AUTHORITATIVE | CURATED | First 500 words Free

• Personalities
• Country
• War Years

(Vocal duo, 1944–49) This popular vocal duo was actually comprised at various times of changing configurations of four brothers: Kyle, John, Walter and Homer Bailes, who were all born in Kanawah County, West Virginia, between 1915 and 1922. The Bailes Brothers’ peak years were from 1944 to 1949, when they disbanded. During those four ...

• Inside the Music
• Country
• Mainstream Country

Country music and gospel have always been close partners, since many gospel acts come from the American South, and Nashville, the home of country music, lies in the heart of the Bible Belt. Numerous influences abound within the Church, stretching from traditional shape-note singing that goes back several hundred years, to today’s contemporary and Christian ...

• Personalities
• Country
• War Years

Born in Henderson, Tennessee, in 1918, Eddy Arnold has not only shown remarkable longevity as an artist (his career spans seven decades and he has sold more than 80 million records); he was also a pivotal figure in country music’s dramatic stylistic shift during the 1950s from rough and rural to urbane and sophisticated. Speaking Through Song A ...

• Styles & Forms
• Country
• Early & Old-Time Country

There is no distinct boundary line between the early​ and old-time country era, when the music was still relatively unshaped by the American mainstream, and the modern age, when country music’s popularity and ubiquity have made it very much a part of the mass culture. But it was in the 1920s, due to the emerging radio and ...