What Is Country

Country music has existed for nearly a century following the 1927 Bristol Sessions with the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers which featured Blue Ridge Mountains and Appalachian music.  The genre’s album era didn’t get fully into swing until the late Sixties and then it began to flourish in the Seventies with a host of classic releases.  Country music has a unique twang to it which is a high frequency singing sound, that is a quintessentially southern quality, and it is almost cat like.  Country music can be divided up into Classic country, Country blues and Modern country.  Classic country is also called traditional country music, and this is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades.  This music is for broken hearts and lonely nights.  A popular theme in Classic country music is where the dog gets run over, the guy’s truck gets stolen, and to top it off, his wife leaves him, and these songs also often involve cowboys.  Country blues developed in rural America, particularly in the Mississippi Delta region in the early twentieth century.  It is also called folk blues, and it was commonly performed by Black American singers accompanying themselves on acoustic guitar.  Modern country music is sometimes called Contemporary Country music and it usually refers to country music that was released in the 1980s or later, but some people say it started with Kacey Musgraves.  This genre was founded on a stripped-down approach to songwriting that often incorporates acoustic instrumentation and blunt storytelling, which often alternates between humorous and heartbreaking.

Last week we had Metalhead where the theme was to find Metal songs.  This week the theme is to find Country songs.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about Loretta Lynn song ‘Rated “X”’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘Love My Way’ by The Psychedelic Furs.  The upcoming prompts will be:
January 29, 2023 – New Wave Music
February 5, 2023 – Yacht Rock suggested by John Holton
February 12, 2023 – Sunshine Pop suggested by John Holton
February 19, 2023 – Bubblegum Pop suggested by John Holton