The Characteristics Of Country Music : Cowboys And Kisses

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Country music is everywhere in the United States. It is America and people either love it or hate it. There is usually no middle ground. It accounts for sixteen percent of the nation’s radio stations and is the most common genre played on the radio. There are many different types of country music around today, including Americana, bluegrass, honky tonk, and contemporary country. Music of all genres has an evolution through the years. Country music hasn't

In Alice Walker’s, Nineteen Fifty-Five, a young white singer, Traynor, acquires song rights from an African American rhythm and blues singer, Gracie Mae. The song makes Traynor rich and famous. Obsessed with finding out the song’s meaning, Traynor remains in contact with Gracie Mae through letters, gifts, and visits. The conflict of the story is in Traynor’s inability to ascertain the meaning of the song. Traynor eventually passes away, without ever resolving the conflict.

The prevailing ideologies that define masculinity within country music, and with even greater prominence in the “bro-country” subgenere, remains engrained within the concept of being an outdoorsman. Luke Bryan’s “Huntin’, Fishin’, Lovin’, Everyday,” acts as a laid back anthem to said country-man, whose lyrical substance of the song indicates that a true country boy yearns for a life within the rural setting. Luke describes “the prayer

The prevailing ideologies that define masculinity within country music, and with even greater prominence in the “bro-country” subgenre, remains engrained within the concept of being an outdoorsman. Luke Bryan’s “Huntin’, Fishin’, Lovin’, Everyday,” acts as a laid back anthem to said country-man, whose song’s lyrical substance indicates that a true country boy yearns for a life within the rural setting. Luke describes “the prayer that a country boy makes” as one

and Willie Nelson. The song is an old southern anthem of the basic tale and fate of growing up. The song goes on to

Darius Rucker, a Charleston, S.C., native, describes his musical influences growing up in the south, “You could hear R&B, rock ’n’ roll and country on the same station, that was where it all started for me, being able to flip through the channels and never really hearing about what label something was” (Reverb).

Flight from whiteness is more common, and many whites fear they are losing their country to minorities. Many voted for Donald Trump because they believe he will take away their fears. They also believe he will bring back their country the way it used to be. His victory in the 2016 presidential election brings white pride and power out of the shadows. A 37-year-old prison guard says that “Trump has eliminated the feeling of being afraid to speak your mind as a white man.” There is nothing wrong with being white.” Many videos on social media show white pride and power out of the shadows. One of those videos shows an 83-year-old Korean woman being push to the ground by a white woman who shouts “white power!” The white woman was not afraid to speak her mind. What she did was a cowardly act.

There is a big difference in older country music and today’s country music. Older country music tells stories, and today’s just talks about women and getting drunk. If these people did as much drinking as they say they do then we wouldn’t have any new country singers. The newer stuff sounds a lot like hip hop or rap. What does everyone think of when they hear the words country music; that’s what I thought a cowboy. How does everyone picture a cowboy? Is he in skinny jeans and a flat bill hat? No, everyone pictures that fairy tale story about a cowboy and a cowgirl falling for one another. The reason that 90’s country music is better is because, it does not sound like hip hop, it actually tells stories, and it does not just talk about drinking.

Country music is a genre that some might absolutely love and some might absolutely hate. It is a style of music that developed in the southern and western U.S. and often contains lyrics relating to the lives of people who live in the country. While there are a lot of different types of country music, a very popular country artist of this time is Eric Church. Church brings a bit of a twist to country music, with really telling us how he feels. Talking about one of his songs in particular, “homeboy” about a lost young man needing to “come on home, boy.”

Chris Stapleton released his debut album, Traveller, in the Spring of 2015. This album is characterized by what I would describe as a traditional country feel, but with a slightly more modern sound, or to be more technical, a country rock meets blues album. This record, and Chris Stapleton himself, went relatively unnoticed by the general public after initial release. It was not until the 2015 CMA awards when Stapleton performed “Tennessee Whiskey” with Justin Timberlake that his album truly took off (Welch). Since then, songs from Traveller can frequently be heard on national country radio stations, as well as on tour, a show I will be attending in May.

George Harvey Strait was born and bred in the Texas cowboy tradition. He came into the world on May 18, 1952 in Poteet, Texas (“Strait Facts”) and was raised in nearby Pearsall, TX on his family's working cattle ranch, a legacy in the family for over 100 years. His childhood was spent working with his father and brother on their farm, and he carried on the ranching tradition by studying agriculture at Texas State University (Dickinson). In 1971, he married his wife, Norma, and shortly after enlisted in the United States Army.

Honky Tonk is a subgenre of country music. There is a heavy use of string instruments and there is also percussion. Musical elements include a ‘cracking’ vocal style and sometimes twangy sound. Topics include romantic troubles, family separation, and divorce. Kitty Wells and Hank Williams are honky tonk artists.

In the past, Country Music did have its downfalls when it came to aging. In the article ‘Images of Aging in the Lyrics of American Country Music’ written by Ronald H. Aday, he divided Country Music in seven categories; Physical Attributes, Mobility, Mental Health, Reminiscence, Loneliness, Quality of Relationships and Mortality. While looking in the Physical Attributes to a song, he was observing the negative lyrics when it came to aging, and using his example, he took a lyric from the 1955 song entitled ‘These Hand’ sung by Len Dresslar:

In 1970, a New Zealand bluegrass band based out of the University of Auckland recorded a bluegrass cover of James Taylor’s ‘Carolina in My Mind.’ As the unofficial state anthem of North Carolina and more broadly associated with the American South, it is seen as one of many songs that have established the South’s sense of place. The song, which has a strong sense of geographic place was used by the New Zealand group, the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band to connect to a rural American bluegrass tradition by associating music with place. As consumers of American culture, bluegrass artists in New Zealand adopted bluegrass and its associated traditions in an attempt to match the authentic Southern-ness of artists such as Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs. Arriving with the folk revival in the 1960s, bluegrass became a tool to preserve a rural past that was being challenged by urban growth.