The Online Roots of Rock

The Chart
100 Years of Popular Music in America
from a Rock 'n' Roll perspective

You'll find the Introduction to the Chart and the Chart Legend useful.

To explore the development of Pop music in America,
start at the bottom of the Chart and scroll up



.

.

.

.

.

..

black roots music
..
pop music of middle america
..
white roots music

.



Grammy Awards
1965
"Best Pop Vocal"
Beatles lose to
Anita Kerr Singers


British Invasion
mid 1960s
Blues Revival,
British groups
remind America
that the roots of Rock
are in the Blues








EPILOGUE






.

.

.

.

.

.



By 1964
R&B becomes so
integrated with Pop
that Billboard
drops its R&B
listing

..
.
Rock
from mid 1960s
Rock & Roll Matures
The lyrics of
Bob Dylan and the
music of the Beatles
transform Rock & Roll
into Rock – the new
folk music of the
Americas,
and the
world

.

.
..

Country Rock
from mid 1960s
Country Rocks
Folk-rockers
turn to Country's
grassroots for
inspiration
.
Motown Records
early 1960s
Diluted Soul
Fusion of
Soul and Pop
for the
white market

Soul
from 1959
Music Reclaimed
Having lost
R&B to Pop,
blacks
reclaim
their music
with a fusion of
Gospel and
Blues



Pop
1960 - 1965

R&R Seeks Direction
Teen Idols
/ Folk /
Surf
/ Instrumentals /
Novelty Songs
/
R&B
/ Soul
.
The Nashville Sound
early 1960s
Country Goes Pop
Lush arrangements
by Chet Atkins,
Owen Bradley, and
the Anita Kerr Singers
produce a polished
Nashville sound to
compete with Pop


Hall of Fame
1961
Pioneers Honored
The Country Music
Hall of Fame
is established
to honour its
pioneers





. Grammy Awards .
from 1959
Singing in the Rain
Tin Pan Alley
continues fight by giving
non-Rock & Roll songs
awards



. Payola Scandal .
1959
Not a Flash in the Pan
Tin Pan Alley,
the inventor of payola,
cries "pay for play"
as Rock & Roll
starts to dominate
hit parade





Country Music Association
1958
Responding to the
devastating effect
Rock & Roll is
having on Country,
Nashville
businessmen,
artists and deejays
establish a
trade association
to promote
Country music
and confer annual
awards

.

.

.

.

.

.

 .

 

..

. American Bandstand .
August 5, 1957
Rock & Roll Cleans Up
R&R gets
squeaky clean for
television market
and is accepted
into the homes of
middle America



..


Rock & Roll
1957 - 1959
Rockabilly Softens
Major labels
climb onboard and
dilute Rockabilly
with Pop for the
white teen
market


.


.
Rhythm & Blues

.Rockabilly.
1956 - 1957
Hybrid Music
Fusion of
R&B and Country
for adults,

released on
small, independent
labels

. Elvis Presley .
1956
"I don't sing like nobody"
Elvis Presley
walks into
Sam Phillips' studio
to record some
Blues and Country.
Sam Phillips
finds his white
singer
.

.
Country Boogie


.

.

.

.

.

.






Rhythm



and



Blues




Doo Wop
1948 - 1957
Gospel Truths
Doo Wop
introduces the
4-part harmonies
of Gospel
into Rock & Roll,

and a
chord structure

that will
become
the basis
of
Rock & Roll
love ballads

.

. Sun Reords .
early 1950s
Memphis studio
owner Sam Phillips
records R&B groups
and sees
market potential

for a white singer
who can sound
black

. Cover Songs .
early 1950s
Tin Pan Alley
loses ground
(and royalties)
to roots music
as Pop vocalists
jump on
roots bandwagon
and sing R&B and
Country hits

. Alan Freed . .
early 1950s
Disc jockey
Alan Freed plays
Rhythm & Blues
to white teen market
and calls it
"Rock & Roll"

.The Disk Jockey.
early 1950s
Radio loses
its top programs
and personalities
to television
and returns to
music
programming

.

.

.





Country
Boogie


Honky
Tonk


Western
Swing






Bill Haley
1952
Rock The Joint
Bill Haley's
fusion of
Jump Blues
and Western Swing
opens door
to Rock & Roll
era


Blues Shouters
late '40s - early '50s
Have You Heard the News?
Gospel-inspired
R&B singers
influence Pop crooners
and pave the way
for the emotion of the
early Rockers


Pop Vocalists.
late '40s - 1956
A new generation
of Pop vocalists,
plus crossover artists,
compete with
big band vocalists
as singers dominate
pop charts



Country Crooners
late '40s - early '50s

Greener Pastures
Eddy Arnold,
Tennessee Ernie Ford
and others
cross over to
the greener pastures
of Pop



.

.

.

.

.

.


.
.

Hank Williams
late '40-early '50s

Honky Tonk Hero
Hank Williams,
under the direction
of Tin Pan Alleyman
Fred Rose,
combines Hillbilly,
Blues and Pop
to become the
biggest influence in
Country music
since
Jimmie Rodgers




"Rhythm and Blues"
1949
Because of the
growing popularity
of black music,
Billboard's "Race"
chart is re-named
"Rhythm and Blues"

AFM Strike
1948
The American
Federation
of Musicians
continues fight
against jukeboxes by
banning its members
from recording.
Vocalists are
exempt from ban
and start staking
a claim on the
Pop charts.
Rhythm and Blues
and Country
gain large
followings




"Country & Western"

1949
Because of the
growing popularity of
Country music,
Billboard's "Hillbilly"
chart is re-named
"Country & Western"


Rhythm & Blues
late '40s - late '50s
Good Rockin' Tonight
Hard-driving
Rhythm & Blues
evolves from the
shuffle boogie of
Jump Blues
and sets the
stage for
Rock & Roll



Many
black families
re-settle
in urban areas
after war



The Pop Music Void

.End of an Era
The big
dance bands
start disappearing
after the war.
Bebop marks
the end of
commercial Jazz
on the Pop charts.
Tin Pan Alley
tunes lack relevance
and a beat
for an emerging,
affluent
youth market



Country Boogie
late '30s - mid '50s
Country Rocks
Country music
incorporates
Boogie Woogie
and starts to
rock


After the war,
the sound of
Country
becomes less
"hillbilly" as the
steel guitar
replaces the fiddle
as the
signature
instrument —
particularly in
Western Swing
and
Honky Tonk










WW II ENDS
November 11, 1945









 

.

.

.

.

.

.

Jump Blues
late '30s - late '40s
Jumping Jive
A blend of
Urban Blues and
Swing will lay
the groundwork for
Rhythm & Blues
.

BeBop
1942 - 1952
Jazz gets Real Gone
Jazz gets
so far out
that it's gone,
and so is
the audience,
leaving
middle America
left in the dust
without
dance music


. Big Band Vocalists .
1940 - 1956
Vocalists Take Spotlight
Bands and musicians
take back seat

as vocalists step
forward

.

Bluegrass
early '40s - '60s
Stringband in Overdrive
The classic
sound of Bluegrass
is refined and defined
in the '40s by
Bill Monroe and
his Blue Grass Boys
— and Earl Scruggs'
hot banjo

"Harlem Hit Parade"
October, 1942
Billboard
magazine
publishes
"Harlem Hit Parade"
in recognition of
growing market for
"race" music



Frank Sinatra
1942
With
big bands
not recording
because of
AFM strike,
Frank Sinatra
goes solo
and opens door
for other
band vocalists
to leave
bands





Independent Labels
from 1942
The AFM strike
against the
three major labels
opens door
for independent
black labels



AFM Strike
1942 - 1944

The American
Federation
of Musicians
declares war on
jukeboxes
by banning its
members
from recording for
the major labels
(RCA/Columbia/Decca).
Record companies
respond by
using non-union
musicians —
Blues and Hillbilly
artists.
Big band vocalists,
exempt from
the strike,
start to flourish on
their own




Acuff-Rose Publishing
1942

The AFM strike
opens the door for
Roy Acuff and
Tin Pan Alleyman
Fred Rose
to build Country
music publishing
empire

Some
jukebox owners
start
their own labels
to ensure
a steady supply
of records
during wartime
rationing


Jukeboxes
Record rationing
helps popularize
jukeboxes.
The AFM loathes
jukeboxes
because they are
putting union
musicians
out of work.
Tin Pan Alley
loves jukeboxes
because they
are increasing profits
from record sales
and
sheet music
royalties


Roy Acuff

King of Country Music
The jukebox
helps catapult
Roy Acuff
to legendary status,
rivalling even
Frank Sinatra
with servicemen
overseas


Records Rationed
Wartime
rationing
curtails
the use
of shellac in
record production.
Major labels
suspend
race and hillbilly
labels
to pursue
pop hits












America Enters WW II
January, 1942







Cab Calloway
scores a
million seller with
Jumpin' Jive




Gene Autry,
Bob Wills,and
Ernest Tubb
score their first
million sellers


.

.

.

.

.

.


Strictly Jive
1939
WLAC in
Nashville becomes
the first radio station
to program
black music —
Jazz, Jump Blues
and Gospel


.
 
ASCAP/BMI feud
1939

To offset losses
from sheet music
sales and
record royalties,
Tin Pan Alley
publishers (ASCAP)
double broadcast
royalty rates.
Radio responds by
forming BMI
(Broadcast Music Inc)
and exploiting
roots music


As
Depression
wears on,
Tin Pan Alley
revenues from
records
and sheet music
plummet
as Americans
listen to free radio
music


.

Grand Ole Opry
1939

As a
result of the
ASCAP/BMI feud,
WSN's
Barn Dance Show,
known locally
in Nashville as
The Grand Ole Opry,
is up-linked to
network —
Hillbilly music
becomes
institutionalized
in Nashville



Boogie Woogie

1938

America Boogies
Boogie Woogie
goes mainstream
after being played by
black musicians at
John Hammond's
"From Spirituals to
Swing" concert at
Carnegie Hall




Robert Johnson
1936
Blues at Crossroads
Itinerant
Mississippi
bluesman absorbs
many influences,

including
boogie woogie
rhythms, and

broadens
foundation of

Blues






Your Hit Parade
1935 - 1956

The Top 10
Tin Pan Alley
promotes
its songs on
national radio
and introduces
concept of
"Top 10"
to increase
sheet music
sales




secular quartets
1930s – 1940s
Gospel quartets
inspire
secular quartets.
The commercial
success
of the
Mills Brothers
and the Ink Spots
will open the door
for the R&B
vocal/Doo Wop
groups

Swing
1935 - mid '40s

America Swings
Swing goes
mainstream when
Benny Goodman
plays it on
network radio
August 21, 1935
and is crowned
"King of Swing"

Western Swing
1935-1950s

Country Swings
Bob Wills,
Spade Cooley and
others incorporate
Swing into
Country music



Country Duos
1930s
Professional duos,
many brother
acts, evolve from
stringbands



.

.

.

.

.

.


Urban Blues
1930s
Blues Go to Town
The Blues
gets tougher and
louder with citified
euphemisms


The end of
Prohibition makes
the Depression
a bit more
palatable and gives
rise to an aggressive,
earthy style of country
music played in
urban watering
holes



Honky Tonk
1933-1950s
White Urban Blues
Country music
goes to town and
expresses more
contemporary issues
– most notably
drinkin' and
cheatin'

 








Swing
early 1930s
Jazz Scores
Clever
arrangements by
Fletcher Henderson
and
Jimmie Lunceford
make big bands
sound
spontaneous.
By mid '30s
Swing will
become a white
craze
.


PROHIBITION ENDS
1933


Film Musicals
from early 30s
Talkies Start To Sing

The Depression
curtails lavish
Broadway musicals
just as
Hollywood movies
start to talk.
Tin Pan Alley
heads west
and the
Hollywood film
becomes the
new vehicle
for introducing
pop songs


Bing Crosby
1930s
Popular singer
opens door
for vocalists to
join bands


Broadcast Royalies
1932
To offset loss
of record royalties,
ASCAP
succeeds
in forcing
radio stations
to pay royalties
for air play


 .







Country & Western
1930s - 1950s

The Singing Cowboys
Gene Autry,
Roy Rogers and
Tin Pan Alley
clean up the West
and put the Western
into C&W



Folk Music
1930s – 1940s
Social Conscience
Born out of
the dustbowl and
hard times of
the Depression,
the songs
of Woody Guthrie
and others
grow to encompass
man's inhumanity
to man – and
through the lyrics of
Bob Dylan
in the early 1960s
will give
Rock & Roll its
social conscience

Blacks
seeking work
during Depression
migrate
to urban centers



Record sales
collapse during
the Depression –
6 million in 1932
compared to
104 million in 1927

Whites
seeking work
during Depression
migrate
to urban centers



.

.

.

.

.

.






Boogie Woogie
1928
"Eight to the bar"
Clarence
'Pinetop' Smith's
"Pinetop's
Boogie Woogie"

is the first recording
with a Boogie
Woogie title,
but this
"walking bass"
technique
has been used
by black pianists
since the turn
of the century

.


DEPRESSION BEGINS
October 29, 1929



Dance Bands
mid 1920s -1935
The Jazz Age
Despite
the misnomer of
"the Jazz Age,"
society orchestras
like Paul Whiteman's
play ballroom music
for ballroom dancing
– and for a chance
to be heard
on network radio



1927
Movie attendance
falls as radio
audience increases.
Film studios
scramble to develop
"talkies"


.






Southern Music
1927
Country Originals
Ralph Peer
establishes
publishing company
as Country
artists, starting with
Jimmie Rodgers,
write original
tunes

Jimmie Rodgers
1927 - 1933
The Father of
Country Music

Rodgers'
Blues-influenced
style, Swiss yodel,
Hawaiian guitars and
cowboy songs
lay the foundation of
Country music




Country Blues
from 1925
Men Sing the Blues
The Library of
Congress sends
mobile
recording units
south to record
rural Blues
and
discovers guitarists
Huddie Ledbetter
(Leadbelly), Blind
Lemon Jefferson,
Son House, and
McKinley Morganfield
(Muddy Waters)


field recordings
1925 - 1940

The
unexpected
commercial
success of "race"
and "hillbilly" music
sends mobile
recording units
south looking
for authentic roots
musicians

electrical microphone
1925
Sensitive carbon
microphones
replace acoustic
microphones
and allow more
accurate recordings.
The sound of
guitars can
now be captured,
and recordings
can now be made
outside the studio
environment


.
Country
1927
White Blues
Ralph Peer
travels south to record
hillbilly musicians

for the Victor label
and discovers
Jimmie Rodgers and
the Carter Family
to set the stage for
"Country" music


Gospel quartets
from 1920s
Travelling
Gospel groups,
predominately
male quartets,
sing
black and white
gospel songs
and sell
songbooks



Gospel quartets
from 1920s
Travelling
Gospel groups,
predominately
male quartets,
sing
black and white
gospel songs
and sell
songbooks



.

.

.

.

.

.


Most blacks
don't have electricity,
much less the ability

to afford a radio.
Black programming
won't happen until
the 1940s


.Gospel
from early 1920s
"Good News"
Just as Blues
goes commercial
so, too, does
black Spirituals,
as Thomas A. Dorsey
scores the music
for quartets and
choirs


Radio
from 1920
The first
commercial radio
station airs
in 1920.
In 1922 there
will be 30 stations,
and in 1923,
556

barn dances

from 1924
Most small radio
stations have
a resident
hillbilly group,
while
medium-sized
stations
air elaborate
"Barn Dance"
shows,
with the troupe
often touring
throughout the
listening area


Classic Blues
from 1922
Women sing the Blues
The Blues
settles on the
classic 12 bar form
with its first
practitioners being
vaudeville women,
most notably
Bessie Smith



Hillbilly Music
1923

Rural
musicians like
'Eck' Robertson,
Henry Whitter,
'Fiddlin' John Carson,
and the
Skillet Lickers
record and discover
a market for their
mountain music,
which is dubbed
"hillbilly" music
– a label
that will stick until
the 1950s





Race Music
1920
Mamie Smith
records
"Crazy Blues"
and opens door to
'sepia' market.
Black music is
dubbed
"race" music
– a label
that will stick
until 1948




Chicago style
1920s
Dixieland Swings
The
counterpoint
of Dixieland
yields to solo
performances,
and the
saxophone
comes into its
own as a
Chicago-style
Dixieland develops.
Future Swing greats
listen and take
notes












PROHIBITION STARTS
January 16, 1920








.

.

.

.

.

.






.

After the War,
Americans are more
patriotic and less
dependent on
European-influenced
music


WW I ENDS
November, 1918

.






Creole musicians
head north to
Chicago's South Side





1917
Storyville shuts down





Dixieland
1917

New Orleans Jass
travels north to
Chicago and,
when recorded by
a white band
called the
Dixieland Jass Band
in New York,
goes mainstream.
The music
becomes known as
"Dixieland"









In the 1890s
about 20%
of black Americans
lived in the North.
By 1920
it will be 35%





US ENTERS WW I
April 6, 1917










Black Migration
from 1914
The reduction of
immigrant workers
means job openings
in Northern factories.
Blacks migrate
north



European Immigration
1914

With the outbreak
of war in Europe,
immigration
to America slows
to a trickle


.

.

.

.

.

.


.

ASCAP
1914
Watching
sheet music sales
plummet,
Tin Pan Alley
establishes the
American Society of
Composers, Authors
and Publishers
and introduces
concept
of "royalties"

.






Blues
1912
W C Handy
Up until now,
Blues has been
an oral tradtion
with much
irregularity in form.
Seeing a
market for Blues,
WC Handy publishes
sheet music of his
" Memphis Blues"
and standardizes
a 12 bar format
for the genre


Phonograph discs
1914

Phonograph discs
replace cylinders and
record sales soar.
Home sing-a-longs
and Tin Pan Alley
sheet music sales
plummet


animal dances
1911 - 1917
The Cakewalk
yields to
the ragtime
animal dance craze
that includes
the TurkeyTrot,
Bunny Hug
and Kangaroo Dip.
The Fox Trot
survives to become
a popular dance
in the ballroom
dance craze of the
1920s

The
Ragtime craze
continues, with the
Cakewalk
paving the way
for other innovative
black dances

 



.

.

.

.

.

.



Black Love
Love is fine,
but sex is better,
and black music
abounds
with colorful
euphemisms
expressing the
joys of sex

.


Pop Love
Tin Pan Alley
love songs
range from the
sublime
to the ridiculous
while neatly
avoiding everyday
reality

pop ballads
from 1900s
Sentimental Journey
America loves
the sentimental ballad,
which becomes the staple
of Tin Pan Alley's
"pop" music
machine


Broadway
from 1900s
Airs of Culture
European operettas
with Tin Pan Alley
songs form the basis
of Broadway
musicals

.


Country Love
Country love,
with its
puritanical roots,
must be of
the hurtin' or cheatin'
kind because
a price must be paid
for enjoying sex


.

.

.

.

.

.


Jelly Roll Morton
1904
Although a great
Ragtime pianist,
Jelly Roll Morton
starts going
beyond Ragtime
with early Jazz
phrasing


Small
brass bands
flourish
in New Orleans

Surplus
military band
instruments flood
New Orleans
after
Spanish American
War



.
AFM Ragtime Ban
1901
The American
Federation of
Musicians
bans members from
playing Ragtime
in favour of classical
European music

Ragtime
1900 - 1917
Rags Debased
Tin Pan Alley
reduces the Rag
to its lowest
common
denominator
to sell sheet
music to
average pianists



.










Spanish-American War
1898








Classic Rags
late 1890s
Rags Elevated
Scott Joplin
refines the Rag
on paper
in an attempt to
elevate the form to
classic status

The cakewalk
1898
The cakewalk
becomes an
international dance
craze after
performance
by black
dancers
in New York.
White audiences
are introduced to
accompanying
Rag music


Storyville Opens

1897
New Orleans'
red-light district
becomes
a hotbed for
musical
ideas



.

.

.

.

.

.


New Orleans Jass
mid 1890s
Head Music
Buddy Bolden
and others
syncopate and
improvise
white songs
with small brass
bands, using
instruments from
marching
bands


During
the 1890s,when
Tin Pan Alley
is about to embark
on its mission
to provide
America with its
"popular" music,
the destiny of
black music
is about to unfold.
The various
elements of
black music –
call and response,
hollers,
tonebending,
blue notes,
syncopation,
back beats,
improvisation –
have been worked
for decades
in the jook joints,
dancehalls, and
church meetings
of black America.
These elements
are about to
coalesce into
different styles,
with labels
such as
Ragtime, Jazz,
Blues, and
Gospel




coon songs
Up to and
through the 1890s,
all black music
is disparagingly
referred to as
"coon songs."
White songwriters
write their versions
of coon songs that
ridicule blacks
and their off-beat
(syncopated) music

.

phonograph cylinders
1890s - 1914
On a Roll
Phonograph
cylinders using
acoustic
microphones
popularize
march tunes,
Ragtime, and
powerful
voices


Sheet Music
from 1890s
Hits or Misses
Contemporary
"hits"
start replacing
traditional
"standards" as
sheet music sales
of original tunes
become the
cornerstone of
Tin Pan Alley's
music industry

Payola
from 1890s
Song Pluggers
Tin Pan
Alleymen give
generous gifts to
popular singers to
plug songs
on vaudeville
circuit

Tin Pan Alley
from 1890s
Music Business
Tin Pan Alley is
born when some
of these new
Americans –
songwriters,
salesmen,
businessmen
– band together
to create
"Pop"music
for the masses.
Unlike the old school
of music publishers,
Tin Pan Alley is
aggressive in
selling
its wares

Prior to the
turn of the century,
America opens
its doors
to millions of
immigrants from
Europe,
many fleeing
anti-semitism.
Denied employment
in established fields,
many turn to
the emerging fields
of entertainment
– vaudeville, movies,
and popular
music


.

Stringband Music
late 1800s?
Fiddle music
grows into
Stringband music
with the addition
of banjo and guitar,
and other acoustic,
stringed instruments.
The non-use of
drums is a pure
Country tradition
that will persist into
Rockabilly






Rags
late 1880s
White Music Played Black
Syncopated
("ragged," to white ears)
banjo and fiddle
music develops into
'Rags' – popular
European melodies
played on the piano
with a syncopated
rhythm




.

.

.

.

.

.


The Hawaiian
slide-guitar technique
is introduced
to black musicians
and will evolve
into the "bottleneck"
style of Blues

Vaudeville
1880s - 1930s

The variety show,
now established in
bustling cities,
brings the world
to Americans –
and becomes the
new showcase for
promoting pop
tunes



The Hawaiian
slide-guitar technique
is introduced
to Country musicians
and will develop
into the
steel guitar



The
"gospel songs"
sung in these
churches will form
the bedrock of
"Gospel" music
in the 1920s



singing preachers
With
their impassioned
singing and
revival meeting
theatrics, sanctified
preachers learn
how to hold
an audience.
Their showmanship

will endure to
influence the
pioneers
of Rock & Roll

.

musical churches
New dissident
sects
break away
from the Methodists
and Baptists
to establish
Holiness, Sanctified
and Pentecostal
churches.
Their religious
fervor is expressed
through
ecstatic singing
and the use of
musical
instruments


.

"Catgut Churches"
Pejorative term
for white meeting
houses using
musical instruments
in their services.
(String instruments
of the day
are strung with
dried intestines
of animals)





Fisk Jubilee Singers
from 1871
Touring
black university
choir popularizes
black spirituals in
concert halls
across America
and abroad.

Although they
idealize plantation
life, as did
Stephen Foster,
attention is drawn
to black music




barbershop quartets
from 1870s

Black
barbershop
quartets
in the South
harmonize
religious and
secularsongs,
often with
guitar


4-part harmonies
The 4-part
harmonies that
will become the
foundation
of Gospel music
are probably
first heard in white
Glee clubs
and anthems


.

.

.

.

.

.


.


saxophone
from 1870s
Although a
standard instrument
in military bands,
the saxophone
will play a
minor role in
dance bands until
it becomes the
signature
instrument of Jazz
in late 1920s

.


.

.

.

.

.

.




drum kit
The
cymbals,snare
and side drum of
the marching band
will provide the
components for the
"drum kit" of the
early Jass bands.
Because more
percussive trappings
will be added, the
first drum kits will
be called "traps"


After
the Civil War,
Creoles are
ostracized by
whites and must
join the ranks
of blacks. The
classically-trained
music of the
Creoles will figure
predominantly in
the development of
instrument-based
Ragtime and
Jazz


As slaves,
blacks were
provided
for by whites
and drew
from white music.
But with freedom
they are now
on their own
and, in a hostile
environment of
Jim Crow attitudes
and the KKK,
blacks have to
look deep
within themselves
for their survival
– and for their
music



.



marching bands
from 1865

Marching bands,
popular even before
the Civil War,
flourish as surplus
military instruments
become available
after the War
.

cowboy song
Songs of the range
are based on
British ballads,
Blues, and Spanish
influences

guitar
The
Spanish guitar
is introduced
to the American
southwest





After the Civil War,
troops are sent to
the western frontier
to prepare for
settlement.
Much of this land
will remain open
range to satisfy
a growing nation's
need for beef



cowboy
As America
expands into the
southwest, the
cowboy becomes
an American icon
with his
Mexican-style
hat, boots, spurs
and chaps.

About one quarter
of the cowboys
are non-white






US Civil War ends
1865







January 1, 1863
Originally the
Civil War was waged
to prevent the
secession of the
southern states but,
when Abraham Lincoln
signs the Emancipation
Proclamation, it's
clear that the issue
is slavery








US Civil War starts
1861








.

.

.

.

.

.


.

Stephen Foster
1850s
America's first great
popular songwriter
is harshly criticized
by elitist peers
for the simplicity
of his
"Ethiopian Songs"
popularized in minstrel
shows



.
The banjo
is incorporated into
Country music
after exposure on
travelling minstrel
shows




.

.

.

.

.

.


cakewalk
While
"blackface"humour
denigrates blacks,
the cakewalk,
a plantation slave
dance,
pokes fun at
pompous
white manners



The expansion
of cotton production
in the south
leads to an internal
slave trade that
splits up families
and sends 'coffles'
of chained prisoners
on long and arduous
journeys to new
regions

.

Minstrel Shows
1820 - 1900

Touring
variety shows
entertain white
America with
"blackface" humour,
and foreign acts.
The minstrel show
is a melting pot
for white and black
musical ideas,
and becomes
the vehicle for
promoting
"popular"songs


.

Yodelling
is incorporated into
Country music

after Swiss
entertainers tour
with minstrel
shows
Vast new
territories of land
open up in the
South after the
Mexican-American
War









Mexican-American War
1846 - 1848







The expression
"Jim Crow"
will come to mean
"anti-black"
and "segregation"
in terms such as
Jim Crow
legislation and Jim
Crow states



Jim Crow
1828
White actor

Thomas Rice
parodies
a black man,
Jim Crow,
and delights white
audiences,
which leads to the
development of
'blackface' minstrel
troupes


parlor music
1800s
For The Ladies
By the mid 1800s
there are hundreds
of thousands
of pianos in
America's parlors –
playing waltzes,
polkas, schottisches,
and new
sentimental tunes.
In white society,
only women play
the piano


Star Spangled Banner
Sept 14, 1814
Written during the
War of 1812
against the British,
Francis Scott Key
penned his lyrics
to a
British drinking
song








War of 1812
1812 - 1814








As a result of
the Second Awakening,
religious songbooks
by Americans
will be published,
based on popular
music forms such as
odes, anthems,
tunes, and
gospel hymns




holy rollers

Frenzied
body
movements,
including

rolling on tne floor,
invite spiritual
possession of
congregation
members.

Blacks relate
to this,
as
spiritual
possession

had always been
a
part of
African rituals



Whole Lot of Shakin'
Sanctification
requires spiritual
possession
to rid the body of
the devil




movers and shakers
Quakers quake and
Shakers shake
to rid their bodies
of the devil


black spirituals
Hymns with a Beat
Blacks take
white hymns and
"spiritual songs"
and make them
their own
with flattened tones,
syncopation, and
counter rhythms

camp revival meetings
early 1800s

Rural whites
and blacks attend
Camp Meetings
lasting several days
to become
sanctified and
sing the praises
of the Lord
with hymns and
"spiritual songs."
A loosening
of attitudes allows
more popular forms
of music to be
incorporated into
religious songs




white spirituals
Emotional High
The religious
fervor of the camp
revival meetings
brings a level of

emotion hitherto
unknown
to white
music






The Second Awakening
from early 1800s





As the
Church of England
becomes the
denomination
of choice
in white society,
dissenting sects –
Presbyterian, Lutheran,
Baptist, Methodist –
must travel further
afield to preach
the Gospel


1807
The slave trade
is officially abolished,
but the southern
states don't comply,
resulting in an
increased value
on slaves





America's
purchase of
vast French territory
between
Mississippi River
and Rockies
increases demand
for slaves
in the southern
cottonfields













Louisiana Purchase
1803








.

.

.

.

.

.


Slaves
are not allowed to
make or use drums
as owners feel they
may become
instruments of
insurrection


Rags
Plantation slaves
start improvising
European reels
and jigs
on banjos and
fiddles

banjo
Plantation
slaves
replicate African
"banja"
by stretching
sheepskin
over half a gourd.
The banjo
will become
a key instrument
in early Jazz,
Dixieland,
Hillbilly,
Stringband
and Bluegrass
music



.


1795
The first editions
of this collection
of sacred songs
include works by
Americans.
In later editions,
under pressure
from the Good
Music movement,
the American songs
are replaced by
"Classical European
tunes"


America's
first professional
entertainers
are imported, mostly
from Europe

Indigenous music
is discouraged
as American society
turns to Europe
for things cultural.
Aspiring composers
are taught by
European masters


.
The fiddle
becomes known as
"the devil's box"
because of its
association
with dancing and
drinking

Barn Dances
Barn dances
become popular in
rural America, but
Puritans denounce
"the lascivious
dancing and
wanton ditties"

fiddle
The violin,
played with a
jigging motion,
becomes the
heart and soul
of American
country music




As black slaves
are introduced to
white secular music
they become
adept musicians
with a style of
their own



The musical
sophistication
of the Creoles
will figure
predominantly
in the
development of
instrument-based
Ragtime and Jazz,
with such French
names as
Alphonse Picou,
Sidney Bechet,
Barney Bigard,
Buddy Petit, and
Ferdinand Joseph
La Menthe
(Jelly Roll Morton)




Following the
War of
Independence,
America receives
her second influx
of immigrants.
Unlike the
original colonists
who sought asylum,
these settlers are
seeking opportunity
and wealth.
Along with their
dreams comes
their music. And as
white America
develops along two
distinct lines
– urban and rural –
so too does
the music



Reels, Jigs and Ballads
from 1780s
European Folk Songs
European
folk songs, with
modified lyrics and
instrumentation,
replace hymns and
psalms as the basis
of American rural
music



Creoles
A black caste
system develops
with the
lighter-skinned
Creoles of French
blood receiving
special privileges,
including
musical instruction
in the European
classics



France helps
America win
her independence
from England
America's puritanical
attitudes are
tempered by the wave
of new settlers
following the War of
Independence









American
War of Independence

1775 - 1783






Sorrow Songs and
Jubilees

It's probable
that black slaves
express their
spiritual feelings
through the music
forms they know
at the time – hymns
and work songs.
Sad songs are called
"sorrow songs" and
happy songs are
called "jubilees"



"My Days Have Been
So Wondrous Free"

1759
First known
secular song by an
American

Shakers
1774
The Shakers
arrive from
England after being
forced out of
France. Shaker
leader Anne Lee,
an advocate of
celibacy, describes
the consummation
of marriage
as "a covenant
with death
and an agreement
with hell"


Religious music
gives black slaves
the freedom to
connect with
their spiritual roots.
This will become
a re-occuring theme
in the development
of black music
in America

religion and roots music

Religion becomes
a strong common
bond between
the disenfranchised
of the
Appalachians
and of the
Deep South,
but will direct their
music down two
different paths


The "avoidance of
sensual pleasure"
ethic of the
Puritans sets the
moral stage for
American Country
music

Oppressed blacks
relate to hymns
such as
"That Awful Day will
Surely Come"
and "Must Jesus Bear
the Cross Alone."

Christianity offers
freedom in the
hope of a better
tomorrow

Hymns
late 1730s

Hymn books are
published with
"blunt metaphors of
physical trouble
and spiritual
transcendence"




Impoverished
whites embrace
Christianity
because they can
achieve equality
in the eyes of
God





The Great Awakening
late 1730s







After much debate,
plantation owners
allow black slaves to
become Christians
as a method of
controlling them




The Negro Act
Colonial legislators
respond with laws
that outlaw
slave mobility, and
right of assembly



John Wesley,
founder of
Methodism and
a pro-abolishionist,
visits American South
and popularizes
religion
by encouraging
folk-inspired
expressions
of religious feeling,
rather than the
staid and often
unmusical
psalms




The inability of
"the Country People"
to read music
leads to the practice
of "lining out"
whereby
the minister
sings out
one line of a psalm
and congregation
members sing back
what they hear
– not unlike the
"call and response"
of slave music



Slave Revolt
1739

Slaves revolt in
South Carolina
and attempt an
escape to
Spanish Florida



By 1710
Africans begin
to outnumber
Europeans
in the colonies.
Fearing
insurrection,
slave owners
impose
more discipline,
including cruelty and
instruments of
torture



"Concert of Music
on Sundry instruments"

Dec 30, 1731
America's
first public concert,
performed in
Boston






Irregular Singing

c 1731
Because many
church
congregations
can't read music
("regular singing"),
the singing
of psalms
distresses some
reformers, resulting
in the publication
of "Introduction
to the Singing of
Psalm-Tunes,"
America's first
music instruction
book


.

.

.

.

.

.


Congo Square
from late 1600s
Black slaves
in New Orleans
keep in touch
with their roots
with African
tribal dances,
rhythms
and instruments
by gathering
in designated area
on Sundays



Slavery Legalized
1641 - 1663
Slavery is first
legalized for the
tobacco plantations,
and then for the
rice, sugar
and cotton fields




Work Songs
Plantation slaves
employ African
'call and response,'
an important element
of Blues, Jazz, and
Gospel

Field Hollers
Plantation slaves
employ African
'tone bending,' an
important element
of Blues and
Jazz


African slaves
replace indentured
Europeans in the
American colonies.
Slaves are denied
all rights and
kept in perpetual
servitude


.

.

.


.

Quakers
1656
Upon arriving
in Massachusetts,
the Quakers
are persecuted
by the Puritans and
seek refuge in
Pennsylvania


Bay Psalm Book
1640
The first book
published in
America is
a translation of
Hebrew scripture
that is difficult
to sing


Puritan
fundamentalists
don't sing hymns
because they're
composed by man.
Psalms are
inspired by
God


Psalms
Puritans sing
psalms without
instruments,
as instruments
are considered
tools of the
devil


The
Pilgrim Fathers
arrive in America
in the early 1600s
to escape
persecution for
their puritanical
beliefs



.
black roots music
pop music of middle America white roots music


The Online Roots of Rock

100 Years of Poular Music in America
from a Rock 'n' Roll perspective

The Online Roots Of Rock and the jukebox logo are trademarks
of Gary Wilcox Studios Incorporated.Contents copyright © 1998-2010
Gary Wilcox Studios Incorporated. All rights reserved.