ole Opry

G. Golden Age during 1950s– 1. Webb Price, Hank Locklin, Lefty Frizzell , and later George

Jones “White Lightning” - 1959

H. Trends– 1. Rockabilly=Honky Tonk and Rhythm & Blues begin mixing

in the 1950s

– 2. Nashville Sound a. Slick country music

b. Both ended Honky Tonk’s initial period of dominance “Saginaw, Michigan” Lefty Frizzell - 1964

VII. The Nashville Sound A. 1950s (1957/58)

B. Origins– 1. Refers to production techniques

– 2. Pioneered by RCA and Columbia Records in Nashville

– 3. Big producers: Steve Sholes, Chet Adkins, Owen Bradley and Brad Ferguson and record recorder Bill Porter

C. Changes – 1. Replaced honky tonk fiddles, steel guitar, and nasally

vocals

– 2. added smooth elements a. string sections, background vocals, polished lead vocals

– i. “slick” production and pop music structures

– 3. Studio musicians known as The Nashville A-Team a. Nashville becomes nation’s second biggest record-producing

center i. “Oh Lonesome Me” Don Gibson-’57 “Gone” Ferlin Husky-’57

VII. The Nashville Sound D. Notable Figures

– 1. Ferlin Husky “Gone” – November 1957

– 2. Jim Reeves “Four Walls” – February 1957

– 3. Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me”

Elvis Presley “Don’t Be Cruel” - ’56

– 4. Patsy Cline “I Fall to Pieces” – 1961

“Crazy” - 1961

VIII. Countrypolitan A. During the 1960s, the Nashville sound was

challenged by Bakersfield and later Outlaw Country

– 1. Losing youth audience

– 2. Bakersfield/Outlaw for country aficionados

– 3. Nashville sound for mainstream / adults

a. Upon being asked what the Nashville sound was, Chet Atkins would reach his hand into his pocket, shake the loose change around and say "That's what it is. It's the sound of money".

– 4. Charley Pride “Kiss An Angel Good Morning” -1969

VIII. Countrypolitan

B. Characteristics– 1. Outgrowth of Nashville Sound in late ’60s

– 2. Featured layers of keyboards, guitars, strings,

and vocals

– 3. designed to cross over to pop radio

– 4. sound dominated the country charts in the '70s and stayed popular until the early '80s.

– 5. among the most commercially-oriented genres of country music.

C. Notable Figures 1. Lynn Anderson “(I Never Promised You) Rose Garden” – 1971

2. Glen Campbell “Rhinestone Cowboy” – 1975

3. Conway Twitty “Slow Hand” – 1982

4. Charley Pride “Kiss An Angel Good Morning” - 1969

IX. Outlaw Country

A. a resurgence of traditional country during the

‘60s and ‘70s

1. Nashville Sound was losing popularity with country

fans

2. Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, David Allen

Coe and others became early Country-Rock

IX. Outlaw Country B. Waylon Jennings

1. from Texas; friends and bass player for Buddy Holly

2. sang tribute songs to Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, and

Hank Williams

○ a. “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?”

○ b. “The Conversation” with Hank Williams Jr.

3. inducted in Country Music Hall of Fame ad then dies

in 2002 in Chandler, Arizona

IX. Outlaw Country C. Willie Nelson

1. from Texas; worked as a honky tonk and radio

broadcast DJ

2. a gifted songwriter and cross-over success (helped

establish Charlie Pride)

3. released first country concept album

4. still alive and kicking (paying back taxes)

IX. Outlaw Country D. Merle Haggard

1. created the Bakersfield (California) Sound

2. family was Dustbowl refuges / grew up in a boxcar

3. heard Johnny Cash perform at San Quentin Prison

(he was an inmate at that time)

4. wrote his most popular song, “Okie from Muskogee”

as a joke

5. still performs

IX. Outlaw Country

E. The Highwaymen

1. an outlaw country super group

2. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and

Kris Kristofferson

○ a. “Highwayman”