Zhang Zishuang Professor Benjamin Hanna Western Culture III 0126 22 December 2014 Country music and American culture When you walk along the street, you may hear Taylor Swift’s new album kept playing again and again; When you pass by a truck, you may be attracted by the euphonious ‘country road’ by Johnny Denver; When you step into a bar, country music will frequently appear among many energetic Rock songs. Undeniably, country music has been everywhere and even gained worldwide popularity in recent years. Caught by the beautiful sound and moving melodies of the American country music, I decided to lift the veil of American country music to people who have a passion for it. Besides the superficial acoustic enjoyment, the American country music is a perfect embodiment of American history, culture and customs. Once you could profoundly understand and sincerely appreciate the American country music, you are offered a golden opportunity to comprehend what the American truly value.
These recording sessions saw Dylan return to the acoustic guitar after his controversial ‘plugged-in’ performance at the Newport Folk festival two years previously. As put by Alex Abramovich, “the charm of The Basement Tapes might have less to do with the quality of the songs themselves than with the informal, experiential qualities of the recording.” It was this re-hashing of the qualities of their music which gave The Basement Tapes such influence over popular music in the late 1960s. In the 1960s, folk rock was taking off, beginning with the release of The Byrds’ cover of Dylan’s Mr Tambourine Man. The addition of electric guitars into the folk genre paved the way for other artists, including Dylan himself, to shift to a more electric rock sound. But it is the emphasis on the acoustic guitar which gives the traditional folk style of music its authentic charm.
People said it reflects the character of the race that made it, some said it came from the reasons that I’ve already said. As well as that people say that folk music is usually learnt and taught by ear although in some cases it’s noted, this caused the main difference, as the cultures that did not rely on noted folk music could not be readily categorised. Some traditional folk music became known as World Music or Roots Music. Instruments of Folk Music. There are many instruments used in folk music, the one I use in my Folk Group is the 6 string acoustic guitar.
Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Elvis Pressley introduced this Genre. Classic Rock evolved in the United States and stemmed from a combination of various music genres. Those music genres that Rock stemmed from were blues, African-American genres, jump blues, jazz, and gospel music. Elvis Pressley who is an inspiring rock artist added his own twist to rock music by adding a fast paced upbeat sound and gave rock music life. Hip Hop was formed in the early 1970’s.
Shortly after their first tour, the group's eponymous first album was released on 12th January 1969. Its blend of blues and rock influences with distorted amplification made it one of the pivotal records in the evolution of heavy metal music. Although several of Led Zeppelin's earliest songs were based on or were cover versions of blues standards, others such as "Communication Breakdown" had a unique and distinctively heavy sound. Led Zeppelin also featured delicate acoustic guitar on "Black Mountain Side" in which the influence of Davy Graham can be heard, and a combination of acoustic and electric approaches on the reworked folk song "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You". The
She is regarded as a folk singer, although her music has diversified since the 1960s, encompassing everything from folk rock and pop to country and gospel music. Although a songwriter herself, Baez is generally regarded as an interpreter of other people's work, having recorded songs by The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Violeta Parra,
The sixties were when many artists started experimenting with different sound techniques such as distortion and playback. Among The Beatles and The Who, Jimi Hendrix was one of the pioneers in this new world of music. He was left handed but played a right handed guitar "upside down" which let him experiment more with his playing methods. The Sixties was also a great time for dance innovation with many dance fads and crazes coming into style. America and other countries were coming out of the Jive period and Rock-n-Roll was ushering in new and exciting dance moves which started the era of the Twist.
There are two popular styles of music – rock and rap. These two kinds of music show freedom, independence, responsibility and view for the life of the teenager society. Rock and rap grabbed attention of the teenager audience for the next 3 reasons: preconditions of occurrence, style of playing music and new musical instruments and of course singers. Rock and rap are very different in age, but they are similar at the history of their occurrence. Rock appeared about 90 years ago, in the times of Great Depression.
Rock & Roll history Where did this type of music come from? The rhythm of rock and rock is from Africa. The immediate origins of rock and roll lie in the late 1940s and early 1950s through a mixing together of various popular musical genres of the time. These included gospel, folk music, and the blues - particularly the electric forms being developed in Memphis, Chicago, New Orleans, Texas, California, and elsewhere - piano-based boogie woogie, and jump blues, which were collectively becoming known as rhythm and blues. Also in the melting pot creating a new musical form were country and western music (including Western swing and influences from traditional Appalachian folk music), jazz, and gospel music.
The music played was that of the late John Denver plus some original compositions by Jim Curry, the principal of this performance. The performers included Jim and Anne Curry who both played acoustic guitar, Anne also played mandolin, Richie Gajate-Garcia on drums who played for a few years in John Denver’s touring band, Tristan Garcia, whose father played with John Denver, on electric bass guitar, Chris Wills played electronic keyboard, and Diane Ireland played flute. Jim and Anne sang all of the songs with backup vocals by Chris and Tristan. The music form was that of an eclectic mixture of John Denver’s recorded hit music plus some of his unrecorded works. Jim and Anne Curry are also composers in their own right and played several of Jim’s personal compositions.