Nashville & Beyond

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Just as sports have their pantheon of greats, the country-music industry established its own Hall Of Fame in 1961 to honour its most influential figures and deepen public understanding and appreciation of the music’s rich heritage and history. A Pantheon Of Country Stars As of 2005, 62 artists and industry leaders – starting with Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933) and songwriter and music publisher Fred Rose, who both were posthumously inducted in 1961– have ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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The 1950s and 1960s were milestone decades for country music. It was during these years that the stylistic tensions between traditional and contemporary, rural and urbane, became sharply delineated and the first ideological and aesthetic battle lines between the traditionalists and modernists were drawn in the sand. Out of this tension arose bold innovation and refreshing diversity. The 1950s saw the nearly simultaneous rise of styles as divergent as wild and ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, b. 1937) Columbia, South Carolina-born James William Anderson emerged as one of Nashville’s most celebrated songwriters in 1958, when Ray Price took his ‘City Lights’ to the top of the charts. Anderson soon signed his own recording contract with Decca Records and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1961. In the years since he has parlayed his songwriting prowess, whispery vocal style and affable public persona into a resilient and ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, b. 1936) One of Nashville’s most influential producers during the 1970s and early 1980s, Alabama-born Billy Norris Sherrill started out playing piano at tent shows where his father, an evangelist minister, preached. Later, he played in local rock’n’roll and R&B bands. When he came to Nashville in 1964, Sherrill brought an outsider’s sensibility to his role as a back-line producer at Columbia Records, and held to his iconoclasm even ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, b. 1935) This gifted Ironton, Ohio-born singer possesses a laconic, empathic baritone voice that has made him one of country’s most adventurous and imaginative song interpreters. During the 1960s, Bare found pop chart success and popularity with folk audiences with wistful, pop-flavoured crossover ballads like ‘Detroit City’ (1963) and ‘Streets Of Baltimore’ (1966). He was also a minor but important figure in the country outlaw movement of the 1970s. Styles & ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Songwriters, 1940s–80s) Husband-and-wife songwriting team Boudleaux (1920–87) and Felice (1925–2003) Bryant composed many country classics, including ‘Bye Bye Love’ (popularized by The Everly Brothers), ‘Rocky Top’ (first popularized by The Osborne Brothers and covered by dozens of others) and ‘Let’s Think About Living’ (Bob Luman). Styles & Forms | Nashville & Beyond | Country Personalities | Johnny Cash | Nashville & Beyond | Country ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, b. 1944) The dynamic, big-voiced Atlanta, Georgia-born Virginia Mae Tarpley sold millions of records during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and had a major impact on both the pop and country market – all the while recording in Nashville. Lee first broke through in the late 1950s as a teen idol. Her signature hits included ‘Sweet Nothin’s’ (1959) and ‘I’m Sorry’ (1960). Styles & Forms | Nashville & Beyond | Country Personalities ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, b. 1938) With his richly textured baritone, Pride had a nearly unmatched string of 29 No. 1 country hits from the mid-1960s until the late 1980s. Perhaps more significantly, Pride is merely the symbolic tip of the iceberg – only the most visible of many gifted but far less celebrated black singers who, just like their white counterparts, grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry and earnestly emulating the ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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One of modern country music’s most remarkable figures, Chester Burton Atkins born in Luttrell, Tennessee, rose from rural obscurity to become one of the world’s most celebrated guitarists and one of Nashville’s most influential record producers. Atkins’ musical vision did much to shape country music during the 1950s and 1960s. Early Years Atkins was born on 20 June 1924, the son of a music teacher. He spent his early years in the ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Promoter, manager, radio personality, 1914–89) Working out of Washington, D.C., this North Carolina-born promoter and behind-the-scenes media wizard was a key figure in the rise of country music’s popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Gay was instrumental in the careers of leading artists like Patsy Cline, Roy Clark, Jimmy Dean and Grandpa Jones. Styles & Forms | Nashville & Beyond | Country Personalities | Don Gibson | Nashville & Beyond | Country ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Songwriter, vocals, b. 1939) Spiro, Oklahoma-born Dallas Frazier was a quintessential honky-tonk songwriter of the 1960s and 1970s. ‘If My Heart Had Windows’ (a hit for George Jones, 1967), ‘I’m So Afraid Of Losing You Again’ (Charley Pride, 1969), ‘Johnny One Time’ (Brenda Lee, 1969) and ‘What’s Your Mama’s Name’ (Tanya Tucker, 1973) are among his many compositions. Styles & Forms | Nashville & Beyond | Country Personalities | Connie B. Gay | ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, songwriter, 1928–2003) The king of the country truck-driver song – a melding of honky-tonk and country rock – was born David Pedruska in Spinner, Wisconsin. He started playing guitar at the age of 11, but he really only began to focus on music after an injury put paid to a career in baseball. He rose to fame with the 1965 hit, ‘Six Days On The Road’. Styles & Forms | Nashville ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Songwriter, vocals, 1928–2003) This Shelby, North Carolina-born singer and songwriter not only penned hits for others – Patsy Cline’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ and ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ (recorded by Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and dozens of other artists) – but also had hits of his own, with such original classics as ‘Oh Lonesome Me’, ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ and ‘Blue Blue Day’. Gibson’s soulful yet smooth singing style also earned ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Producer, executive, 1902–82) London, England-born Don Law was one of the most influential producers in modern country music. As head of Columbia Records’ country division in the 1950s and 1960s, he produced cornerstone artists such as Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Ray Price and Johnny Horton. Columbia Records, under Law’s tenure, was also at the forefront of the Nashville sound with an artist roster that included a number of the era’s most ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Piano, songwriter, 1933–97) This Santi, Louisiana-born pianist was to country piano in the 1950s and 1960s what his mentor Chet Atkins was to guitar. Cramer’s distinct ‘slip-note’ style became a hallmark of the Nashville sound. As a soloist, he also recorded dozens of albums and scored some crossover pop hits with ‘Last Date’ (1960) and ‘San Antonio Rose’ (1961). Styles & Forms | Nashville & Beyond | Country Personalities | Skeeter Davis | ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
78 Words Read More
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