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Ally Jiovani

Prof. Sobocinski

English 1201

24 March 2022

Country Through the Ages

Ever since I knew about and listened to music, I have always felt a strong connection to

the country music genre. My parents were and still are big lovers of the older country music

which is also starting to grow on my younger brother and I. My mom grew up on a farm in a

small country town, so she has been immersed in all things country since she was a little girl. My

dad, who came from a bigger town than my mom, grew up listening to older country music on

his parents’ radio. Their liking of the country genre grew my interest in it and gave me the idea

to research its roots and how it evolved over time. I wanted to explore what the genre was like in

the very beginning of country music and how it has become what it is in the present day. What I

found is that country music has evolved greatly over time from its roots of jazz and blues to the

pop/country mix in today’s world that is ever so slowly taking over the music industry.

Country music by definition is a genre that “focus[es] on kinship, nostalgia for rural

places, and the sociality cultivated in such places” (Jacobsen). This basically means that the

stories told throughout the country songs all hold some sort of deep and personal meaning to the

writer/singer and might be significant or hopefully will be of some significance to people that

listen to the songs. Someone recently said that when writing or singing a song, it's not about how

you sound, it's about how you feel while doing it. That resonated with me because it helped me

to see that the artist is the only person that matters when it comes to writing a song, not the
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audience or the critics. Thus, this ensures that no matter what people think about the song, the

artist’s story and experiences while writing it will remain connected to them and the song

forever. One would hope, however, that a listener who happens to be going through a similar

situation as described by the lyrics of a song would listen closely and figure out the best way to

work their way through it. In the eyes of an artist, changing the life of even one listener is the

best thing that they can do with their music.

Many people who listen to the country music of today don’t really realize where it really

originated. Some might say a beat-up old bar down in Texas. Others might say some guy who

lived in the country picked up a guitar, wrote and sung a song, and thus the singer/songwriter

career and industry of country music started. What those people don’t know is that the genre

which is listened to by most of the world today originally began with a single voice, some words,

and a fiddle.

From its start on either June 30th, 1922 or July 1, 1922, with the release of “The

Arkansas Traveler” by fiddler Alexander “Eck'' Robertson, country music has become a widely

listened to genre of music. Robertson became the first person to release a country commercial

record which inspired future country singers like Jimmie Rodgers to go on and make their own

history (Dooley). Over time, other singers began to use past and current country influences to

inspire new generations of singers/songwriters to forge their own paths of success in the music

world. For example, Reba McEntire was influenced by Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson was inspired

by George Strait, and Zac Brown was inspired by James Taylor. These artists are all very

virtuous in the music industry to this day and could quite possibly be the inspiration for future

artists of the country music genre.

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According to Time Magazine, lots of songs that the original country music artists wrote

or sang were “inherited and adapted from black sources” (Chow). Many hit songs of the country

genre nowadays were inspired by older country songs from back in the 80s or 90s which shows

that over the years, country music has changed with the times, so to speak. Most often, songs that

are hits now by popular artists were actually covers of older artists’ songs. Those older songs

weren’t a success at the time but, upon being brought back into the light, became very favored

and well-liked by the newer generations who heard them.

One resounding issue that occurred when country music had started to be listened to more

was the fact that the African-Americans who basically brought about the genre were being left in

the dust. Time Magazine, a source for my essay, mentioned that as country music “developed

professionally, too often African-American musicians were forgotten” (Chow). White

singers/songwriters were more prevalent and record stores tended to separate them from the

African-American singers/songwriters, with the thought that people were more attracted to music

by white artists instead of a combination of both.

Furthermore, in the 1920s and 30s, black songwriters wrote songs that were often later

turned into smashing hits by other coming-of-age songwriters. For example, the song “When the

World is On Fire”, which was originally written by a black minister, was the inspiration for

Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land is Your Land” in February of 1940 (Chow). Guthrie’s

rendition of the minister’s song went on to have more than 7.5 million views on Youtube and

more than 12.5 million streams on Spotify. This goes to show that even older music or the

songwriters themselves can have a significant influence and sometimes an even bigger impact on

newer artists in the modern world.

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Other singers from the older age of country music that were and currently are big hits

today had their own inspirational stories that paved the way for the future of country music. For

example, still popular star Willie Nelson and his friend Waylon Jennings “burned their leisure

suits, grew their hair out, and sang whatever and however they chose to” (Dooley). This jump-

started a trend for other artists to express themselves in ways that didn’t necessarily pertain to the

traditional ways. With this trend, singers/songwriters were shaping the world for the country

music artists of the future. Some of those previously titled future artists that became super well-

known and successful were Reba McEntire, Mickey Gilley, Alabama, Dolly Parton, and George

Strait. Lots of artists in this era released “major hits on both the country and pop charts”

(Dooley) and went on to lead the next generation of country artists into the spotlight.

Going back to the historical side of things, this genre “from its instrumentation to

repertoire to vocal and instrumental techniques – is indebted to African and African-American

traditions” (Chow). As few to many people know, country music originated with instruments

such as the banjo, the fiddle, the drums, the steel guitar which is also known as the dobro, and

sometimes a harmonica. As one might be able to guess, most of these instruments were used in

African rituals or ceremonies. With country music being as inclusive as it is, black and white

artists alike had been and still are constantly rising to the top of the musical billboards with

show-stopping songs that have been catching audiences since the beginning.

In 1989, a group of up-and-coming singer/songwriters all debuted high scoring hit

country music songs. This group was made up of Clint Black, Dwight Yoakam, Garth Brooks,

Travis Tritt, and Alan Jackson; the five singers that came to be known as the Class of ’89.

According to LiveAbout, these singers added “a youthful vitality and rock-and-roll mentality into

a genre that was quickly growing stale and predictable” (Dooley).

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Country music in itself is a genre of songs that individually tell a story. Almost every

country song you listen to will have some sort of well thought out tale or emotional story

conjured by the artist to inspire listeners to go after their dreams and do whatever it is that makes

them happy or interested. These stories are most often from the singer’s personal experiences,

whether it be bouncing back after a breakup, finding the love of their lives and living the happily

ever after dream, going through a breakup and the hurt from it, and many others. These stories

resonate with different people going through similar situations and then hopefully inspiring them

to “get back up again”, find solid ground, and start living their lives again.

There are many different kinds of artists. Some of these include painters, home/interior

designers, singers, songwriters, actors/actresses, etc. In my research, I found that anyone who

writes a song is oftentimes unconsciously creating their own art. In an article from Deutsche

Welle, broadcaster Baylen Leonard mentioned that country music is “a living, breathing art

form” (Sanderson). It seems like he was trying to illustrate or explain that the stories artists tell in

their songs are present day things that everyone goes through or will go through at least one time

in their lives. Every single artist has their own story to tell, their own traumas that they dealt with

and got through, and even their stories of perseverance to successfully reach and conquer their

goals. Each country song portrays different images, stories, or thoughts for the various types of

people who listen to it, which means that it is up to them to decide how they will use these

stories to help them in their own situations.

Of all the modern day country singers out there, Thomas Rhett seems to be one of the

most well-known and inspiring singers that is rapidly becoming a country music star in today’s

time. According to NPR, he “displayed an excellent instinct for the pace of evolution in the

[country] format” (Hight). Rhett is an artist who knows how to “go with the flow” and basically
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work with what he’s got. He was able to use the new trend of combining country tones with a

pop melody to his advantage and released the song “Die A Happy Man” on January 1, 2015.

Furthermore, Rhett “made clear that his unfettered stylistic sampling didn’t undermine

his core identity as a country artist” (Hight). In a way, this was him saying that he wasn’t

opposed to the idea of mixing pop and country because it could be a cool opportunity to

showcase his country roots while sticking to the trends of modern day music. Many artists of

today had the same idea because they found out that they had the chance to make music that

listeners of both pop and country genres could enjoy. They also got to experiment with new

forms of music and see which ones could go together to form a great song and possibly reach

more listeners as well. In a way, merging the genres of pop and country was a great idea that

reaches more varieties and age ranges of listeners and even introduces them to new forms of

music that they possibly have never heard of before.

Compared to the traditional methods of listening to country music, the classic radio or

vinyl records for example, today’s world boasts many more ways to hear music like streaming

services to name one. One of the major and unexpected events that boosted the emergence of

streaming services was the Covid-19 pandemic that started in March of 2020. An article I found

on this topic and its relation to country music said that prior to the pandemic, people who

generally listened to country music while on the road moved “away from their car radios and

commutes, and toward on-demand listening at home” (Weiner). Since people no longer had

anywhere to drive, fly, or ride to, they began streaming their favorite songs in their homes.
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Collection of old color vintage retro Spotify’s new

radio receivers isolated on white feature will make it

background easier to block

(Scanrail). others (File).

With the pandemic keeping people away from the world, the slowly growing streaming

services gained more streamers/subscribers and those people who streamed/subscribed then

gained the opportunity to listen to their favorite songs and artists basically commercial free.

These services kept becoming more well-liked as time went on and people began to prefer them

over the traditional car radio. Some of the aforementioned services include Spotify, Pandora,

Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Youtube Music. Each of these streaming services has a

Premium option where listeners can choose to pay to upgrade their music subscription for ad-free

streaming. A definite benefit of streaming services’ growing popularity was that listeners could

choose any song or artist to listen to at any point in time. On a radio, however, one could only

choose the genre they wanted to listen to and hope some songs came on that they knew and could

sing along to.

To this day, the radio is still widely used but it is seeming like people are gravitating

more towards streaming apps like Spotify–although that generally depends on the listener's age.

Typically, older generations prefer the old school ways like the radio whereas newer generations

prefer and are more attracted to the modern day technology of listening to music through apps as

well as online. Over time, the younger generations have become immersed in the “technology of

the future” and thus gravitate more towards that as opposed to older, not as technological
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sources. This is just another way of how country music evolved from being heard on the

traditional home and/or car radio to people now having the ability to stream it on computers

and/or phones right in their own homes, through the convenience of apps.

Additionally, keeping the pandemic in mind, another way for people to listen to and

discover new music tastes/sounds is an app called TikTok. Originally transformed from Music.ly

in August of 2018, TikTok didn’t become exceedingly popular until the time of the pandemic in

2020. According to Milly Olykan, VP at the Country Music Association in Nashville, Tiktok is

“a great tool for [the] discovery of new country artists” (Sanderson). People had the opportunity

to share their musical skills with the world and, if they went viral enough, could possibly get

really nice contracts with big-name labels. With the breakout success of this app, a decent

amount of artists got some pretty big record deals, says Baylen Leonard (Sanderson). Like

Leonard said, the TikTok artists became famous when their singing videos went viral and got

signed to major labels. Those singers/songwriters are now some of the well heard of singers in

the country music business.

One of the artists who definitely made her mark on the country music world and currently

has over 1.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify is Priscilla Block. In 2020, Block posted a

video on TikTok singing her now number one hit song “Just About Over You” as she was

getting ready for the day. People who saw the TikTok were so excited by it that they showered

her with comments wondering when the song was going to be released for all to hear. Three

weeks later, amid the strong support and enthusiasm of her listeners, Block released the song on

Spotify and it garnered a huge amount of fame and followers for the singer. People liked the

song so much that “some of them actually helped raise money for Block to record it as a track”
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(Hissong). Her song, “Just About Over You”, now has over 37.6 million streams on Spotify and

is a good example of achievement coming from the smallest places.

Block is not the only country artist to get signed after going viral on TikTok. Artists like

Alekandra Kay, Kaleb Austin, Noah Schnacky, Ashley Cooke, Dylan Brady, and Brandon Davis

are just six of “over 70 artists [who] have signed major label deals based on success on the app”

(Deputy). With the way fame is being found for up-and-coming country singers on TikTok now,

there’s no doubt that the next generation of these singers will be just as embraced. After all, it

probably would have taken these big-name singers many years to get where they are today if it

hadn’t been for their early success on TikTok when the pandemic hit in early 2020.

Some common misconceptions about country music are that it is only for white, working-

class, individuals. People also tend to believe that it is geared more towards listeners on the

conservative side of the political spectrum than listeners on the liberal side. According to an

article in the Washington Post, these misconceptions are false and have been since the beginning.

Take politics for example. A survey in 2016 found that “‘just as many Democratic voters listen

to country music as Republican voters’” (Neal). Therefore, there is no truth to the idea that

country music is meant for concervatists only. Additionally, the belief that country music is only

for white people has been proven wrong by multiple surveys and lots of research. To find out the

truth of this statement, the Country Music Association did a survey and figured out that “the

genre’s fastest growing audience is non-white and Hispanic listeners” (Neal).

The well-known and well-loved genre of country music has changed drastically from its

beginning and will always be changing and evolving as the years go on. According to Time

Magazine, “at its heart, country is the music of inclusion and universality” (Meacham). As the

years have changed, so has country music. In today’s world, out of all the genres of music,
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country is pretty much the most inclusive genre to all races and ideas. This genre is known for

“creat[ing] openings for forms of individual and group expression” (Jacobsen). These openings

allow for artists of all backgrounds to express themselves on stage as well as through their music,

in their own way.

In our modern time and age, country music is way different than it was in the past. Some

people think that’s a good thing while others think it’s a bad thing. Some of the more “modern”

day country artists appear to be mixing pop music (modern) with the country twang which seems

to be throwing some listeners off. Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift, two of today’s pop-

country music artists, are leading the way in modern country music. Underwood, for instance,

wrote “a lot of songs that are undeniably pop, but she also sticks to her country roots” (Milton).

One benefit about these artists writing a mix of pop and country songs is that people who know

artists like Carrie Underwood for their pop songs will listen to related singers as well.

Underwood’s music has encouraged listeners to tune “into country music because they want to

hear more artists like her” (Milton). Ultimately, the evolution of country music from its roots to

now has been bringing many more listeners to the genre as well as encouraging them to expand

their horizons.

Country music, its listeners, singers, and songwriters have paved the road for even the

youngest up-and-coming singers/songwriters out there and will hopefully continue to inspire

many more to come. As we move towards the future, the genre of country music has “no choice

but to embrace a new [tradition]: giving everyone an equal right to listen to and make “real”

country music” (Weiner). If people acknowledge and follow this new tradition, the newer

generations of artists and listeners alike will hopefully emerge in a much better and more equal

society than the one we live in today. After all, change is a good thing, whether people want to
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acknowledge and accept it or not. As Dolly Parton once said, “If you don’t like the road you’re

walking, start paving another one”.

Works Cited

Chow, Andrew. “Black Artists Helped Build Country Music—And Then It Left Them Behind.”

Time, 11 Sept. 2019, time.com/5673476/ken-burns-country-music-black-artists. Accessed

04 Mar. 2022.

Deputy, Samantha. “Country Singers Who Have Gone Viral on TikTok.” 97.1 Hank FM, 22 Apr.

2021, www.hankfm.com/country-music-news/country-singers-who-have-gone-viral-on-

tiktok. Accessed 01 May 2022.

Dooley, Sean. “Tracing Country Music History from Jimmie Rodgers to Garth Brooks.”

LiveAbout, 23 May 2019, www.liveabout.com/the-history-of-country-music-934030.

Accessed 06 Mar. 2022.

File. “Blocking Someone on Spotify Will Restrict that User from Accessing your Listening

Activity, your Page, or any Public Playlists.” TheIndianEXPRESS, TheIndianEXPRESS

Ltd, 11 Nov. 2021, https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/

spotifys-new-feature-will-make-it-easier-to-block-others-7618288/. Accessed 01 May

2022.

Hight, Jewly. “Npr.” Npr.Com, npr, 20 Mar. 2018,

choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/

2018/03/20/594037569/how-the-sound-of-country-music-changed. Accessed 04 Mar.

2022.

Hissong, Samantha. “A Country Song Rode the TikTok Train to Number One in 12 Hours.”
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Rolling Stone, 6 Aug. 2020, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/priscilla-block-

country-song-number-one-tiktok-1040532. Accessed 30 Apr. 2022.

Jacobsen, Kristina M. “EBSCOhost.” EBSCOhost.Com, EBSCO Industries, Oct. 2019,

login.sinclair.ohionet.org/login?qurl=https://web.p.ebscohost.com%2fehost%2fdetail

%2fdetail%3fvid%3d1%26sid%3da4a42cd7-d12b-490f-bc89-b36dd5f23265%2540redis

%26bdata%3dJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%253d%253d#AN=139765552&db=a9h.

Accessed 06 Mar. 2022.

Lorge, Melinda. “16 Viral TikTok Country Artists You Need To Check Out In 2021: Tigirlily,

Trey Lewis, Ashley Cooke, Priscilla Block And More.” Music Mayhem Magazine, 2

Mar. 2021, www.musicmayhemmagazine.com/16-viral-tiktok-country-artists-you-need-

to-check-out-in-2021-tigirlily-trey-lewis-ashley-cooke-priscilla-block-and-more.

Accessed 01 May, 2022.

Meacham, Jon, and Tim McGraw. “EBSCOhost.” EBSCOhost.Com, EBSCO Industries, 26

Aug. 2019, login.sinclair.ohionet.org/login?qurl=https://web.s.ebscohost.com%2fehost

%2fdetail%2fdetail%3fvid%3d28%26sid%3d19d5dc86-44db-48c6-bc70-

48410a4d21a1%2540redis%26bdata%3dJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%253d

%253d#AN=138066434&db=a9h. Accessed 06 Mar. 2022.

Milton, Joe. “How Country Music Has Changed and Why That’s Okay.” Beat, Create, Inc, 2019,

vocal.media/beat/how-country-music-has-changed-and-why-that-s-okay. Accessed 01

May 2022.

Neal, Jocelyn. “Five Myths about Country Music.” Washington Post, 27 Nov. 2019,

www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-country-music/

2019/11/27/bb8af2aa-1070-11ea-9cd7-a1becbc82f5e_story.html. Accessed 01 May 2022.

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Sanderson, Sertan. “How Country Music Is Taking over the World.” DW.COM, Deutsche Welle,

9 Mar. 2021, www.dw.com/en/how-country-music-is-taking-over-the-world/a-59058079.

Accessed 06 Mar. 2022.

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Background.” Depositphotos, Depositphotos, Inc,

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2022.

Weiner, Natalie. “Country Music Is Changing, in Spite of Itself.” Pitchfork, 9 Mar. 2021,

pitchfork.com/thepitch/country-music-is-changing-in-spite-of-itself. Accessed 03 Mar.

2022.