125-479: The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour is an American music and comedy television variety show that was hosted by singer Glen Campbell from January 29, 1969, to June 13, 1972, on CBS . He was offered the show after he hosted a 1968 summer replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour . Campbell used " Gentle on My Mind " as the theme song of the show. The show was one of the few shows with rural audience appeal to survive CBS's so-called " rural purge " of 1971,
250-584: A melting pot . There are also some African-American influences in the musical tradition of the European-American settlers, such as jazz, blues, rock, country and bluegrass. The United States has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music produced in the ethnic styles of the Ukrainian , Irish , Scottish , Polish , Hispanic , and Jewish communities, among others. Many American cities and towns have vibrant music scenes which, in turn, support
375-709: A community with varied non-Anglo ancestry, mostly descendant of people who lived in Louisiana before its purchase by the U.S. The Cajuns are a group of Francophones who arrived in Louisiana after leaving Acadia in Canada. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana , being a major port, has acted as a melting pot for people from all over the Caribbean basin. The result is a diverse and syncretic set of styles of Cajun music and Creole music . Spain and subsequently Mexico controlled much of what
500-664: A cross between the music genres of southwest Louisiana including Zydeco and Southern Soul. It is especially popular in the Acadiana region, being that so many artists originate and perform in this part of the state. Its popularity has caused an expansion of the music throughout the southern portion of the United States. Swing out music is usually produced and doesn't involve the use of live instruments unlike zydeco. Notable artists include Tucka James, Roi "Chip" Anthony, "Lysa" Harrington, and AudiYo. Swamp blues developed around Baton Rouge in
625-599: A distinct expression of the Creoles, Louisianians whose shared languages and culture transcend race. Along with the accordion, the second main instrument in a zydeco group is a corrugated metal washboard , called a Zydeco Rubboard or frottoir . They made the music contemporary by adding electrical instruments (guitar and bass), keyboards, drumkit and even sometimes horns. The Creole Zydeco music of Grammy-winning artists Queen Ida Guillory, Clifton Chenier , Rockin' Sidney Simien, Buckwheat Zydeco and Terrance Simien remain some of
750-507: A distinct folk culture that helped Africans "retain continuity with their past through music". The first slaves in the United States sang work songs , field hollers and, following Christianization, hymns . In the 19th century, a Great Awakening of religious fervor gripped people across the country, especially in the South. Protestant hymns written mostly by New England preachers became a feature of camp meetings held among devout Christians across
875-481: A distinct form of middle-class blackness to audiences, which was particularly appealing to whites. Music of Louisiana The music of Louisiana can be divided into three general regions: rural south Louisiana, home to Creole Zydeco and Old French (now known as cajun music), New Orleans , and north Louisiana . The region in and around Greater New Orleans has a unique musical heritage tied to Dixieland jazz, blues , and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The music of
1000-507: A few major pop stars. The most influential country musician of the era was Hank Williams , a bluesy country singer from Alabama. He remains renowned as one of country music's greatest songwriters and performers, viewed as a "folk poet" with a "honky-tonk swagger" and "working-class sympathies". Throughout the decade the roughness of honky-tonk gradually eroded as the Nashville sound grew more pop-oriented. Producers like Chet Atkins created
1125-402: A form of white music. Economic and social classes separates American music through the creation and consumption of music, such as the upper-class patronage of symphony -goers, and the generally poor performers of rural and ethnic folk musics. Musical divisions based on class are not absolute, however, and are sometimes as much perceived as actual; popular American country music, for example,
1250-624: A large audience. A bluesy style of gospel also became popular in mainstream America in the 1950s, led by singer Mahalia Jackson . The blues genre experienced major revivals in the 1950s with Chicago blues musicians such as Muddy Waters and Little Walter , as well as in the 1960s in the British Invasion and American folk music revival when country blues musicians like Mississippi John Hurt and Reverend Gary Davis were rediscovered. The seminal blues musicians of these periods had tremendous influence on rock musicians such as Chuck Berry in
1375-415: A major foundation for American folk and popular music. Many American folk songs are identical to British songs in arrangements, but with new lyrics, often as parodies of the original material. American-Anglo songs are also characterized as having fewer pentatonic tunes, less prominent accompaniment (but with heavier use of drones ) and more melodies in major. Anglo-American traditional music also includes
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#17328723854481500-421: A major part of African American dance, and came to be accompanied by a popular dance called the swing dance . Jazz influenced many performers of all the major styles of later popular music, though jazz itself never again became such a major part of American popular music as during the swing era. The later 20th-century American jazz scene did, however, produce some popular crossover stars, such as Miles Davis . In
1625-577: A major part of early popular music performance, though recorded traditions quickly become more dominated by men. Most male-dominated genres of popular music include female performers as well, often in a niche appealing primarily to women; these include gangsta rap and heavy metal . The United States is often said to be a cultural melting pot , taking in influences from across the world and creating distinctively new methods of cultural expression. Though aspects of American music can be traced back to specific origins, claiming any particular original culture for
1750-406: A more palatable mainstream style, which turned into pop hits. By the end of the 1950s, however, there was a wave of popular black blues rock and country-influenced R&B performers like Chuck Berry gaining unprecedented fame among white listeners. Motown Records became highly successful during the early and mid-1960s for producing music of black American roots that defied racial segregation in
1875-509: A musical element is inherently problematic, due to the constant evolution of American music through transplanting and hybridizing techniques, instruments and genres. Elements of foreign musics arrived in the United States both through the formal sponsorship of educational and outreach events by individuals and groups, and through informal processes, as in the incidental transplantation of West African music through slavery, and Irish music through immigration. The most distinctly American musics are
2000-460: A nascent revival of honky-tonk-style country with the rise of performers like Dwight Yoakam . The 1980s also saw the development of alternative country performers like Uncle Tupelo , who were opposed to the more pop-oriented style of mainstream country. At the beginning of the 2000s, rock-oriented country acts remained among the best-selling performers in the United States, especially Garth Brooks . R&B, an abbreviation for rhythm and blues ,
2125-465: A number of local scenes like the Bakersfield sound . A few performers retained popularity, however, such as the long-standing cultural icon Johnny Cash . The Bakersfield sound began in the mid to late 1950s when performers like Wynn Stewart and Buck Owens began using elements of Western swing and rock, such as the breakbeat , in their music. In the 1960s performers like Merle Haggard popularized
2250-508: A number of regional musical styles. Musical centers around the country have all have produced and contributed to the many distinctive styles of American music. The Cajun and Creole traditions in Louisiana music , the folk and popular styles of Hawaiian music , and the bluegrass and old time music of the Southeastern states are a few examples of diversity in American music. The music of
2375-469: A result of cross-cultural hybridization through close contact. Slavery, for example, mixed persons from numerous tribes in tight living quarters, resulting in a shared musical tradition that was enriched through further hybridizing with elements of indigenous, Latin, and European music. American ethnic, religious, and racial diversity has also produced such intermingled genres as the French-African music of
2500-666: A rich tradition of gospel music and spirituals; Mahalia Jackson was the most famous of New Orleans' gospel singers. She is buried in Metairie. The Dixie Cups had a #1 Hot 100 hit with " Chapel of Love " in 1964. They also recorded the song " Iko Iko " about Mardi Gras . In the 1950s, New Orleans again influenced the national music scene as a center in the development of rhythm and blues . Important artists included Fats Domino (d. 2017), Snooks Eaglin , Dave Bartholomew , Professor Longhair , and Huey "Piano" Smith. Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. (born November 21, 1940), better known by
2625-422: A survival made more unusual because it had fallen out of the top 30 shows that season. Reruns of the show are in the library of free over-the-top services Pluto TV and Shout! Factory TV. NOTE: The highest average rating for the series is in bold text . One full episode and several highlights of other episodes of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour have been released on two videos and one DVD. Music of
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#17328723854482750-496: A symphony orchestra. The community produced such composers as Edmund Dede and Basil Bares. After the American Civil War many Creole musicians became music teachers, teaching the use of European instruments to the newly freed slaves and their descendants. Probably the single most famous style of music to originate in the city was New Orleans jazz , also known as Dixieland . It came into being around 1900. Many with memories of
2875-538: A technique known as phasing , in which two musical activities begin simultaneously and are repeated, gradually drifting out of sync, creating a natural sense of development. Reich was also very interested in non-Western music, incorporating African rhythmic techniques in his compositions. Recent composers and performers are strongly influenced by the minimalist works of Philip Glass , a Baltimore native based out of New York, Meredith Monk , and others. The United States has produced many popular musicians and composers in
3000-432: A variety of broadside ballads , humorous stories and tall tales , and disaster songs regarding mining, shipwrecks, and murder. Legendary heroes like Joe Magarac , John Henry , and Jesse James are part of many songs. Folk dances of British origin include the square dance , descended from the quadrille , combined with the American innovation of a caller instructing the dancers. The religious communal society known as
3125-612: Is a melting pot consisting of numerous ethnic groups. Many of these peoples have kept alive the folk traditions of their homeland, often producing distinctively American styles of foreign music. Some nationalities have produced local scenes in regions of the country where they have clustered, like Cape Verdean music in New England , Armenian music in California , and Italian and Ukrainian music in New York City. The Creoles are
3250-513: Is a commercial genre designed to "appeal to a working-class identity, whether or not its listeners are actually working class". Country music is also intertwined with geographic identity, and is specifically rural in origin and function; other genres, like R&B and hip hop, are perceived as inherently urban. For much of American history, music-making has been a "feminized activity". In the 19th century, amateur piano and singing were considered proper for middle- and upper-class women. Women were also
3375-442: Is a style that arose in the 1930s and 1940s. Early R&B consisted of large rhythm units "smashing away behind screaming blues singers (who) had to shout to be heard above the clanging and strumming of the various electrified instruments and the churning rhythm sections". R&B was not extensively recorded and promoted because record companies felt that it was not suited for most audiences, especially middle-class whites, because of
3500-519: Is characterized by a strong rhythm section, usually consisting of double bass and drums, medium to fast tempo, and rhythmic devices like the swung note, which is common to most jazz. Swing is primarily a fusion of 1930s jazz fused with elements of the blues and Tin Pan Alley. Swing used bigger bands than other kinds of jazz, leading to bandleaders tightly arranging the material which discouraged improvisation, previously an integral part of jazz. Swing became
3625-612: Is dominated by piano and saxophone but has also produced major guitar bluesmen. Major figures in the genre include Professor Longhair and Guitar Slim , who both produced major regional, R&B and national hits. Louisiana blues created a specialized form of blues music sometimes using zydeco instrumentation and slow, tense rhythms that is closely related to New Orleans blues and swamp blues from Baton Rouge. Alan Toussaint composed or produced many songs, including " Mother-in-Law ", " I Like It Like That ", " Fortune Teller ", " Ride Your Pony ", " Get Out of My Life, Woman ", " Working in
3750-638: Is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some forms of American popular music have gained a near global audience. Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the land that is today known as the United States and played its first music. Beginning in the 17th century, settlers from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, and France began arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and instruments. Enslaved people from West Africa brought their musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants contributed to
3875-697: Is home to a number of successful rappers, including Webbie , Boosie Badazz , and more recently, YoungBoy Never Broke Again , who had a #1 album in 2019. The region's location, bordered by Texas on the west and the Mississippi Delta on the east has not led to the development of "locally stylized" music. Traditional and modern country music has been dominant, creating its own country stars, like Tim McGraw , Jimmie Davis , Tony Joe White , and Andy Griggs from Northeast Louisiana, and Trace Adkins , Kix Brooks , and Hank Williams Jr. from Northwest Louisiana. Tim McGraw has had 25 songs that have reached #1 on
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4000-506: Is now considered classical music. One was associated with amateur composers and pedagogues, whose style was originally drawn from simple hymns and gained sophistication over time. The other colonial tradition was that of the mid-Atlantic cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore, which produced a number of prominent composers who worked almost entirely within the European model; these composers were mostly English in origin, and worked specifically in
4125-483: Is now the western United States until the Mexican–American War , including the entire state of Texas. After Texas joined the United States, the native Tejanos living in the state began culturally developing separately from their neighbors to the south, and remained culturally distinct from other Texans. Central to the evolution of early Tejano music was the blend of traditional Mexican forms such as mariachi and
4250-447: Is perhaps the most potent determiner of musical meaning in the United States. The development of an African American musical identity, out of disparate sources from Africa and Europe, has been a constant theme in the music history of the United States . Little documentation exists of colonial -era African American music, when styles, songs, and instruments from across West Africa commingled with European styles and instruments, leading to
4375-475: Is primarily a fusion of African American blues and spirituals with Appalachian folk music , adapted for pop audiences and popularized beginning in the 1920s. The origins of country are in rural Southern folk music, which was primarily Irish and British, with African and continental European musics. Anglo-Celtic tunes, dance music, and balladry were the earliest predecessors of modern country, then known as hillbilly music . Early hillbilly also borrowed elements of
4500-528: Is regarded as the "King of Zydeco" and was largely responsible for defining and popularizing the genre in the mid- to late 1950s and 1960s. Cajun music is rooted in the music of the preexisting Creoles and the French-speaking Catholics of eastern Canada and became transformed into a unique sound of the Cajun culture. In earlier years of the late 18th century the fiddle was the predominant instrument and
4625-431: Is rooted in the traditions of European art, ecclesiastical and concert music. The central norms of this tradition developed between 1550 and 1825, centering on what is known as the common practice period . Many American classical composers attempted to work entirely within European models until late in the 19th century. When Antonín Dvořák , a prominent Czech composer, visited the United States from 1892 to 1895, he iterated
4750-597: Is the basis for much of modern American popular music. Blues can be seen as part of a continuum of musical styles like country, jazz, ragtime, and gospel; though each genre evolved into distinct forms, their origins were often indistinct. Early forms of the blues evolved in and around the Mississippi Delta in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The earliest blues music was primarily call and response vocal music, without harmony or accompaniment and without any formal musical structure. Slaves and their descendants created
4875-578: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band , then the Rebirth Brass Band . Significant New Orleans rock band, and alternative bands include Zebra , The Radiators , Better Than Ezra (singer Kevin Griffin graduated from Louisiana State University in 1990), 12 Stones , and Cowboy Mouth . Popular alternative rock bands include Mutemath and Meriwether . Louisiana is known as the most important place for
5000-478: The Fisk Jubilee Singers , a pioneering group that popularized spirituals across the country. In imitation of this group, gospel quartets arose, followed by increasing diversification with the early 20th-century rise of jackleg and singing preachers, from whence came the popular style of gospel music . Blues is a combination of African work songs, field hollers, and shouts. It developed in the rural South in
5125-608: The Four Tops , the Temptations , the Supremes , Smokey Robinson , Stevie Wonder , and the Jackson 5 . Visual representation was central to Motown's rise; they placed greater emphasis on visual media than other record labels. Many people's first exposure to Motown was by television and film. Motown artists' image of successful black Americans who held themselves with grace and aplomb broadcast
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5250-554: The Louisiana Creoles , the Native, Mexican and European fusion Tejano music , and the thoroughly hybridized slack-key guitar and other styles of modern Hawaiian music . The process of transplanting music between cultures is not without criticism. The folk revival of the mid-20th century, for example, appropriated the musics of various rural peoples, in part to promote certain political causes, which has caused some to question whether
5375-707: The Shakers emigrated from England during the 18th century and developed their own folk dance style. Their early songs can be dated back to British folk song models. Other religious societies established their own unique musical cultures early in American history, such as the music of the Amish , the Harmony Society , and the Ephrata Cloister in Pennsylvania. The ancestors of today's African American population were brought to
5500-557: The USA , African slaves and their descendants were not prohibited from performing their traditional music in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. The African slaves, many from the Caribbean islands, were allowed to gather on Sundays, their day off, on a plaza known as Congo Square . Permitted as early as 1817, dancing in New Orleans had been restricted to the square, which was a hotbed of musical fusion, as African styles from across America and
5625-730: The calenda , Congo, counjai, and bamboula . Louis Gottschalk was an early 19th-century White Creole pianist and composer from New Orleans, the first American musician/composer to become famous in Europe. A number of his works incorporate rhythms and music he heard performed by African slaves. In addition to the slave population, antebellum New Orleans also had a large population of free people of color , mostly Creoles of mixed African and European heritage who worked as tradesmen. The more prosperous Creoles sent their children to be educated in France. They had their own dance bands, an opera company, and
5750-466: The corrido , and Continental European styles introduced by German and Czech settlers in the late 19th century. In particular, the accordion was adopted by Tejano folk musicians around the start of the 20th century, and it became a popular instrument for amateur musicians in Texas and Northern Mexico. Classical music was brought to the United States with some of the first colonists. European classical music
5875-557: The 1800s, the fiddle was the most popular Cajun instrument and the music still carried clear influences from the Poitou region of France and the Scottish/Canadian influences of their earlier homeland. In the late 19th century German immigrants spreading outward from central and eastern Texas and New Orleans soon brought the accordion as well. Creoles at the time sang a rhythmic type of song called juré . When accordion, fiddle and
6000-444: The 1950s and reached a peak of popularity in the 1960s. It generally has a slow tempo and incorporates influences from other genres of music, particularly the regional styles of zydeco and Cajun music . Its most successful proponents included Slim Harpo and Lightnin' Slim , who enjoyed a number of rhythm and blues and national hits and whose work was frequently covered by bands of the British Invasion . Swamp pop came about in
6125-479: The 1950s had a country rock scene, many of whose artists (the Lonesome Drifter) were recorded by local Ram Records . Later, Shreveport produced The Residents , Kenny Wayne Shepherd , and Sunday Mass Murder. Shreveport native Danny Johnson a veteran of the industry gracing the stages and recordings of Rod Stewart, Rick Derringer, Alice Cooper, and Alcatrazz. (Eddie Van Halens) Private Life, Danny Johnson and
6250-540: The 1950s stepped on stage at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium. They performed, many for the first time on radio, on a signal that covered much of the southeastern US. The original production of the show ended in 1960, but re-runs and the occasional special broadcast continued for a few years. The Louisiana Hayride was regarded as a stepping stone to The Grand Ole Opry , the legendary radio show from WSM in Nashville, Tennessee . Northern Louisiana in
6375-840: The 1950s, as well as on the British blues and blues rock scenes of the 1960s and 1970s, including Eric Clapton in Britain and Johnny Winter in Texas. Jazz is a kind of music characterized by swung and blue notes , call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation . Though originally a kind of dance music, jazz has been a major part of popular music, and has also become a major element of Western classical music. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Early jazz
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#17328723854486500-494: The American Revolution. The longest lasting of these fife songs is " Yankee Doodle ", still well known today. The melody dates back to 1755 and was sung by both American and British troops. Patriotic songs were based mostly on English melodies, with new lyrics added to denounce British colonialism; others, however, used tunes from Ireland, Scotland or elsewhere, or did not utilize a familiar melody. The song " Hail, Columbia "
6625-479: The Americas by slaves and mixed with Western European music. During the colonial era, English , French and Spanish styles and instruments were brought to the Americas. By the early 20th century, the United States had become a major center for folk music from around the world, including polka , Ukrainian and Polish fiddling , Ashkenazi , Klezmer , and several kinds of Latin music . The Native Americans played
6750-623: The Bandits, and Axis. He has been the guitar slinger for the last 16 years for Steppenwolf . Jeff Mangum , the founder of Neutral Milk Hotel and a founding member of The Elephant 6 Recording Company was born in Ruston, Louisiana . Small, local record labels proliferated from Houston, Texas to New Orleans, specializing in recording and distributing local acts. Labels such as Jin, Swallow, Maison de Soul , and Bayou continue to record and distribute Creole music, and other south Louisiana music. Many of
6875-603: The Billboard Hot 100, including the dance-pop song " ...Baby One More Time " from 1999. R&B singer Frank Ocean had a #1 album on the Billboard 200 with Blonde in 2016. Beginning in the mid-1990s, New Orleans became a hub of Southern hip hop . First with Master P and his No Limit clique based out of the 3rd Ward , then later came the Cash Money clique who popularized a unique semi-melodic Louisianian style of rapping to
7000-600: The Caribbean met and danced in large groups, often in circle dances. The Congo Square gatherings became well known, and many whites came to watch and listen. Nevertheless, by 1830, opposition from whites in New Orleans and an influx of blacks elsewhere in the U.S. caused the decline of Congo Square's prominence. The tradition of mass dances in Congo Square continued sporadically, though it came to have more in common with minstrelsy than with authentic African traditions. Caribbean dances known to have been imported to Louisiana include
7125-468: The Civil War era included " Dixie ", written by Daniel Decatur Emmett . The song, originally titled "Dixie's Land", was made for the closing of a minstrel show ; it spread to New Orleans first, where it was published and became "one of the great song successes of the pre-Civil War period". In addition to popular patriotic songs, the Civil War era also produced a great body of brass band pieces. Following
7250-525: The Civil War, minstrel shows became the first distinctively American form of music expression. The minstrel show was an indigenous form of American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, usually performed by white people in blackface . Minstrel shows used African American elements in musical performances, but only in simplified ways; storylines in the shows depicted blacks as natural-born slaves and fools, before eventually becoming associated with abolitionism . The minstrel show
7375-528: The Coal Mine ", "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky", "Freedom For the Stallion", " Yes We Can Can ", and " Southern Nights ". He was a producer for hundreds of recordings, for example " Right Place, Wrong Time ", by his longtime friend Dr. John ("Mac" Rebennack), and " Lady Marmalade " by Labelle . The Meters , Lee Dorsey , Ernie K-Doe gained hit songs. New band Galactic released jazz funk album. The city also has
7500-501: The Cookie and the Cupcakes hit "Mathilda", Johnnie Allan's "Mathilda" and Dale & Grace "I'm Leaving up to You". The Rolling Stones ' covered Barbara Lynn 's " You'll Lose a Good Thing " and "Oh Baby (We Got A Good Thing Goin')". Sammy Kershaw , Eddy Raven, Jo-el Sonnier, and the band River Road are all Acadiana natives who went on to score national fame and sell millions of records via
7625-534: The Creoles and Cajuns to adopt the dominant American cultural forms, even outlawing the use of the French language in 1916. Despite the law, many Creoles and Cajuns still spoke French at home, and musical performances were in French. The term "Creole music" is used to describe both the early folk or roots music traditions of French and Metis rural Creoles of South Louisiana and the later more contemporary genre called zydeco. It
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#17328723854487750-453: The European rules of harmony. In the early 19th century, America produced diverse composers such as Anthony Heinrich , who composed in an idiosyncratic, intentionally American style and was the first American composer to write for a symphony orchestra. Many other composers, most famously William Henry Fry and George Frederick Bristow , supported the idea of an American classical style, though their works were very European in orientation. It
7875-519: The French-Canadian culture of the Cajuns with their own styles of music in the 19th century. Large Creole bands that played for funerals and parades became a major basis for early jazz, which spread from New Orleans to Chicago and other northern urban centers. Though jazz had long since achieved some limited popularity, it was Louis Armstrong who became one of the first popular stars and a major force in
8000-519: The Hot Country Songs chart, including " Live Like You Were Dying " from 2004. However, North Louisiana's lasting contribution to the world of popular music was the radio program The Louisiana Hayride , which started broadcasting in 1948 on KWKH in Shreveport. Hank Williams , George Jones , Johnny Cash , Elvis Presley and nearly every other country legend, or future country legend alive during
8125-480: The Nashville sound by stripping the hillbilly elements of the instrumentation and using smooth instrumentation and advanced production techniques. Eventually, most records from Nashville were in this style, which began to incorporate strings and vocal choirs. By the early part of the 1960s, however, the Nashville sound had become perceived as too watered-down by many more traditionalist performers and fans, resulting in
8250-471: The R&;B market (which was definitively black in the American mindset) and specialize in crossover music . The company emerged as the leading producer (or "assembly line," a reference to its motor-town origins) of black popular music by the early 1960s and marketed its products as "The Motown Sound" or "The Sound of Young America"—which combined elements of soul, funk, disco and R&B. Notable Motown acts include
8375-438: The South. When blacks began singing adapted versions of these hymns, they were called Negro spirituals . It was from these roots, of spiritual songs, work songs, and field hollers, that blues, jazz, and gospel developed. Spirituals were primarily expressions of religious faith, sung by slaves on southern plantations. In the mid to late 19th century, spirituals spread out of the U.S. South. In 1871 Fisk University became home to
8500-830: The United States Religious music Ethnic music Charts Festivals Media Other The United States' multi-ethnic population is reflected through a diverse array of styles of music . It is a mixture of music influenced by the music of Europe , Indigenous peoples , West Africa , Latin America , Middle East , North Africa , amongst many other places. The country's most internationally renowned genres are jazz , blues , country , bluegrass , rock , rock and roll , R&B , pop , hip-hop/rap , soul , funk , religious , disco , house , techno , ragtime , doo-wop , folk , americana , boogaloo , tejano , surf , and salsa , amongst many others. American music
8625-486: The United States as slaves, working primarily in the plantations of the South. They were from hundreds of tribes across West Africa, and they brought with them certain traits of West African music including call and response vocals and complexly rhythmic music, as well as syncopated beats and shifting accents. The African musical focus on rhythmic singing and dancing was brought to the New World, where it became part of
8750-414: The United States can be characterized by the use of syncopation and asymmetrical rhythms, long, irregular melodies , which are said to "reflect the wide open geography of (the American landscape)" and the "sense of personal freedom characteristic of American life". Some distinct aspects of American music, like the call-and-response format, are derived from African techniques and instruments. Throughout
8875-465: The avant garde while refusing to disregard the traditions of early jazz. Continuing development of the traditional New Orleans jazz style, Tom McDermott , Evan Christopher , New Orleans Nightcrawlers . Harry Connick Jr. was raised in New Orleans and attended Loyola University New Orleans . The blues that developed in the 1940s and 1950s in and around the city of New Orleans was strongly influenced by jazz and incorporated Caribbean influences, it
9000-532: The ballads of the Civil War "the first American folk music with discernible features that can be considered unique to America: the first 'American' sounding music, as distinct from any regional style derived from another country." The Civil War, and the period following it, saw a general flowering of American art , literature and music. Amateur musical ensembles of this era can be seen as the birth of American popular music. Music author David Ewen describes these early amateur bands as combining "the depth and drama of
9125-473: The ballet and then serial music . Charles Ives was one of the earliest American classical composers of enduring international significance, producing music in a uniquely American style, though his music was mostly unknown until after his death in 1954. Many of the later 20th-century composers, such as John Cage , John Corigliano , Terry Riley , Steve Reich , John Adams , and Miguel del Aguila , used modernist and minimalist techniques. Reich discovered
9250-531: The blues and drew upon more aspects of 19th-century pop songs as hillbilly music evolved into a commercial genre eventually known as country and western and then simply country . The earliest country instrumentation revolved around the European-derived fiddle and the African-derived banjo , with the guitar later added. String instruments like the ukulele and steel guitar became commonplace due to
9375-598: The blues by adapting the field shouts and hollers, turning them into passionate solo songs. When mixed with the Christian spiritual songs of African American churches and revival meetings, blues became the basis of gospel music . Modern gospel began in African American churches in the 1920s, in the form of worshipers proclaiming their faith in an improvised, often musical manner (testifying). Composers like Thomas A. Dorsey composed gospel works that used elements of blues and jazz in traditional hymns and spiritual songs. Ragtime
9500-529: The chord changes, vocals and inflections are R&B influenced, and the lyrics are sometimes French. Clarence "Frogman" Henry 's " (I Don't Know Why) But I Do " and "On Bended Knee" (both Bobby Charles compositions). Phil Phillips ' gained big hit " Sea of Love ". Swamp pop also left its imprint on the related but distinct genre known as " swamp blues ", including Slim Harpo 's classic " Rainin' in My Heart ". Swamp blues/Swamp pop/Swamp R&B type songs such as
9625-480: The classics with undemanding technique, eschewing complexity in favor of direct expression. If it was vocal music, the words would be in English, despite the snobs who declared English an unsingable language. In a way, it was part of the entire awakening of America that happened after the Civil War, a time in which American painters, writers, and 'serious' composers addressed specifically American themes." During this period
9750-605: The concert hall". Gottschalk's music reflected the cultural mix of his home city, New Orleans, Louisiana, which was home to a variety of Latin, Caribbean, African American, Cajun, and Creole music. He was well acknowledged as a talented pianist in his lifetime, and was also a known composer who remains admired though little performed. The New York classical music scene included Charles Griffes , originally from Elmira, New York , who began publishing his most innovative material in 1914. His early collaborations were attempts to use non-Western musical themes. The best-known New York composer
9875-499: The country commingled, the multifarious strands of American music began to cross-fertilize each other, a process that was aided by the burgeoning railroad industry and other technological developments that made travel and communication easier. Army units included individuals from across the country, and they rapidly traded tunes, instruments and techniques. The war was an impetus for the creation of distinctly American songs that became and remained wildly popular. The most popular songs of
10000-865: The creation of new genres and self expression from enslaved people. By the mid-19th century, a distinctly African American folk tradition was well-known and widespread, and African American musical techniques, instruments, and images became a part of mainstream American music through spirituals , minstrel shows , and slave songs. African American musical styles became an integral part of American popular music through blues , jazz , rhythm and blues , and then rock and roll , soul , and hip hop ; all of these styles were consumed by Americans of all races, but were created in African American styles and idioms before eventually becoming common in performance and consumption across racial lines. In contrast, country music derives from both African and European, as well as Native American and Hawaiian, traditions and has long been perceived as
10125-433: The development of a style of heavy metal : sludge metal . Two of its founding acts, Eyehategod and Crowbar , are from New Orleans , where the genre's most important scene can be found. Other notable sludge metal bands such as Acid Bath , Down , Soilent Green and Choke are based in Louisiana. Blackened death metal band Goatwhore are from New Orleans. Britney Spears (from Kentwood) has had four #1 hits on
10250-421: The development of jazz, along with his friend pianist Earl Hines . Armstrong, Hines, and their colleagues were improvisers, capable of creating numerous variations on a single melody. Armstrong also popularized scat singing , an improvisational vocal technique in which nonsensical syllables ( vocables ) are sung. Armstrong and Hines were influential in the rise of a kind of pop big band jazz called swing . Swing
10375-461: The end of the 19th century. The most famous ragtime performer and composer was Scott Joplin , known for works such as "Maple Leaf Rag". Blues became a part of American popular music in the 1920s, when classic female blues singers like Bessie Smith grew popular. At the same time, record companies launched the field of race music , which was mostly blues targeted at African American audiences. The most famous of these acts went on to inspire much of
10500-477: The first decade of the 20th century. The most important characteristics of the blues is its use of the blue scale , with a flatted or indeterminate third, as well as the typically lamenting lyrics; though both of these elements had existed in African American folk music prior to the 20th century, the codified form of modern blues (such as with the AAB structure) did not exist until the early 20th century. The United States
10625-462: The first folk music in what is now the United States, using a wide variety of styles and techniques. Some commonalities are near universal among Native American traditional music, however, especially the lack of harmony and polyphony , and the use of vocables and descending melodic figures. Traditional instrumentations use the flute and many kinds of percussion instruments , like drums , rattles , and shakers . Since European and African contact
10750-581: The foundation of Cajun music. Creole music traditions in the US have been known to change and evolve as quickly as they were being replicated by white artists, the music of the Creoles also evolved into a more contemporary amplified sound that was later called zydeco, which is the indigenous music of the Creoles or "Creole music". Zydeco comes from French les haricots , meaning snap or green beans as in les haricots (ne) sont pas salés (the beans are not seasoned (with salt pork) because times are hard right now). Zydeco fused
10875-445: The hip hop mainstream. The city has also been a center of Southern hip hop , and the birthplace of mainstream Bounce music which originated in New Orleans. The rapper Juvenile had a #1 hit on the Hot 100 with " Slow Motion " ft. Soulja Slim , from 2004 and a #1 album on the Billboard 200 with Reality Check in 2006. Lil Wayne became one of the most prominent New Orleans rappers in
11000-437: The idea that American classical music needed its own models instead of imitating European composers; he helped to inspire subsequent composers to make a distinctly American style of classical music. By the beginning of the 20th century, many American composers were incorporating disparate elements into their work, ranging from jazz and blues to Native American music. During the colonial era, there were two distinct fields of what
11125-523: The later part of American history, and into modern times, the relationship between American and European music has been a discussed topic among scholars of American music. Some have urged for the adoption of more purely European techniques and styles, which are sometimes perceived as more refined or elegant, while others have pushed for a sense of musical nationalism that celebrates distinctively American styles. Modern classical music scholar John Warthen Struble has contrasted American and European, concluding that
11250-441: The later popular development of the blues and blues-derived genres, including the legendary delta blues musician Robert Johnson and Piedmont blues musician Blind Willie McTell . By the end of the 1940s, however, pure blues was only a minor part of popular music, having been subsumed by offshoots like rhythm & blues and the nascent rock and roll style. Some styles of electric, piano-driven blues, like boogie-woogie , retained
11375-598: The major labels in Nashville. Southern Louisiana, especially around Lafayette had a significant rave scene in the late 1990s into the early 2000s. At its peak, dance-based DJ sets were featured most weekend evenings on KSMB and gained near-mainstream appeal. Local dance and rave scenes primarily centered on Florida breaks , and also incorporated trance music and occasionally mainstream house or other dance tracks as well. Notable DJs included DJ Trashy, DJ Digital, DJ Johnny Cage, and DJ Moon. Southern Louisiana has vibrant hiphop scenes in most areas. Baton Rouge in particular
11500-426: The mid-1950s. With the Cajun dance and musical conventions in mind, nationally popular African American music genres such as rock, pop, country, and R&B songs were re-recorded, sometimes in French. Swamp pop is more of a combination of many influences, and the bridge between zydeco, New Orleans second line , and rock and roll . The song structure is pure rock and roll, the rhythms are distinctly New Orleans based,
11625-716: The mid-2000s. He has had two #1 hits on the Hot 100, including " Lollipop " from 2008. The music of rural south Louisiana features significant input from non-Creoles, most notably African Americans who are critical to the cultural/musical identity. Four main musical genres are indigenous to this area — Creole music (i.e. zydeco), swamp pop , and swamp blues . These historically-rooted genres, with unique rhythms and personalities, have been transformed with modern sounds and instruments. The southwestern and south central Louisiana areas herald many artists and songs that have become international hits, won Grammy awards, and become highly sought after by collectors. In southwestern Louisiana in
11750-493: The middle of the 20th century, jazz evolved into a variety of subgenres, beginning with bebop . Bebop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody, and use of the flatted fifth . Bebop was developed in the early and mid-1940s, later evolving into styles like hard bop and free jazz . Innovators of the style included Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie , who arose from small jazz clubs in New York City. Country music
11875-657: The modern world. Beginning with the birth of recorded music, American performers have continued to lead the field of popular music, which out of "all the contributions made by Americans to world culture... has been taken to heart by the entire world". Most histories of popular music start with American ragtime or Tin Pan Alley ; others, however, trace popular music to the Renaissance and through broadsheets , ballads , and other popular traditions. Other authors typically look at popular sheet music, tracing American popular music to spirituals , minstrel shows , vaudeville , and
12000-421: The most internationally recognized zydeco music. John Delafose , Andrus Espree (aka Beau Jocque ), Boozoo Chavis , Rosie Ledet , Chubby Carrier , Canray Fontenot , Amédé Ardoin , Rockin' Dopsie , Geno Delafose , Nathan Williams , Keith Frank , Chris Ardoin , Nathan Williams Jr., J Paul Jr., Cedric Watson and Jeffery Broussard are also other well known zydeco musicians. Swing out can be classified as
12125-461: The music industry and consumer market. Music journalist Jerry Wexler (who coined the phrase "rhythm and blues") once said of Motown: "[They] did something that you would have to say on paper is impossible. They took black music and beamed it directly to the white American teenager." Berry Gordy founded Motown in 1959 in Detroit, Michigan . It was one of few R&B record labels that sought to transcend
12250-452: The music of the United States is inherently distinct because the United States has not had centuries of musical evolution as a nation. Instead, the music of the United States is that of dozens or hundreds of indigenous and immigrant groups, all of which developed largely in regional isolation until the American Civil War , when people from across the country were brought together in army units, trading musical styles and practices. Struble deemed
12375-735: The music tended to sound more like early country music. Cajun music is typically a waltz or two step . Unlike the folk music of Quebec , it is not associated with the Celtic tradition. Famous Cajun musicians were Lawrence Walker, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Aldus Roger, Marc Savoy, Wilson Savoy, Dewey Segura, Wayne Toups . Early in the 1950s, zydeco evolved from the music of the Creoles in southwest and south central Louisiana. At an earlier period, Creole and Cajun music were more similar, but after World War II , this regional French music evolved into
12500-515: The music was known by various names such as "hot music", "hot ragtime" and "ratty music"; the term " jazz " (early on often spelled "jass") did not become common until the 1910s. The early style was exemplified by the bands of such musicians as Freddie Keppard , Jelly Roll Morton , "King" Joe Oliver , Kid Ory . The next generation took the young art form into more daring and sophisticated directions, with such creative musical virtuosos as Louis Armstrong , Sidney Bechet , and Red Allen . New Orleans
12625-526: The northern portion of the state starting at Baton Rouge and reaching Shreveport has similarities to that of the rest of the US South . In the 19th century, there was already a mixture of French, Spanish, African and Afro-Caribbean music. The city had a great love for Opera ; many operatic works had their first performances in the New World in New Orleans. Unlike in the Protestant colonies of what would become
12750-423: The patriotic songs of the Civil War. The patriotic lay songs of the American Revolution constituted the first kind of mainstream popular music. These included "The Liberty Tree" by Thomas Paine . Cheaply printed as broadsheets , early patriotic songs spread across the colonies and were performed at home and at public meetings. Fife songs were especially celebrated, and were performed on fields of battle during
12875-422: The popularity of Hawaiian musical groups in the early 20th century. The roots of commercial country music are generally traced to 1927, when music talent scout Ralph Peer recorded Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family . Popular success was very limited, though a small demand spurred some commercial recording. After World War II , there was increased interest in specialty styles like country music, producing
13000-596: The process caused the "commercial commodification of other peoples' songs ... and the inevitable dilution of mean" in the appropriated musics. The use of African American musical techniques, images, and conceits in popular music largely by and for white Americans has been widespread since at least the mid-19th century songs of Stephen Foster and the rise of minstrel shows . The American music industry has actively attempted to popularize white performers of African American music because they are more palatable to mainstream and middle-class Americans. This process has been related to
13125-428: The rise of stars as varied as Benny Goodman , Eminem , and Elvis Presley , as well as popular styles like blue-eyed soul and rockabilly . Folk music in the US is varied across the country's numerous ethnic groups. The Native American tribes each play their own varieties of folk music, most of it spiritual in nature. African American music includes blues and gospel , descendants of West African music brought to
13250-465: The roots of blues, gospel, jazz, and country music took shape; in the 20th century, these became the core of American popular music, which further evolved into the styles like rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and hip hop music. Music intertwines with aspects of American social and cultural identity, including through social class , race and ethnicity , geography , religion , language , gender , and sexuality . The relationship between music and race
13375-411: The sound. In the early 1970s, Haggard was also part of outlaw country , alongside singer-songwriters such as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings . Outlaw country was rock-oriented and lyrically focused on the criminal antics of the performers, in contrast to the clean-cut country singers of the Nashville sound. By the middle of the 1980s, the country music charts were dominated by pop singers, alongside
13500-417: The stage name Dr. John a New Orleans-born singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist whose music combined blues, boogie woogie and rock and roll. Dr. John cited Professor Longhair as one of his musical influences and has recorded a number of his compositions, most notably " Tipitina ". 1980s new style of "street beat" brass bands combining the jazz brass band tradition with funk and hip hop was spearheaded by
13625-559: The start of the 20th century. Formerly the bandmaster of the United States Marine Band , Sousa wrote military marches like " The Stars and Stripes Forever " that reflected his "nostalgia for [his] home and country", giving the melody a "stirring virile character". In the early 20th century, American musical theater was a major source for popular songs, many of which influenced blues, jazz, country, and other extant styles of popular music. The center of development for this style
13750-538: The style of prominent English composers of the day. Classical music was brought to the United States during the colonial era. Many American composers of this period worked exclusively with European models, while others, such as Supply Belcher and Justin Morgan , also known as the First New England School , developed a style almost entirely independent of European models. Among the country's earliest composers
13875-511: The suggestive lyrics and driving rhythms. Bandleaders like Louis Jordan innovated the sound of early R&B, using a band with a small horn section and prominent rhythm instrumentation. By the end of the 1940s, he had had several hits, and helped pave the way for contemporaries like Wynonie Harris and John Lee Hooker . Many of the most popular R&B songs were not performed in the rollicking style of Jordan and his contemporaries; instead they were performed by white musicians like Pat Boone in
14000-501: The time say that the most important figure in the formation of the music was Papa Jack Laine who enlisted hundreds of musicians from all of the city's diverse ethnic groups and social status. Most of these musicians became instrumental in forming jazz music including Buddy Bolden , Bunk Johnson and the members of Original Dixieland Jazz Band . One of early rural blues, ragtime, and marching band music were combined with collective improvisation to create this new style of music. At first,
14125-530: The traditional Creole roots music sung in French with contemporary sounds of blues and rhythm and blues making it relevant, dynamic and constantly attracting a new generation of listeners within the Creole community as well as outside the community. This fusion was birthed in the Creole la la, jazz and blues halls (joints) of Frenchtown, Houston, Texas which were frequented by Creole immigrants from southwestern Louisiana. Clifton Chenier , born near Opelousas , Louisiana,
14250-467: The triangle iron were added later, the music evolved into French music or form la la , a central component of Creole music. La la was primarily rural, played at house dances also known as la las , and found in towns in the prairie regions like Mamou , Eunice and Opelousas . In 1901 (see 1901 in music ), oil was discovered at Jennings and immigration boomed. Many of the newcomers were white businessmen from outside of Louisiana who attempted to force
14375-581: Was George Gershwin . Gershwin was a songwriter with Tin Pan Alley and the Broadway theatres , and his works were strongly influenced by jazz , or rather the precursors to jazz that were extant during his time. Gershwin's work made American classical music more focused, and attracted an unheard of amount of international attention. Following Gershwin, the first major composer was Aaron Copland from Brooklyn, who used elements of American folk music, though it remained European in technique and form. Later, he turned to
14500-547: Was John Knowles Paine , however, who became the first American composer to be accepted in Europe. Paine's example inspired the composers of the Second New England School , which included such figures as Amy Beach , Edward MacDowell , and Horatio Parker . Louis Moreau Gottschalk is perhaps the best-remembered American composer of the 19th century, said by music historian Richard Crawford to be known for "bringing indigenous or folk, themes and rhythms into music for
14625-715: Was William Billings who, born in Boston, composed patriotic hymns in the 1770s; he was also influential "as the founder of the American church choir, as the first musician to use a pitch pipe , and as the first to introduce a violoncello into church service". Many of these composers were amateur singers who developed new forms of sacred music suitable for performance by amateurs, and often using harmonic methods which would have been considered bizarre by contemporary European standards. These composers' styles were untouched by "the influence of their sophisticated European contemporaries", using modal or pentatonic scales or melodies and eschewing
14750-459: Was a major work that remained an unofficial national anthem until the adoption of " The Star-Spangled Banner ". Much of this early American music still survives in Sacred Harp . Although relatively unknown outside of Shaker Communities, Simple Gifts was written in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett and the tune has since become internationally famous. During the Civil War, when soldiers from across
14875-608: Was a regional Tin Pan Alley music composing and publishing center through the 1920s, and was also an important center of ragtime . Louis Prima demonstrated the versatility of the New Orleans tradition, taking a style rooted in traditional New Orleans jazz into swinging hot music popular into the rock and roll era. He is buried in New Orleans. Contemporary jazz has had a following in New Orleans with musicians such as Alvin Batiste and Ellis Marsalis . Some younger jazz virtuosos such as Wynton Marsalis and Nicholas Payton experiment with
15000-414: Was closely related to ragtime, with which it could be distinguished by the use of more intricate rhythmic improvisation. The earliest jazz bands adopted much of the vocabulary of the blues, including bent and blue notes and instrumental "growls" and smears otherwise not used on European instruments. Jazz's roots come from the city of New Orleans, Louisiana , populated by Cajuns and black Creoles, who combined
15125-419: Was established, Native American folk music has grown in new directions, into fusions with disparate styles like European folk dances and Tejano music . Modern Native American music may be best known for pow wows , pan-tribal gatherings at which traditionally styled dances and music are performed. The Thirteen Colonies of the original United States were all former English possessions, and Anglo culture became
15250-434: Was in New York City, where the Broadway theatres became among the most renowned venues in the city. Theatrical composers and lyricists like the brothers George and Ira Gershwin created a uniquely American theatrical style that used American vernacular speech and music. Musicals featured popular songs and fast-paced plots that often revolved around love and romance. The blues is a genre of African American folk music that
15375-519: Was invented by Daniel Decatur Emmett and the Virginia Minstrels . Minstrel shows produced the first well-remembered popular songwriters in American music history: Thomas D. Rice , Daniel Decatur Emmett, and, most famously, Stephen Foster . After minstrel shows' popularity faded, coon songs , a similar phenomenon, became popular. The composer John Philip Sousa is closely associated with the most popular trend in American popular music just before
15500-419: Was often simply called French music or La La. It was sung in French patois by Creoles. This early American roots music evolved in the 1930s into a richer sound accompanied by more instruments. Creole pioneer Amédé Ardoin was the music's most influential figure and one of the earliest to make recordings, second only to the duo of Douglas Bellard and Kirby Riley. He has also been credited for greatly influencing
15625-431: Was originally a piano style, featuring syncopated rhythms and chromaticisms . It is primarily a form of dance music utilizing the walking bass , and is generally composed in sonata form . Ragtime is a refined and evolved form of the African American cakewalk dance, mixed with styles ranging from European marches and popular songs to jigs and other dances played by large African American bands in northern cities during
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