Essay On Bluegrass Music

Imagine yourself standing above thousands of people singing the lyrics of your song back to you. How does it feel? Growing up in the backwoods of Oklahoma, Garth Brooks only had a dream for his reality. Through his hard work and dedication to his music, Garth Brooks, one of the top-selling solo artists and ranked among the biggest stars of his generation, will leave a legacy people only dream to achieve.

The British Invasion in American music would not have been as prominent without The Beatles, who paved the way for other British groups to come to America and be successful. The 1950’s rock and roll artist like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and others, influenced many British groups during the early 1960’s, but in America in the early 1960’s folk music was the popular choice of music. The popularity of folk music was due in large part to what was going on in American society with the civil rights movement, JFK assassination and the Vietnam War and folk music spoke to what was going on in America. The British Invasion ended the popularity of folk music in 1964 with The Beatles and other British groups.

During the time period of the 1920’s, Hillbilly music was only produced and sang by white Americans. The country music of our society today does not follow the ideology that country music can only be made by white Americans. Country music artists of multiple ethnicities can be found in our society today. Darius Rucker is an African American country artist who is quite popular on the billboard charts today. This is in deep contrast to the hillbilly music decade when no African-Americans were making hillbilly records.

I interviewed one of my high school science teachers about her favorite song. Dr. Barr told me that her favorite song is from the bluegrass genre called “Wagon Wheel” (I had never heard this song before). She said that this song is her favorite because it is really catchy, but it does not have any special meaning for her. I asked her if she was able to remember this song’s lyrics and she could recall them partially. “Wagon Wheel” was released in the year of 2004 by a group called Old Crow Medicine Show and the instruments used during the song are banjos and guitars. She was not able to remember the names of the group members, but they are: Ketcham Secor, Critter Fuqua, Kevin Hayes, Morgan Jahning, Chance McCoy, Cory Younts, Gill Landry, and Willie Watson (Monger). Although I had not heard this song, I would not consider it one of my favorites because I am not familiar with its genre. Old Crow Medicine Show was formed on 1998 in Harrisonburg, Virginia (Monger); the members are still

What is the message that an artist is trying to send when they write or sing a country song? Though some country songs seem to be filled with lyrics about girls, alcohol, and trucks, many deliver words that suggest a more free and truthful way of life. Although songs of all genres can be pointless and dumb, many artists portray their transcendentalist thoughts through their music. Ideas such as self-reliance, importance of nature, and nonconformity have unceasingly continued to appear in the lyrics of many Country songs and can be identified in hits including “Wide Open Spaces” by Dixie Chicks, “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack, and “Real Live Woman” by Trisha Yearwood.

Rock music in the 1960s was egalitarian, eclectic, and real based on a number of reasons. To explain the 'real' piece of rock music in the 1960s, one would have to know that there was war going on overseas that didn't make sense to Americans as to why it was going on (the Vietnam war). There was also still severe inequality between blacks and whites causing protests to occur via the Civil Rights movement, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There was inequality between women and mens rights. These issues caused dissatisfaction to occur in the American people. What better way to vent dissatisfaction than through music! Also in addition to the frustrations described above, teen rebellion from the parental obligations was also in full swing. The result of this was 'free love' and experimenting with drugs. This led to creative, and mind you interesting, rock that Americans loved like "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by The Beatles. Aside from the above,

Despite his material successes and the regal status bestowed on him by ragtime composers and aficionados, Joplin could not easily brush off the disparaging accent the white world gave the term "rag"; such condescension, according to Joplin, was a transparent means of discrediting the black music as an artless, folk entertainment. With words, choreography, and music by Joplin, Treemonisha was not a ragtime opera, but instead a complex

I did not understand the meaning of the lyrics being sung, or better yet screamed. The rhythms and melodies’ did not come across as pleasing as Disney songs, and they definitely did not carry my imagination to an enchanted world. During my youth, Gospel music was something I became a fan of, only because of the fact that I looked up to my grandma; I wanted to be just like my grandma and becoming a fan of Gospel music made me feel as if I was closer to being just like her. I was a big fan of the music my mom listened to: country and pop. It was something that brought my mother and I together. Many times we would be in the car singing and dancing to the tunes she would blast through the speakers.

the entire poem as not to entirely exclude musical elements, for music is a vital concept that adds to the understanding of a blues poem such as this.

In the 1920’s the society was becoming more tolerate due to the invention of electricity, jazz, bootleggers, and immigrants. Electricity will help invent things like the radios, automobiles, television, airplanes, and etc. By having these technology advances, it created a sense of connection between the people. Bootleggers were people who smuggled illegal alcohol. The old immigrants hated the new immigrants because they were taking the old immigrants jobs. Jazz is a type of music style that will become very popular in the 1920’s. Jazz as they move to the cities will get more popular. Jazz will influence more music styles as time passes by. The Rural values were more conservative. They didn’t have electricity and or drink. They believed in going to church on a Sunday on a horse. The Rural values were more challenged by the city people because they had trouble keeping their kids together and away from the urban society.

What is the Blues? In the words of B.B. King, “Blues is a simple music and I’m a simple man” (qtd. in King and Ritz). From its simple and primitive origins, not only has the Blues affected culture throughout the Deep South, but Southern culture has had a strong influence on the creation of the Blues and its musicians.

When investigating the origins of country music, there are multiple different country music stars that could be recognized for their recording success, and innovation, which contributed to the progress of country music as one of the most popular genres in the 20th century. The pioneers for country music consisted of both men, women, and multiple different ensembles providing to country music’s success. Without the help of the founders of country music, this genre might not be as successful as it is today.

Evolution of the Delta blues can be seen by identifying specific elements of the Delta Blues in music genres that came after it. Rock ‘n’ Roll for example, is one of the modern genres that still exemplify elements of the Delta Blues. Many rock legends such as the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles were highly inspired by the Delta blues. Regan Wardensky writes, “The goal of both genres is to create music with raw emotion.” (Wardensky, 2012) . A visible aspect of the Delta Blues in Rock n Roll is the lyrics and the extent at which artists use them to express deep emotion. The rolling Stones, sang “Paint it black” with the aim of allowing the audience to look into the life of a troubled fellow who wishes his life was all painted black just like his moods. The Alabama shakes, a modern rock band showcase the same emotion when they sing “Bless my heart, bless my soul. I didn’t think I’d make it to 22 years old.” in “Hold on” Similar sadness can be seen in Robert Johnson’s “Come on to my kitchen” who continuously asks his lover to come back to him. Not surprisingly, Robert Johnson receives credit in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for writing songs that set foundation for rock n roll. Another element of the Delta blues present in Rock n roll is the use of the minor pentatonic

The reading “Popular music and the civil war” explained the heavy influence that music had leading up to and during the civil war. Music was used to express the way Americans, those in the north or south, were feeling during this time. Through their lyrics, writers and singers were able to convey their feelings on topics such as being separated from loved ones, losing someone, patriotism for the confederates or the union, and anything else that related to war time. Many of these songs appealed to the Americans because they could easily relate to what the lyrics were saying. Therefore, songs were being greatly produced during this time because people were purchasing the music, whether that was by going to see the performance of it, or buying

According to The Bedford Book of Genres “A genre is a composition’s kind, category, or sort. Genres give us a way to categorize or describe types of compositions”. (Braziller and Kleinfeld) One genre of music is country. There are two things we need to know about genres; “First, genres change according to the ways people use them” and “Second, genres are flexible”. (Braziller and Kleinfeld). Exactly what country music is today can be hard to define as the genre changes with each new artist that comes into it, but a look at the career of George Strait shows why, depsite all the changes in what represnts country mucic, he is known as the king of country music and is the ultimate example of what comes to mind when one speaks of the genre as