O.B. McClinton

Lisa Torres

Saints Of Havana

Country Soul: Making Music And Making Race In The American South (2015)

In the sound of the 1960s and 1970s, nothing symbolized the rift between black and white America better than the seemingly divided genres of country and soul. Yet the music emerged from the same songwriters, musicians, and producers in the recording studios of Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama—what Charles L. Hughes calls the "country-soul triangle." In legendary studios like Stax and FAME, integrated groups of musicians like Booker T. and the MGs and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section produced music that both challenged and reconfirmed racial divisions in the United States. Working with artists from Aretha Franklin to Willie Nelson, these musicians became crucial contributors to the era's popular music and internationally recognized symbols of American racial politics in the turbulent years of civil rights protests, Black Power, and white backlash.

Hughes offers a provocative reinterpretation of this key moment in American popular music and challenges the conventional wisdom about the racial politics of southern studios and the music that emerged from them. Drawing on interviews and rarely used archives, Hughes brings to life the daily world of session musicians, producers, and songwriters at the heart of the country and soul scenes. In doing so, he shows how the country-soul triangle gave birth to new ways of thinking about music, race, labor, and the South in this pivotal period.

Hidden In The Mix: The African American Presence In Country Music (2013)

Country music's debt to African American music has long been recognized. Black musicians have helped to shape the styles of many of the most important performers in the country canon. The partnership between Lesley Riddle and A. P. Carter produced much of the Carter Family's repertoire; the street musician Tee Tot Payne taught a young Hank Williams Sr.; the guitar playing of Arnold Schultz influenced western Kentuckians, including Bill Monroe and Ike Everly. Yet attention to how these and other African Americans enriched the music played by whites has obscured the achievements of black country-music performers and the enjoyment of black listeners.

The contributors to Hidden in the Mix examine how country music became "white," how that fictive racialization has been maintained, and how African American artists and fans have used country music to elaborate their own identities. They investigate topics as diverse as the role of race in shaping old-time record catalogues, the transracial West of the hick-hopper Cowboy Troy, and the place of U.S. country music in postcolonial debates about race and resistance. Revealing how music mediates both the ideology and the lived experience of race, Hidden in the Mix challenges the status of country music as "the white man’s blues."

Contributors: Michael Awkward, Erika Brady, Barbara Ching, Adam Gussow, Patrick Huber, Charles Hughes, Jeffrey A. Keith, Kip Lornell, Diane Pecknold, David Sanjek, Tony Thomas, Jerry Wever

From Honolulu To Nashville: Hawaiian Music and Country
by River June 28, 2009

The music played by Hawaiians in America had a tremendous influence on American popular music until World War II, and especially on country music, where steel guitars and yodels became a trademark.

Guitars were first introduced on the islands by Mexican vaqueros in the 19th century. In the years 1870-80, Hawaiian musicians invented a new way of playing guitar. By raising the nut they could play with the guitar lying flat on their lap, sliding a bottle or a piece of steel on the strings. The sounds produced matched their traditional way of singing. They played open chords and used countless different tunings.

The annexation of Hawaii in 1898 gave birth to a real passion in America. People were dreaming about these paradise islands, and the first tours by groups of musicians were hugely successful. The Bird of Paradise follies in 1904 in Broadway turned this fashion to a real craze.

Crowds were stunned by Hawaiian guitarists and singers, and their records sold by millions, making Hawaiian music a best-selling genre. Hawaiian musicians easily adapted their art to vaudeville, country, blues, and jazz.

It is mainly for them that American instrument makers from Central Europe (Dopeyra or Rickenbacher) created metallic guitars like the National or the Dobro.

The king of these guitar players was Sol Hoopii, a real genius and perhaps one of the best slide guitarists of the century. His only rival was King Benny Nawahi, who started to play on Trans-Pacific boats before settling in California.

This revolutionary way of playing the guitar was soon imitated by many American musicians from the mainland, jazz men, bluesmen who sometimes, thanks to old African traditions like the diddley-bow, were already familiar with slide playing, and country guitarists.

The first blues record ever recorded by a man, "Guitar Rag", by Sylvester Weaver in 1923, was a Hawaiian-style instrumental. Leon McAuliffe, Bob Will's guitarist, did a great cover of it, "Slide guitar rag"; Cousin Jody with Roy Acuff, Jimmie Tarlton, Cliff Carlisle played or featured laptop steel guitars.

New York City multi-instrumentalist Roy Smeck (photo above) learnt steel guitar after seeing Sool Hoopii on stage, and became one of the most stunning virtuosos of the instrument, as you can hear on his version of "Twelth Steel Rag", a piece were jazz and swing meet country music.

Jimmie Rodgers, the "father" of country music, toured with a Hawaiian group of musicians in medicine shows before recording his first sides. His famous yodel is more Hawaiian than Swiss : the melodic line of his trademark yodel is the same as "Maui", (my first post). JImmie recorded two songs with Hawaiian guitarists Joe Kaipo and Charles Kama in 1929, including this "Everybody Does It In Hawaii".

I have to thank, once again, Mr Gérard Herzhaft, French scholar and ethnomusicologist, who wrote a lot about the subject, and is the author of the great compilation Hawaiian Music: Honolulu - Hollywood - Nashville 1927-1944 (Frémeaux & Associés).

Melveen Leed

Stoney Edwards

Earl White Stringband

Bobby Womack

Johnnie Taylor

Vicki Vann

Joe Simon

Donna Summer & Eddie Rabbitt

A Taste Of Honey

The Mavericks (has Latino members, including the lead singer who is Cuban)

Ray Charles & Travis Tritt

Audrey Winters, Little Richard, Tammy Wynette, George Jones

Charley Pride inducted into CMA Hall Of Fame (2000)

Freddy Fender

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George Strait

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Rhythm, Country & Blues (1994)

Vince Gill & Gladys Knight

Al Green & Lyle Lovett

Aaron Neville & Trisha Yearwood

Little Richard & Tanya Tucker

Patti LaBelle & Travis Tritt

Sam Moore & Conway Twitty

Clint Black & The Pointer Sisters

Natalie Cole & Reba McEntire

Chet Atkins & Allen Toussaint

Staple Singers & Marty Stuart

George Jones & B. B. King

Dobie Gray

Darius Rucker is one of the biggest Black Country singers at the moment first couple of albums went straight to the top the country charts. You may recognise Darius as he was former lead singer of Grammy winning Hottie and the Blowfish rock band. His country twang is really good

10 best Darius Rucker songs

If you’ve been enjoying other genres of music there is a good chance that when you hear Darius Rucker sing you have a déjà vu moment. That is because Rucker was the voice behind the hits of the pop group Hootie and the Blowfish. Born Darius Carlos Rucker, he is one of the few exceptions to the musical rule and has had success in multiple musical genres. In fact as the rhythm guitarist and vocalist of Hootie and the Blowfish he also won a Grammy. This is a list of his 10 best songs as a solo performer in the Country music genre.

10. "Let Her Cry”

Hootie fans will recall this tune from the band. It was one of the more popular songs that they ever released and Rucker lends a very emotional vocal to the song.

9. "Only Wanna Be With You”

If you ask any fan of Rucker as a member of Hootie and the Bowfish what song they remember the most from that ban,d they would likely answer with this song. It is a song that fans in many genres like.

8. "Radio”

Rucker’s fans made this a number four sit for him. The music is more reminiscent of the old Blowfish days but it is a very light and easy to like song.

7. "Homegrown Honey”

There is an infectious rhythm and feel to this No.2 charted song. It combines his early sound with his new country identity in a very easy to enjoy style that he has come to be known for.

6. "Alright”

This is simply a good time set to music. The arrangement and the lyrics are just pure enjoyment and most of his fans love it. The message is that no matter what happens, it’s going to be alright.

5. "It Won’t Be Like This for Long”

There is a positive message that weaves in and out throughout the lyrics. The singer of the song tries to convince the listener that no matter how bad things are that it will get better in a little while.

4. "Don’t Think About It”

Songs are supposed to support people through life and tough events. Here the listener is allowed to remember a bad time and led to see that it is ok to remember good times and bad times as well.

3. "This”

From his album Charleston 1966 this was a co-write for Rucker. It really emphasizes the things that we learn through life that end up being important.

2. "Come Back Song”

When you are bad and do something you shouldn’t, you need a way to let the other person know you were wrong. This is an apology set to music and rhyme. It was a huge number one hit for Rucker.

1. "Wagon Wheel”

This old Bob Dylan tune by Rucker has been certified triple platinum in both the US and Canada. It is by far the largest hit of his solo career. It has a nice bluegrass feel to it.

Nigerian country music

Christie Essien Igbokwe (RIP)

A few years ago, I discovered her music and other Naija country music acts on this website:

http://combandrazor.blogs...ville.html

Good stuff, the downloads aren't available anymore though.

Elvis Otieno

Ikuko & The Ozaki Brothers

The Ozaki Brothers, Ricky Skaggs, Tara Linhardtt

Far Western is a feature documentary film that tells the phenomenal story of the transplant of American country music to post-World War II Japan. Nearly 70 years later, for a devoted group the music has become a lifelong obsession. Part music history and part character portrait, Far Western is told through the lives of musicians, fans, and live-music venue owners. Set both in modern Japan and the American South, the film explores the uncanny ability of a simple form of music to cross geographic and language barriers, forming a strange cultural bridge between the two countries. Now, these Japanese musicians have made their own pilgrimages back to America, to the birthplace of the music, playing in honky-tonks and festivals in America.

Big Al Downing

Liz Toussaint