Music is a priceless gift to man and plays an important role in everyone’s life. It is music that gives birth to feelings and emotions in human souls, which color life with bright and precious colors. Everyone at one time or another in life has their own preferences in music. It is conditioned by character, situation, mood and some events. Among the many musical styles, there are special directions that can create the perfect soulful mood. Country music is one of them.
The birthplace of country music are in the United States. The style began to emerge in the late nineteenth century and finally took shape by the beginning of the 20th century. The sources of the genesis of the style were folk music and authors’ songs. The first performers of country music were immigrant colonists from Europe, so initially the sound of such works was somewhat unusual.
The literal translation of the name of the style sounds like “rural, rustic. It was the agricultural and mountainous regions of America, such as Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina for a long time kept the tradition of country music in its original form.
It was a certain territorial isolation and impossibility of close communication with other regions of the country that contributed to the development of the original culture and its own traditions. Through song and dance, residents compensated for the lack of education and communication with other regions, which allowed the original and pristine form to preserve the special in spirit and nature country style.
As a separate musical genre, recognizable by the first notes, country music was defined by the early 20th century, but there are historical facts that prove that the early period of the style can be dated back to the 17th century. Each people who settled in the vastness of America, brought with them a part of their traditions, including, and in music. Thus, in the intertwining of different folk cultures, a soulful and original in its nature country style was born. It was the multinationality, originality, rhythmic, simple and close to everyone lyrics, that found an echo in the hearts of listeners.
The formation and popularization of country music
Technological progress, the active development of which was characterized at the beginning of the 20th century, has played an important role in the formation of country music as an independent genre. It was the emergence of radio, or hillbilly, as it was then called, provided a wide popularity of the style. Many unknown, but talented performers got a unique opportunity to be heard across the country.
One of the first recorded country songs: Henry C Gilliland & A C Robertson – Arkansas Traveler (1922)
After country music became popularized with the help of radio, first amateur and then professional country music festivals began to be organized. Popular compositions began to be recorded in studios on gramophone records, which was the beginning of commercialization of the genre. The performers became famous, favorites of the public. The popularity of the genre was breaking all possible records, the people’s love was universal and devoted.