Country Music

Original Origins

• Irish folk music played in the Appalachian Mountain region

Country Music’s First National Hit

• “Wreck of the Old ‘97” by Vernon Dalhart

Foundation of Country MusicJimmie Rodgers Carter Family

Jimmie Rodgers

• Nicknamed the “Father of Country Music”• Blue Yodel #1 (“T For Texas”) established him

as the premier singer of early country music

Carter Family

• Known as the “First Family of Country Music”• Known for Single Girl, Married Girl• Financial success was limited because of the

Great Depression

Gene Autry

• Nicknamed “The Singing Cowboy”• Signature song was “Back in the Saddle Again”• Also known for his Christmas songs including

Here Comes Santa Claus (which he wrote), Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Bob Wills

• Known as the “King of Western Swing”• Originally known as part of the Light Crust

Doughboys – Group was named after a sponsor called Light

Crust Flour• Greatest success came as the leader of Bob

Wills and the Texas Playboys• One of their biggest hits was San Antonio Rose

Bill Monroe

• Original success came with the Monroe Brothers

• Biggest hit is Uncle Pen• Many of his songs were religious and based on

the Bible• Set the standard for the style of bluegrass with

his masterful mandolin playing and sad lonesome style of singing

Flatt & Scruggs

• Left Bill Monroe’s group to get away from the constant touring

• Formed the Foggy Mountain Boys– The name comes from a Carter Family song called

“Foggy Mountain Top”• Two of their biggest hits are Foggy Mountain

Breakdown and The Ballad of Jed Clampett

Hank Williams

• Won a singing contest with an original song when he was 14

• His song “Lovesick Blues” brought him national fame

• Went on to have 11 #1 hits including “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “Hey, Good Lookin’” and “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry”

• His hit “I’ll Never Get out of this World Alive” was released just before he died of a heart attack, brought on by drinking, on New Years Day 1952

Patsy Cline

• Some of her biggest hits are “Walking After Midnight” and “I Fall to Pieces”

• Died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963 in Tennessee

Willie Nelson

• Album Red Headed Stranger was a concept album about a preacher on the run after he killed his wife

• Helped the career of Charlie Pride find success by including him in his shows in the deep south

• Some of his biggest hits are On the Road Again, To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before, and Mama’s Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys

Charlie Pride

• 2nd African American in the Country Music Hall of Fame (The first was DeFord Bailey, a harmonica player in the 20’s and 30’s)

• Biggest hits were I Can’t Believe You Stopped Loving Me and Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’

Johnny Cash

• Known as “The Man in Black”• Is in the Country Music Hall of Fame, Rock and

Roll Hall of Fame, and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame

• Married June Carter (of the Carter Family)• Some of his biggest hits include Folsom Prison

Blues, A Boy Named Sue, and I Walk the Line

Garth Brooks

• Went to Nashville in 1985 searching for a recording contract, but was denied

• First album, Garth Brooks, was certified diamond (sold 10 million copies)

• Some of his biggest hits include The Dance, Standing Outside the Fire, and Friends in Low Places

• Greatest selling country music artist of all time

Grand Ole Opry

• Began as a weekly radio broadcast• “Country’s Most Famous Stage”• Grand Ole Opry membership is the biggest

honor many country stars could possibly achieve