Country Music

X

New Country

The term new country dates from the mid-1980s when a handful of artists, notably Ricky Skaggs, John Anderson, Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam, and the Brooks & Dunn duo led yet another return to the sounds of traditional country music. This return was primarily to such instruments as steel guitars and single or twin fiddles, as opposed to full orchestral string sections. New country also prominently featured female artists, including Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Faith Hill, Roseanne Cash, Trisha Yearwood, and Shania Twain.

Despite new country’s original humble intentions, its biggest star, Garth Brooks, achieved his success in part by finding and writing songs that were extraordinarily well received as well as adding elements of arena rock productions to his stage shows. His second album, No Fences (1990), became the top-selling country album of all time. A decade after the term new country was coined to indicate a return to country’s roots, it was applied to all new artists in country music, regardless of their style.

In the late 1980s Clint Black, another new-country artist, helped usher in an era of so-called hat acts. Following Black’s example, nearly all male country vocalists began wearing cowboy hats, symbolizing the return of country music to its rural roots. Yoakam in particular was known for never appearing in public without his tan Stetson.

XI

Women in Country Music

During the first half of the 20th century country music offered few opportunities for women. They were relegated almost entirely to backup musician or minor vocal roles and even these positions often went to women who were married or closely related to another troupe member. Patsy Montana was the first woman to have a commercially successful solo career in country music. Her 1935 recording “I Want To Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” became the first country recording by a woman to sell more than 1 million copies and gave women a new, more powerful image in the industry. Kitty Wells gained widespread popularity with her single “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” (1952). The song represented a female response to the “drinkin’, cheatin’, ramblin’” life commonly glorified in the music of male country singers. It was the first song by a female country singer to hit the top of the Billboard magazine country music charts.

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Singer Patsy Cline enjoyed commercial success within both country and popular music. Cultivating a far less domestic image than her predecessors, over her career she moved away from the cowgirl look in her stage clothes and was known for her freewheeling lifestyle and foul language. Major country stars of the late 1960s and early 1970s included Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton, who all wrote or cowrote most of their own songs. The motion picture Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) depicted how Lynn surmounted the extreme poverty of her early life to become the first millionaire among female country artists and the first woman named entertainer of the year by the Country Music Association.

Prominent female country singers in the 1970s and 1980s include Tanya Tucker, Emmylou Harris, Crystal Gayle, and Reba McEntire. By the mid-1990s McEntire had crossed another threshold for women in the industry by establishing herself in the managerial, publishing, and recording studio sides of country music. During the 1990s female country stars, generally considered part of new country, included Patty Loveless, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Martina McBride, Wynonna, Shania Twain, and Leann Rimes. In the early years of the 21st century solo artist Lee Ann Womack and the female group the Dixie Chicks were also widely popular country acts.

XII

Current Trends

Country music has developed a broad palette of styles and attracted a large mainstream audience by adapting elements of other musical styles. Many country records of the 1990s would have been considered rock or popular music recordings in past years. As in many periods since country music first emerged, in the late 1990s a group of musicians advocated a return to a simple, pared-down country style. This movement, known as Americana, gained exposure through college and public radio stations and live performances across the country. Americana emphasized individual artists who combined singing, songwriting, and musicianship and it encompassed artists who were new to the industry, such as singer and guitarist Robbie Fulks and the band BR5-49, as well as established artists, including Johnny Cash, Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith, and Jerry Jeff Walker. An example of this trend was O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000), a hugely successful album that featured a rootsy mix of country, bluegrass, folk, gospel, and blues. Artists on the album include Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley, Norman Blake, and The Whites.

The average age of country artists began falling in the mid-1980s, paralleling the rise of music video as an important marketing tool. While still showcasing artists’ musical abilities, recording labels often placed equal, if not greater, value on the sex appeal of artists. During the first half of the 1990s, domestic sales of country music tripled in volume. In addition, country music has made important gains overseas, especially in Europe and Australia. Country Music Television (CMT), a 24-hour cable television channel, entered a period of aggressive foreign expansion in the early 1990s and by 1997 was available via satellite or cable nearly everywhere in the world.

XIII

Social Significance

Country music tends to mirror the concerns, achievements, and lifestyle of the times, and remains an important form of American cultural expression. Western-style clothing and numerous catch phrases from country songs have found their way into American popular culture. Although country music was born in the politically conservative South, its audience and many of its performers come from all parts of the political spectrum. At times, country songs have stirred controversy by raising troubling issues, such as the treatment of women. Perhaps the most essential quality of country music and the source of its lasting appeal is its simplicity and direct commentary on the everyday problems of its audience.

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