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Bill Monroe
Father of bluegrass music Genre named after his band
Akonting
Three stringed banjo-like instrument from West Africa
Bluegrass
Genre given birth by Bill Monroe Reaction to glamour and glitz, corruption of Nashville Acoustic Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs
Carter Family
Country music trio Got start in 1920s on XERA
Clawhammer
Banjo technique came over on slave ships from West Africa Has to be taught from person to person
Country & Western
1940s Western style came into country music, mainly because of Hank Williams
Dixie
Famous minstrel era song Composed by Dan Emmett
Dan Emmett
Composed "Dixie" Black-faced minstrel performer
Earl Scruggs
Banjo player, bluegrass, played with Bill Monroe Up until his time banjo was comical instrument/African American stereotype Earl Scruggs was dead serious Played banjo using a 3 finer (Scruggs) style/in contrast to Clawhammer style
Elevation of the banjo
End of 19th century when music instrument companies start mass producing the instrument, marketing to upper class people "Elevating the banjo" to high society
Grand Ol' Opry
Long running radio show on WSM in Nashville, what made Nashville the center of the country music industry Got its start in the 1920s
Hank Williams
The big country music star of 1940s/50s, brought Western to Country Western Died very young - 29
Hillbilly
Stereotype of southern, white, rural mountaineers Drunk/silly behavior
Jim Crow
Character in the minstrel shows, black man with oversized shoes Name given to laws of racial segregation - legal racism
Minstrelsy
Minstrel shows, began in mid 19th centruy Northern white urban performers doing parodies of black slave life Central to minstrel shows was a musical ensemble including the banjo
Nashville
The center of the country music industry Got its start through the popularity of the Grand Ol' Opry
Nudie
The tailor in Nashville who became famous for selling elaborate cowboy suits for country music stars
Scruggs
Earl Scruggs, famous for being serious on stage and in music, famous for developing Scruggs technique on the banjo
Stephen Foster
Well-known American composer, wrote songs for the minstrel shows
Tommy Jarrell
In movie "Sprout Wings and Fly"
WLS
Radio station in Chicago, one of the big promoters of country music Stands for "World's Largest Store" - put on air by Sears Roebuck company
XERA
Border radio in the 1920s Hillbilly musicians/quack medicine The Carter Family
AIM
American Indian Movement Political party at the forefront of the Red Power movement
Drum group
Northern plains music ensemble Consists of a large drum with a bunch of men around the drum each playing with a single drumstick
Ghost dance
Diffused from the Piaute people to the Lakota A vision by a shaman (Wovoka) among the Piautes
Pine Ridge
The largest Lakota Indian preservation in South Dakota, possibly the poorest community in the United States
Red Power
Political movement in 1960s/70s, bring attention to plight of Indians in North America, modeled after the Black Power movement
Terraced melodic contour
Melodic contour of traditional northern plains Indian music Starts high, descends, goes high again
Tom Bee
Native American record producer, leader of the band XIT, record company is called Sound of America Recording "Beginnings" was main soundtrack to the Red Power movement in the 1970s
Native pop
Genre of music that combines elements of rock and traditional Native American music
Vocable
Sung nonsense syllable
Wounded Knee
Sight of the massacre that was brought on by the celebration of the ghost dance, 1890, end of the ghost dance movement, last direct military conflict between Native Americans and US military
Wovoka
Piaute medicine man, created the ghost dance, was from Eastern California and ghost dance diffused northward into Lakota country
XIT
Crossing of Indian tribes, Tom Bee's band, soundtrack to Native American movement in 1970s
Ajola
Daniel Jatta, from Gambia Uses akonting way to remember - oh ajola
Akonting
Instrument Drum-like gourd body, a long fretless stick neck, and three strings (two long melody strings and one short drone string akin to the "thumb string" on the banjo)
"John Henry"
James Roberts, from border area between North Carolina and Virginia Part of a family lineage of black banjo players who have maintained techniques and repertoire through many generations way to remember - no words, just banjo, steady beat
"Dixie"
Joe Ayers Banjo Composed by Dan Emmett for the Christy Minstrels, one of the more successful of the many professional black face minstrel troupes that toured the US between 1830s and 1880s. This deeply racist and astoundingly popular form of entertainment had a profound influence on Ame…
Syncretic Music
Combines elements from several different culture areas
Minstrel Show
1840s "Blackface" parodies of slaves and slave life Banjo diffuses to white northern working class society
Marketing of the banjo after the civil war
Women, social elites Banjos highly ornamented Parlour instrument
"Banjo masters"
Instructors for young ladies
Banjo instructors for young ladies
"Banjo masters"
Banjo Diffusion - Geographic
Out of the south, into the north
Banjo Diffusion - Class
From rural, slave class to upper class working class to upper class
Banjo Diffusion - Race
From African Americans to European Americans
By early 20th century the banjo was almost entirely played by _______
white musicians
"Jump Jim Crow"
Henry Reed Minstrel tune that gave its name to the segregation laws way to remember - 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 2 3 4
"Robert Cormack/Compliments to Buddy McMaster/Fisher's Hornpipe"
Ken Perlman, banjo White upper-class so-called "elevated banjo" of late 19th century Melodic, genteel and more appropriate for a parlor recital than minstrel show way to remember - very formal, almost like a lullaby
"Country Blues"
Dock Boggs, professional "hillbilly" musician, recorded in 1930s Southern VA coal miner way to remember - talks about lack of money
"Keep on the Sunny Side"
The Carter Family (Maybelle, Sara, and AP Carter) First big stars of country music Rose to fame on border radio Their seriousness, religiousness, and "down-home" manner endeared them to American rural families in the 1930s Churchy harmonies "Down home" approach
"I Saw the Light"
Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys All acoustic instruments incl. fiddle, steel string guitar, mandolin, string bass, and banjo Church-like harmonies, incl. a "high tenor" male singer, and elaborate choreography around a single microphone
Border Radio
Giant broadcasting companies that operated south of the Mexican border, and advertised "quack" medicines to rural America
"Your Cheatin' Heart"
Hank Williams, Country Western star died at age 28
"Earl's Breakdown"
Earl Scruggs, banjo Bluegrass "Scruggs-style"- 3 finger "up-picking" approach to the 5 string banjo way to remember - is very fast, up tempo, banjo - think The Country Bears
"How Mountain Girls Can Love"
The Tony Rice Unit Contemporary bluegrass Virtuosic playing, highly polished approach with serial solos, a driving groove, a constantly shifting instrumental texture, and high studio production values way to remember - very strong offbeat playing
"Wild Horses"
Jerry Garcia and "Old and in the Way" 1970s, explosion of interest in bluegrass among young urban musicians Garcia - banjo player from San Francsico and leader of "The Grateful Dead" Song originally recorded by the Rolling Stones
"Peace Behind the Bridge"
The Carolina Chocolate Drops, 2010 Grammy-Award winning contemporary "old-time" string band feat. Rhiannon Giddens and Dom Flemon on banjo "reclaiming" the banjo Weave older "hillbilly" styles and minstrel songs into a compelling sound Particularly unusual for the variety and the scho…
Joe Thompson
"Soldier's Joy" Rec. 1980s 3rd generation banjo player Heterophonic texture
John Carson
1923, Fiddlin' John Carson "The old hen she cackled" (Atlanta, GA)
Charlie Poole
"Take a Little Drink on Me" Quintessential hillbilly performer Comic presentation Died at 27 years old Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers
Jimmie Rodgers
"The yodeling brakeman" "Blue Yodel" (T for Texas)
Native Territory
BIA (Dept. of Interior) Overseen by BIA Domestic "Nations"
Canadian legal terms
First nation Inuit Metis
Blackfeet Grass Dance Song
Powwow group, Montana Use of vocables Vocal music, accompanied by steady drumming "Heartbeat" rhythm and "one-beat" rhythm Music tied to ceremony and dance Membranophones, ideophones Monophonic texture Emphasis on vocal texture
Native American music Concepts
Music associated with other activities (healing, ritual, courting, etc.) Music comes from "out there" Music as a means for healing Music in oral/aural tradition Technical complexity not especially valued
Northern Plains
Sioux, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, Arapaho, Lakota
Lakota History
17th-19th century Horse culture 1850 ceded all of their rights to land in exchange for reservations in South Dakota, Montana
Lakota Today
10k registered Lakota Average lifespan on Pine Ridge Reservation (South Dakota) - 45 years Median income: $26,000/year
Music Elements of Traditional Lakota
High, tense vocal production Falsetto singing (high pitch) Vocal pulsing Drum group Lead singers and "seconds" "Terraced" contour Sung with vocables "Contemporary style" also uses English words
Lakota music form
AABCBC Beats and vocals are separate
Rabbit Dance
Contemporary style Courting dance A A seconds B all C all longer B (with text: "yes we are thinking of you.. wonder if you are alone tonight) C I wonder if you are thinking of me Heya! (Pushup - back to top) Typically 4 times "Honor Beats"
Ghost Dance beginning
Piqute - Great Basin Wovoka - 1889 vision
Ghost Dance purpose
Correct, disciplined practice would lead to: Return of buffalo Reuniting with dead ancestors Removal of white settlers Ghost shirt made you impervious to Army bullets
Wounded Knee
1890 desperate situation 3000 dancers Dec. 29 massacre 300 women and children killed End of "Indian Wars"
Ghost Dance Song
Paired phrases A cappella Sung in Piaute language Narrow melodic range Repeated phrases, early to learn
Powwow
Public social gathering; dancing, food, "making relations"
Native Pop history
1952-1972 Urban migration, off reservations into large cities Formed urban enclaves, communities Late 1960s Red Power movement
American Indian Movement (AIM)
Political party - bringing public attention to the plight of American Indians
Tom Bee
AIM activist XIT (band) Album: "Plight of the Red Man" Song: "Beginnings" (heavy bass, kick drum, vocables/English lyrics, chant) Sound of America recording company Million copies sold (bootlegged, radio stations, tables at powwows)
Robbie Robertson
"Unity" Style: heavy bass, bass drum Descending/cascading melodic contour, chant, prominent percussion
"Sprout Wings and Fly"
Film Fiddler Tommy Jarrell Director Les Blank
"Lakota Rabbit dance song"
Traditional Norther Plains "round dance" song for entertainment and courting AABCBC form typically sung with vocables and text combined way to remember - "I wonder if you are alone tonight"
"Pawnee Ghost Dance"
Re-mastered 19th century recording of a ghost dance song Ghost dance was a charismatic religious movement that diffused out of the great basin area into the northern plains A cappella, paired phrases, relatively short sung phrases that were relatively easy to learn and sing way to reme…
"Beginning"
Pan-tribal XIT (Crossing of Indian Tribes) - rock band from Albaquerque, NM Formed by Tom Bee, activist/musician Red Power Movement Sound of America recording company, dedicated to producing and distributing Native American popular music
"Unity"
Robbie Robertson Pan-tribal plea for unity, in the form of an updated Cherokee "stomp dance" Robbie had early fame as a guitarist and songwriter in "The Band" in the 70s Member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame way to remember- "this is Indian country"

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