Mel Tessness Music

When people think of country music, they think of sad songs about lost loves, broken down trucks and runaway dogs.
In their minds, they are hearing all of these woes sung in the traditional twangy country accents of the south. However,
these perceptions of country music are far from where this style of music has evolved.

Today, country music is one of the most popular genres of music, normally outsold only by rock and pop genres.
Created in the late 19th century, country music has under gone many changes over the years. There are now many
sub-genres to this type of music, with some of the sub-genres being commonly played on top 40 radio stations.

To understand country music, it is helpful to know about the instruments commonly associated with it. In country music,
one of the most common instruments used is the fiddle (or violin). Some of these instruments can be expensive, but
most are relatively inexpensive and are very easily transports since they tare light in weight and not overly large. When
country music first ‘hit the scene’, the fiddle was practically the only instrument used as accompaniment. However, as
the country music style became more popular, the addition of other accompanying instruments became normal. The
banjo became popular in some country music pieces in the mid 1800s, while the guitar did not break into the country
music scene until the early 1900s. Electric guitars did not become a regular instrument in country music until much later
in the 50s. Other various instruments used in country music are the piano (introduced in the 1930s) and the drums (used
since the 1960s).

Rarely used, but distinctive sounding instruments are used in certain country songs: the accordion, the harmonica, and
the washboards. Country music has roots in several different styles of music. Its beginnings started with the settlers that
came from Europe. During that time, many couldn’t read or write, so songs were created to pass history down from
one generation to the next. Although country ballads have changed a great deal, going from the original songs about
objective, though gruesome, events to more personal, subjective ballads without all the gore.

Today, the sound of country music can sometimes be very similar to other genres of pop and rock. Some country
musicians, like Shania Twain, have many songs playing on stations that aren’t considered “country”. There are also
musicians, like Sheryl Crow, who are considered pop/rock, but have songs popular on country stations.

Country music (or country and Western) is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United
States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time
music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s.[1]

The term country music began to be used in the 1940s when the earlier term hillbilly music was deemed to be
degrading, and the term was widely embraced in the 1970s, while country and Western has declined in use since that
time, except in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where it is still commonly used.

In the Southwestern United States a different mix of ethnic groups created the music that became the Western music of
the term country and Western. The term "country music" is used today to describe many styles and subgenres.

Country music has produced two of the top selling solo artists of all time. Elvis Presley, who was known early on as
“the Hillbilly Cat” and was a regular on the radio program Louisiana Hayride, went on to become a defining figure in the
emergence of rock and roll. Contemporary musician Garth Brooks, with 128 million albums sold, is the top-selling solo
artist in U.S. history.

While album sales of most musical genres have declined, country music experienced one of its best years in 2006,
when, during the first six months, U.S. sales of country albums increased by 17.7 percent to 36 million. Moreover,
country music listening nationwide has remained steady for almost a decade, reaching 77.3 million adults every week,
according to the radio-ratings agency Arbitron, Inc.