Whether you are a fan of country music or not, one thing is for sure, it is the heart of American Music. Born from the soul of life experiences, Country Music tells the stories of heartache, struggles, love lost and won, and many other issues that we face each day. People may mock and make fun of those who listen to the music,but it is an honest representation of our lives.
The country music that we know today actually had its beginnings from the music being created in different regions of the country and different time periods. Remember listening to the early songs of country singers like Gene Autry or Roy Rogers. They were direct reflections of the early cowboys who use to sing in camps or even to the cattle while on a cattle drive. In the back hills of the Appalachian mountains a new sound called folk music was being discovered in the 1920s, and in the Southern states musical styles called bluegrass, hillbilly and honky-tonk were being created.
All of these sounds have now been blended together to create the Country Music that we know and love. Added to that is the honest, raw emotion that comes from the artists who sing these songs. Country music has also developed its own style of instruments to create the unique sound of many songs. Instruments like the banjo, steel guitar, dobro, harmonica and fiddle have all lent their own character to this music.
Country Music has even created its own unofficial capital. Nashville,Tennessee, has become the hub of the country music industry. Everyone who dreams of becoming a country music artist also dreams of going to Nashville. And if Nashville is the capital, then the statehouse has to be the Grand Ole Opry. It originally began in 1925 as the Nashville Barn Dance, but changed its name in 1927 to the Grand Ole Opry. The Opry would give local talent from the area the opportunity to showcase their talent, but one of the first to become a genuine country music talent from that stage would be none other than Roy Acuff. Signed as a musician to the Grand Ole Opry, Acuff's talent and sentimental songs would attract the attention of the National Broadcasting Company(NBC) which would begin broadcasting from the Opry in 1939.
Some of the earliest country music artists include singers like Hank Williams,Sr., Ernest Tubb, Patsy Cline, Hank Snow, Kitty Wells and Chet Atkins. Some of the more well known artists would include a whole catalog of names like Elvis Presley, Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Loretta Lynn and Brad Paisley just to name a few. The list of names could literally fill dozens of books.
There are many styles of music today, and thousands of artists to choose from. But one thing is for sure, in one way or another they all get their inspiration from the roots of country music.