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Definition: Country Music


Mike

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That?s a difficult question. The answer used to be cut and dried?if you are singing about your woman (or man) leaving you or cheating on you, your dog dying, drinking a beer, or driving your truck (sometimes all at the same time!), that was country. But the line has become so blurry, it?s hard to tell these days. Shania Twain and Faith Hill are two country stars that have crossed over to pop. I know that some Eagles songs are considered country, but I think of the group as rock. Basically, I have not answered your question, because I haven't quite figured it out myself. So sorry, Pink. :P Perhaps someone else has the answer!

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Peaches, you got it! It was not a "cut and dried" question either, I like to just toss "idea-questions" out to see (read) what peoples take is on them! Most the question I like to ask have no "real" answer, only "perspectives" --I like peoples perspectives, even if I don't agree!!

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Hank Williams, Sr. by my definition is country. I think you actually have to work on a farm, milk a cow, lose a crop to rain, and endure real hardship in order for it to be 'real' country.

Shania's biggest hardship is a broken fingernail.

Ken.

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I used to always think of country singers as those who have that distinctive twangy/gravely sound. Hard to describe...Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks and Dolly Parton are good examples. It is a narrow definition & definitely doesn't cover everybody, especially nowadays. ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hard to say. Country derives, in part, from fiddle tunes that, in some cases, date back to the time of Thomas Jefferson. Its lyrics derive from pop songs of the latter 19th century such as, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight," "A Picture from Life's Other Side," "The Vacant Chair" (1861), "Father's a Drunkard and Mother Is Dead" (1866), "Life's Railway to Heaven," "My Mother's Bible," and so on. Plus, any number of ballads from the late 1800s and early 1900s re dying children, young mothers dying on trains ("In the Baggage Car Ahead"), murdered pregnant women, and similarly cheerful subjects.

And there's the cowboy-song aspect, which sort of went out with Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Eddie Dean.

And you have a connection to Sacred Harp, a.k.a shape-note, singing in the South during the Civil War and post-Civil-War period. Complicated!!

My theory is that what we call Country music was, in the not-too-distant past, simply pop music. It was part of the popular music environment of its time and, as such, didn't stand out. But that would have been quite some time ago, so who's to say?

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Believe it or not, there is a fine line between country and blues. The "father" of country music, Hank Williams, was taught how to play the guitar by a great blues guitarist(I forgot his name help me if you can). And the banjo is derivitave from an stringed instrument that was played in africa centuries ago. :guitar:

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It's like that definition of porn, "I know it when I hear it". I also have a physical reaction. First my hands start to feel restless, then muscles tense up, my face feels flushed, sometimes I bite my tongue or the sides of my mouth, my legs sometimes quiver. All of this happens in a matter of seconds. If the music isn't changed or turned off, real physical pain starts to occur. These symptoms go away in less than a minute and I'm left trying to catch my breath. My heartrate doesn't slow down for several minutes after the music is gone.

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