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The myths, legends and lore of the Wild West, for better or worse, have done much to shape the American character. They have given rise to the nation’s lingering infatuation with guns, outlaws, the rugged ethos of self-reliance, individualism and a world with simplistic definitions. These themes, usually portrayed in an earnest and nostalgic ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

One of country music's rare departures from down-home values, the urban cowboy phenomenon of the early 1980s was much more a fleeting trend, driven by commercial greed, than a genuine grassroots movement. The term ‘urban cowboy’ gained currency with the 1980 release Urban Cowboy, a hit Hollywood feature film of middling quality, starring John Travolta and ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

Although the 1960s Golden Age established soul as the foundation of Afro-American pop, the 1970s and 1980s saw soul’s supremacy challenged and ultimately ended by, in turn, funk, disco, electro, dance-rock, hip hop and house. In hindsight, the soul music of the 1980s went into a form of stasis, waiting for a ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

It is ironic that western music – be it cowboy vocal balladry or ranch-house dance fiddling – began seriously to engage the imagination of the American public as the real West slipped further and further into the past and the country became increasingly urbanized and sophisticated. This capturing of the public imagination was perhaps inevitable, too, not only because ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

The western music – be it jazzy, danceable western swing or spare cowboy songs – that thrived for more than two decades from the 1920s grew out of several strains of American folk tradition, chiefly balladry and fiddle-band music, each of which had over time developed its own regional flavours and stylistic quirks. The Development Of Cowboy Music ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

Country music today retains little of the regional identity that characterized it in its early days. There are pockets of resistance to this homogeneity and to the hegemony of Nashville – a honky-tonk dance circuit and a fiercely independent singer-songwriter tradition in Texas, for example – but overall the scene is one of major stars playing huge venues. The middle ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

It’s hard to fathom now – 70 years on – the enormous impact that the laid-back, unassuming Gene Autry (1907–98) had when he rose to national stardom in 1935. Cowboys and western music had enjoyed a certain currency and mystique before he came along, but the first singing movie cowboy’s phenomenal rise inspired an entire generation and changed the ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

There was a time during the western-swing revival of the 1970s when it looked as if the pioneering legacy of Milton Brown (1903–36) And His Musical Brownies would be entirely subsumed amid the accolades given to the music’s most popular, enduring figure, Bob Wills. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, though Wills continues to reign supreme in the popular ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

The Sons Of The Pioneers are one of the most influential vocal groups in American history – an impeccable hallmark of fluid precision and musical integrity since 1933, universally admired for their tight sound and gorgeous harmonies. The group also boasted two great American songwriters in Tim Spencer and Bob Nolan, and two of the most influential country instrumentalists ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

Hank Thompson (b. 1925) is one of the most difficult country stars to classify. His Brazos Valley Boys were for a number of years one of the most talented and revered of western-swing bands, yet Thompson was never really a western-swing performer. He recorded a number of songs that remain honky-tonk classics, but he was never just a honky-tonk ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

Observers who saw him in his prime have likened the charisma of the ‘king of western swing’ Bob Wills to that of latter-day superstars such as Elvis and The Beatles. The Texas fiddler, with his trademark high-pitched folk hollers and jivey, medicine-show asides, was an irresistible force of nature. Although he was, in the earliest days of ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Guitar, vocals, 1883–1945) Jules Verne Allen was significant among early singing cowboys in that he had actually been a working cowboy. After years of trail driving he became a professional cowboy singer in an era when such a thing scarcely existed. In addition to radio, he recorded 24 sides for Victor during 1928–29. In 1933–34, he led ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, 1924–2003) Rosalie Allen was one of a number of western stars who called New York home, for despite being seemingly removed from anything remotely western, the city boasted a thriving scene. Born Julie Bedra in Pennsylvania, Allen idolized Patsy Montana and became an adept yodeller. From 1943, she was a star on New York radio. ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Songwriter, bandleader, fiddle, vocals, 1894–1964) Shelly Lee Alley is best remembered for writing the classic ‘Traveling Blues’ for Jimmie Rodgers in 1931. Texan Alley led his own pop and jazz orchestras in the 1920s, but also enjoyed success as a western-swing bandleader a decade later. At various times, his Alley Cats included such stars as ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1934–42) The Blue Ridge Playboys were a key early western-swing band. Based in Houston, they were formed in 1934 and were fronted by fiddler Leon ‘Pappy’ Selph (1914–99). Although Selph remained musically active to his death, the original band broke up soon after the US entry into the Second World War. The Playboys were not particularly ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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