My small history with Country Music (Memorabilia-Dealya)
Added 2021-10-25 15:51:14 +0000 UTC
Comments
You should totally watch Ken Burns' excellent 10 hour documentary titled "Country Music" where he documents the history of the genre. One of the things that Burn's really points out is the racialization of the genre which occurs when what is essentially southern music gets separated into country and western (e.g. hillbilly/white music) and "race music" (what goes on to be termed R&B). As you've said, hip hop and country have many similar themes (and even the banjo, a key instrument in bluegrass, originates from Africa). My personal standard for country music is that if an artist is from south of the Mason/Dixon line and they're singing about heartbreak,where they grew up, or their momma it's country; whether their name is Brad Paisley or Darius Rucker; Lady A or Anthony Hamilton; Katie Pruitt or BeyoncΓ©. I mean Nelly's early 2000s hit "Ride wit Me" is a great country song. As for Hank, you should check out (although his son's reputation is a bit "pricklier" than his dad's though he too recently lost a child in her 20s) if you haven't already "Family Tradition" where he sings about his families doomed addiction to drugs.
Kiroolioneaver
2021-10-28 04:12:40 +0000 UTCI discovered Hank Williams through a quirky friend just out of high school and immediately thought he was amazing. Like you, we kind of looked down on country, but Hank was something special. To me , he was the Bob Dylan of country, or Bob Dylan was the Hank Williams of folk/Folk Rock. Nice story.Oh, and of course, Bob was influenced by Hank.
matthew brown
2021-10-25 18:57:17 +0000 UTC
