1.

  The Big Band sound flourished in America from 1935-1945 (known as the Swing Era), evolving from the New Orleans-style dance bands of the
1920's. A typical Big Band would have 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, and 5 saxophones for the horn section, and piano, guitar, string bass, and drums
for the rhythm section.
2.  Fletcher Henderson created the big band sound in New York City around 1934 in tunes like "Wrappin' in Up", but Benny Goodman popularized
the sound on the radio, and across the country by way of touring and recording tunes like "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)". Big bands, like the
dance bands of the 1920's, and the New  Orleans-style bands of the 1900's used a generous amount of improvisation in their performances,
insuring that no 2 performances were ever exactly alike. Improvisation allows individual soloists to play as they feel in the moment, usually relying
on the audience for inspiration.
3.  Count Basie and His Orchestra sometimes created music from "head arrangements", assembled from riffs that were never written down, as
in "Jumpin' at the Woodside". Duke Ellington, on the other hand, would frequently write out intricate band arrangements for his musicians, as
in "Ko-Ko". Glenn Miller sometimes used intricate vocal arrangements within big band  compositions, as in "Chattanooga Choo Choo". By the end of
World War II (1945), the swing era was over.
4.  Country Blues emerged from rural parts of the South, recorded by bluesmen from about 1926-1940. The style had existed for many years, but
the recordings brought the sound to the general public. Blind Willie McTell (1898-1959) plays a 12- string guitar and tells a story (speaking and
singing) using various blues techniques that mimic the sound of a train in "Travelin' Blues". Robert Johnson (1911-1938) also plays guitar and tells a
story that implies that he had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his musical talent in "Cross Road Blues".
5.  Good Time Blues puts aside the sadness and heartache of traditional blues for a more upbeat mood and tempo. Georgia Tom and Tampa Red
(also known as the Hokum Brothers) give us a verse / chorus format instead of the usual rhyming couplet of traditional blues, with some barnyard
humor added, in "It's Tight Like That". Pete Johnson (piano) and Big Joe Turner (blues shouter) give us a blues style that features boogie-woogie
style piano playing; a style that eventually evolves  into Rock and Roll in the 1950's in "Roll 'em Pete".
6.  Black Gospel emerged as a new form of sacred music in the 1930's, mixing white Protestant hymnody , the black spiritual, and the blues. It gains
wide popularity after World War II. Gospel quartets, such as the Golden Gate Quartet often sang a capella style (voices alone without instrumental
accompaniment), supplying all the harmony and percussive sounds with their voices as in "Golden Gate Gospel Train". Gospel soloists like Mahalia
Jackson added the blues stylings of singers like Bessie Smith to church music, using vocal slides and dramatic phrasing, accompanied by the
Hammond organ as in "Move On Up a Little Higher".
7.  Country music emerges from a type of folk music found in the Appalachian Mountains in the late 1920's. Recording engineer Ralph Peer sets up
a temporary studio in Bristol,  Tennessee in July, 1927, with an open invitation to any and all musicians in the area. The Carter Family, as heard
in "Wildwood Flower" and Jimmie Rodgers as heard in "Blue Yodel No. 11" answered the call. Both are now in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
 The Carter Family included Alvin, his wife Sarah, and her cousin Maybelle.  Sarah tells a sad story in "Wildwood Flower", but her voice reveals little
emotion. Maybelle accompanies on the guitar (slightly out of tune) using a thumb-brush technique that was widely imitated.
Jimmie Rodgers was a retired railroad worker when he became "The Father of Country Music" in the late 1920's. "Blue Yodel No. 11" follows the  a
a' b blues couplet format, with odd phrasing and intermittent yodeling added.  
8.  Bob Wills (b. Limestone County, Texas) combines country music with swing, adding horns and drums to the string-band style of early country
music, as heard in "Steel Guitar Rag". Jazz improvisations, swing rhythms,  blue notes, ragtime, and country vocal styles are combined, influencing
later styles such as Honky-Tonk , Rockabilly, and Country Rock.
9.  Folk Music in the 1930's crosses over into the domain of Popular Music; in other words, it is recorded for a commercial purpose. Woody Guthrie
starts the contemporary folk movement, writing more than 1,000 songs during his lifetime, such as "Do-Re-Mi". He was focused on social
inequalities and championed the working class. He wrote articles for a communist party newspaper.
Leadbelly (Huddie William Ledbetter) was described as a songster; writing and performing many kinds of songs and telling stories such
as "Bourgeois Blues". He was in and out of prison for murder, etc. but was paroled with the help of John Lomax, a folk music historian working for
the Library of Congress.
10.  A honky-tonk is a noisy, raucous, working class bar that mostly caters to a white clientele. Amplified voices and instruments were needed for
the music to be heard above the din of noise.  The songs were a combination of pop, country, folk, and blues styles with lyrics that focused on hard-
luck stories and painful relationships. Hank Williams, the leader of this new style, uses a pick-up line as a song title in "Hey, Good Lookin'". Kitty
Wells becomes the 1st female country music star, specializing in deeply sincere vocals and lyrics that sound confidential in "It Wasn't God Who
Made Honky Tonk Angels".
11.  Bluegrass emerged in Kentucky (The "Bluegrass State") and features string-band instruments (guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bass) and "high
lonesome" vocals, all without amplification. Collective improvisation and fast tempos are featured. Bill Monroe was the leader of this style, and it
crosses over from its mountain origins to a popular form of music in the mid 1940's, as in "It's Mighty Dark to Travel".
12.  Latin Music crosses into the US from Argentina in the early 1900's as a sort of exotic novelty sound, featuring a greater variety of rhythms and
percussion instruments. The Havana Casino Orchestra, led by Don Aspiazu came to New York City in 1930, triggering a Latin dance craze featuring
the rhumba "El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor)". Tito Puente (b. in New York City to Puerto Rican Parents) leads the mambo dance craze in the
1950's, featuring a combination of Latin rhythms and percussion styles with a big band-style horn section in "Complicacion".
13.  The Golden Age of Musical Theater (1920-1960) gives us a large number of Broadway shows that have returned to Broadway after their initial
run, to be reinterpreted and rediscovered by later generations of theater patrons. Most of these shows have a " boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-
gets-girl" type of plot, with catchy tunes, big dance numbers, and a humorous plot. Meredith Willsons' The Music Man has conman Harold Hill
(portrayed by Robert Preston) selling band instruments and uniforms to unsuspecting townsfolk in the musical number  "Seventy-Six Trombones".
14.  Composer Leonard Bernstein and lyricist Stephen Sondheim develop a more dramatic Broadway style, with more complex music in the late
1950's musical West Side Story, adapted from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and set in 1950's New York City. The girlfriends of a Puerto Rican
gang (the Sharks) sing about the benefits and drawbacks of life in America vs life in Puerto Rico in "America".  

1.   big-band swing: swing-era or swing-style music performed by a big band. [Wrappin' It Up]
2.   head arrangement: a jazz composition built around riffs and improvisation that is not written down. [Jumpin' at the Woodside]
3.   country blues: a Southern rural blues style that usually has guitar accompaniment.  [Travelin' Blues]
4.  good time blues: a blues style with humorous lyrics and a more commercial style. [It's Tight Like That]
5.  black gospel: a vocal style blending  white protestant hymnody, the black spiritual, and the blues. [Move On Up a Little Higher]
6.   western swing: a country take on big band swing and jazz. [Steel Guitar Rag]
7.   a cappella singing: vocal music without instrumental accompaniment. [as in Golden Gate Gospel Train]
8.   songster: a book containing the lyrics of popular songs. Folk Musician Lead Belly was referred to as a "songster", as if he were a living songbook.
[Bourgeois Blues]
9.   honky tonk: amplified country music that is  loud enough for a noisy, working-class bar or club. [Hey, Good Lookin']
10.   yodeling: a warbling vocal style native to the Swiss Alps, that finds its way into country music by way of Jimmie Rodgers. [Blue Yodel No. 11]
11. blue grass music: an updated version of country's old-time string band music. [It's Mighty Dark to Travel]
12. rhumba: a syncopated Cuban dance in quadruple time. [El Manisero]
13. mambo: a latin dance style merging Afro-Cuban son with big-band horns and riffs. [Complicacion]
14.  Broadway musical: a musical that is associated with the Broadway Theater District in New York City, usually having its premier and a lengthy
run at a Broadway Theater. [The Music Man] [West Side Story]
15. Golden Era of the Broadway musical: Roughly the years 1920-1960, in which a great number of Broadway hit shows were produced.
 

1. BIG BAND SWING:

Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra*  “Wrappin’ It Up” (2:46)
Glenn Miller and his Band*  “Chatanooga Choo Choo” (3:26)
Count Basie and His Orchestra*  “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” (3:09)
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra*  “Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing)” (5:24)
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra*  “Ko-Ko”  [Edward “Duke” Ellington] (2:43)
 
2. COUNTRY BLUES:
Blind Willie McTell*  “Travelin’ Blues” (3:14)
Robert Johnson*  “Cross Road Blues” (2:45)
 
3. GOOD TIME BLUES:
Tampa Red and GT*  “It’s Tight Like That” (3:04)
Pete Johnson and “Big” Joe Turner*   “Roll ‘em Pete” (2:45)
 
4. BLACK GOSPEL:
The Golden Gate Quartet*   “Golden Gate Gospel Train” (2:39)
Mahalia Jackson*   “Move On Up a Little Higher” (6:11)
 
5. COUNTRY MUSIC BEGINS:
The Carter Family*   “Wildwood Flower” (3:10)
Jimmie Rodgers*   “Blue Yodel No.11” (3:02)
 
6. PUTTING THE “WESTERN” IN COUNTRY MUSIC:
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys*   “Steel Guitar Rag” (2:34)
 
7. FOLK MUSIC in the 1930’s & 1940’s:
Woody Guthrie*   “Do-Re-Mi” (2:40)
Lead Belly*   “Bourgeois Blues” (2:32)
 
8. HONKY TONK:
Hank Williams*   “Hey, Good Lookin’” (1:56)
Kitty Wells* “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” (2:54)
 
9. BLUEGRASS:
Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys*   “It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” (2:57)
 
10. LATIN MUSIC IN THE UNITED STATES:
Don Azpiazu and His Havana Casino Orchestra*   “El Manisero” (“The Peanut Vendor”) (3:34)
Tito Puente*   “Complicacion” (3:23)
 
11. THE GOLDEN AGE OF MUSICAL THEATER:
Robert Preston*  “Seventy-Six Trombones” (from The Music Man) [Meredith Willson] (3:02)
The New Broadway Cast featuring Karen Olivo*    “America” (from West Side Story)        [Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim] (2:07)
 
Performers are indicated with a *
Composers are indicated with [ ] brackets