18/06/2021
50+ Facts About Country Music to Blow Your Mind
BY GEMTRACKS STAFF
MAR 25TH, 2021
We’ve all heard the old joke: What happened when the country singer sang his song backward?
He got his dog back, his truck back, and his wife back. But all kidding aside, country music is a $2 billion-a-year industry, propelled by 36 million Americans who listen to country radio every week, according to the Country Music Association.
The roots of country music go back to the 18th century and new generations of country musicians continue to pursue mainstream success.
Here are some amazing facts about country music you probably didn't know about:
• Bristol, Tennessee was recognized by congress in 1998 as the birthplace of country music.
• The first commercial country music recordings were made in Tennessee by Ralph Peer of Victor Records.
• In the 1920s, country songs were known as "Old Familiar Tunes." As the listening audience expanded, the songs became known as "Old-Time Melodies of the Sunny South" or "Hill Country Songs and Ballads."
• In the beginning, country music’s sound was founded on the fiddle, the accordion, the banjo, and the autoharp.
• Appalachian-based bluegrass traditionally included use of the zither and the mandolin.
• A jug band contained the bass or bull fiddle and a washboard. The harmonica (or mouth organ) was also a part of the jug band because its compact size made it easy to transport, and its popularity grew with soldiers and cowboys in rural locations.
"Harmonica Wizard", DeFord Bailey was the first African-American performer on the Grand Ole Opry. On a Saturday night in 1927, DeFord stepped up to the microphone to play "Pan American Blues" to open a show followed by an hour of opera and symphonic music. The announcer of the show was George Hay who declared after the show "For the past hour we have been listening to music taken largely from grand opera; from now on we will present `The Grand Ole Opry.' " Thus giving a name to this legendary radio program.
• The Grand Ole Opry is the oldest radio broadcast in US history. The "Opry" played a seminal role in the development of country music.
• Popular country music in the 1930s built its sound around the guitar.
• The dobro, a precursor to the steel guitar, was modeled after the Hawaiian slack guitar, and found its way into country music too, along with the pedal steel guitar.
• The piano was introduced into country music in the 1930s, but today it’s often replaced by the electric piano or synthesizer.
• Country music has been slow to recognize the hundreds of African Americans who contributed to the creation and growth of the country music genre, but recent efforts have been made in Nashville to honour this tradition. In 1998 the Country Music Foundation and Warner Bros. Released a 3-CD package exploring African American contributions to the country genre called "From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music."
Historians acknowledge that country music is derived from a melting pot of cultures. Mountain or hillbilly music, in particular, combines the ballads and folksongs brought to the South by immigrants from the British Isles in the 18th and 19th Centuries and the rhythmic influences of African immigrants.
The banjo, which mimics the banjar played in Africa, was invented by Southern blacks in the late 1690s. Slaves also played the fiddle, which was introduced to them by their white masters.
• Nashville, Tennessee is the modern center of country music’s commercial heart. Home to Dolly Parton, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium (the "Mother Church of Country Music"), and the Bluebird Café.
Music Row, also in Nashville, houses the world’s largest country music recording companies and music publishing houses, and recording studios.
• Fiddlin’ John Carson was the first commercially successful country-recording star in 1923 with "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" and "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster’s Going to Crow."
• Gene Autry, "The Singing Cowboy," was one of the most important figures in the history of country music. His singing cowboy films were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience.
Gene Autry appeared in 93 films in addition to hosting The Gene Autry Show. During the 1930s and 1940s, he profoundly touched the lives of millions of Americans, by personifying the straight-shooting honest hero.
Country music became America’s favourite genre in 2012, surpassing classic rock across all age demographics, according to NPD Group, a market research firm.
• The number one state where country music currently reigns is Texas.
• Country music is popular in Australia (think Keith Urban), the northern provinces of India, and Italy. It’s also popular in and around Moscow, Denpasar in Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Argentina, Ireland, and Scotland.
• CM holds 11.9 percent of the U.S.-recorded music market (2008 stats).
• Compared to other musical genres, country radio stations are very influential in the U.S. country music industry. There are more radio stations in the United States specializing in country music (about 2,100 stations) than any other format, out of a total of about 15,000 radio stations in the US.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Eddy Arnold was the biggest star in country music and set several chart records, one of which endured for more than 60 years. His 1947 song "I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)" spent 21 weeks at number one, a record which would not be broken until 2013. He gained 28 number-one songs, a record which would stand until 1980.
• Johnny Cash grew up with Gospel songs as his main musical influence and sometimes performed in school talent shows.
His mother, who could play the guitar and piano, encouraged her son’s musical talents and wanted him to take singing lessons. But his teacher told him to quit, worried that any further formal training would alter Cash’s unique way of singing. "Don’t ever take voice lessons again," she said. "Don’t let me or anyone change how you sing."
Johnny Cash voiced a coyote on The Simpsons’ ninth episode of the eighth season in "The Mysterious Voyage of Our Homer," which first aired January 5, 1997.
• Poet and author, Shel Silverstein (of The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends fame) was a country songwriter. He wrote "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash. In fact,
Silverstein's songs were recorded in the 1960s and '70s by many artists, including Bobby Bare, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins, and dozens of other artists.
"February Snow", "Son of a Scoundrel", "This Guitar is for Sale", "Queen of the Silver Dollar", and "The Taker" are all among the songs Shel Silverstein wrote for country singers.
• In 1969 Bob Dylan ‘went country’ with a radically new singing voice resulting, apparently, from quitting smoking. Kris Kristofferson once stated that his generation of country music stars "owes him our artistic lives…because he opened all the doors in Nashville when he did Blonde on Blonde and Nashville Skyline.
The country scene was so conservative until he arrived. He brought in a whole new audience. He changed the way people thought about it – even the Grand Ole Opry was never the same again."
• In the 1970s one of the biggest names in country music was the band Alabama. They are one of the best selling acts of all time, regardless of genre.
The band has over 41 number one country records on the Billboard charts to their credit and have sold over 75 million records, making them the most successful group in country music history.
• Dolly Parton entered a Dolly Parton look-alike contest and lost to a drag queen. She told the following to an interviewer:
"They had these big drag queens — I mean they looked great too, they were prettier than I could ever dream of being — but anyway when they walked across the stage, if they applauded, you won the contest by the amount of applause. I guess you got free drinks… All these beautiful guys were walking across, these Dolly Partons … and here I come walking across the stage and I got the least applause of anybody,"
Dolly Parton holds the distinction of having the most number-one hits by a female artist on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart (25).
Parton holds the record for most top 10 albums on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
She previously held the record for the most top 10 hits by a female country artist until Reba McEntire surpassed her in 2009 with her 56th top 10 hits, "Cowgirls Don't Cry".
Parton is the only artist to have top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in every decade from the 1960s to the 2010s.
• In 1990, the IRS seized most of Willie Nelson's assets, claiming that he owed $32 million. His lawyer, Jay Goldberg, negotiated the sum to be lowered to $16 million.
Later, Nelson's attorney renegotiated a settlement with the IRS in which he paid $6 million, although Nelson did not comply with the agreement.
To pay off his debts, Willie Nelson released "The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?" as a double album, with all profits destined for the IRS.
Many of his assets were auctioned and purchased by friends, who donated or rented his possessions to him for a nominal fee.
The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount and Nelson cleared his debts by 1993.
At age 81, Willie Nelson still sells out shows.
• Garth Brooks has sold more copies of his albums than any country music performer in history, having sold a whopping 157 million albums in the U.S. Alone (about 180 million records worldwide. 9 of his albums have achieved Diamond status.
• In 2018 Miranda Lambert won the ACM Award for Female Vocalist of the Year for the ninth consecutive year, surpassing Reba McEntire as the most awarded in the category in 2017.
In November 2015 Miranda Lambert became the first woman to have won the Country Music Association Awards' Album of the Year twice.
She has won two Grammy Awards out of twenty-one nominations.
As of 2019, Lambert is the most awarded artist in the history of the ACM Awards, receiving a special Milestone Award at their annual Honours ceremony to celebrate.
• Travis Tritt has seven platinum or higher albums. The highest-certified is 1991's It's All About to Change, which is certified triple-platinum.
Tritt has charted more than 40 times on the Hot Country Songs charts. This includes five number ones—"Help Me Hold On", "Anymore", "Can I Trust You with My Heart", "Foolish Pride", and "Best of Intentions", as well as 15 additional singles in the top 10.
• Shania Twain has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and among the best-selling music artists of all time.
Twain's third studio album, Come On Over (1997), is the best-selling studio album by a female act in any genre and the best-selling country album of all time, selling over 40 million copies worldwide.
• Loretta Lynn is the most-awarded female artist in country music and won the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack for courageously breaking barriers in a male-dominated industry.
• The top 5 most viewed country music videos as of 2021 on YouTube are:
5) Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now with 330 million views;
4) Chris Stapleton’s Tennesee Whisky with 380 million views;
3) Taylor Swift’s Love Story with 490 million views;
2)Meant to Be by Florida Georgie Line Ft. Bebe Rexha at 828 million views;
1) Taylor Swift’s You Belong With Me coming in at 989 million views and counting.
• In May 2020, Keith Urban hosted a drive-in concert for medical workers.
His latest gig was mostly just him and two other musicians playing on a flatbed truck in front of about 125 cars.
Urban played at the Stardust Drive-In movie theatre, about 60 km east of Nashville, Tennessee, for a crowd of more than 200 medical workers from Vanderbilt Health.
• The 54th annual CMA Awards were held in Nashville in November 2020.
Eric Church took home the top prize of Entertainer of the Year.
Luke Combs took home Album of the Year for "What You See Is What You Get".
Karen Morris was awarded Female Vocalist of the Year, and
Luke Combs Male Vocalist of the Year.
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