Les débuts (1933) | Country Music : une histoire populaire des Etats-Unis (1/9) | ARTE

Summary

Cette transcription raconte l'histoire d'un individu qui a déménagé à Nashville à 19 ans et a travaillé comme guide touristique au Country Music Hall of Fame. Cela lui a permis d'explorer profondément la musique country, en apprenant son histoire et en découvrant des influences diverses. Il décrit comment la musique country est un mélange d'éléments culturels variés, provenant de traditions africaines, européennes et américaines. L'histoire explore également les débuts de la musique country commerciale, mettant en lumière des figures emblématiques comme Fiddlin' John Carson et Jimmy Rogers, et l'impact de la radio et des enregistrements sur la popularité de ce genre musical.

Takeaways

• 🎸 Lors de son arrivée à Nashville à 19 ans, le narrateur a travaillé comme guide au Country Music Hall of Fame, ce qui lui a permis d'apprendre l'histoire de la musique country.
• 🎨 Le narrateur décrit une peinture de Thomas Hart Benton intitulée 'Sources de la musique country', représentant divers éléments de la culture américaine qui ont influencé la musique country.
• 🎶 La musique country est considérée comme la 'musique de l'âme' des blancs, racontant des histoires simples et honnêtes qui touchent profondément les gens.
• 🎤 Les thèmes récurrents de la musique country incluent l'amour, la trahison, la lutte, la boisson, les camionnettes et la famille, avec parfois des chansons traitant de la mort et de la violence.
• 📻 Le narrateur évoque l'impact de la radio et de la technologie sur la diffusion de la musique country, notamment les premières émissions de radio dans les années 1920.
• 🪕 La musique country est un mélange d'influences diverses, y compris les ballades irlandaises, les hymnes, les compositions de Tin Pan Alley, les spectacles de minstrels et le blues afro-américain.
• 🌄 Les sessions d'enregistrement de Bristol en 1927, dirigées par Ralph Peer, ont marqué un tournant décisif pour la musique country en découvrant des talents comme la famille Carter et Jimmie Rodgers.
• 🚂 Jimmie Rodgers, connu comme le 'chantant chef de train', a contribué de manière significative à la popularisation de la musique country avec son style unique mélangeant yodel et blues.
• 🌾 La famille Carter est reconnue pour avoir capturé et préservé les chansons traditionnelles des montagnes, formant la base de la musique country moderne.
• 🎼 La musique country continue d'évoluer et d'accueillir de nouveaux styles et artistes, tout en reflétant les expériences et les émotions des Américains ordinaires, en particulier pendant les périodes difficiles.

Q & A

Quelle a été la première occupation de la narratrice à Nashville?

Elle a travaillé comme guide touristique au Country Music Hall of Fame.

Quel était le tableau préféré de la narratrice au musée?

Son tableau préféré était 'The Sources of Country Music' de Thomas Hart Benton.

Pourquoi la narratrice considère-t-elle la musique country comme 'la musique de l'âme de l'homme blanc'?

Parce qu'elle croit que la musique country vient du cœur et de l'âme, et qu'elle exprime des émotions profondes.

Quels sont quelques thèmes communs dans les chansons country selon la narratrice?

L'amour, la trahison, la douleur, la lutte, la boisson, les camionnettes, et la famille.

Comment la musique country a-t-elle influencé la vie de John Carson?

John Carson a commencé à gagner de l'argent en jouant du violon lors de danses et à la radio, ce qui lui a permis de devenir célèbre et de faire des performances rémunérées.

Qu'est-ce que Ralph Pier a fait pour populariser la musique country?

Il a enregistré des artistes comme John Carson et a découvert de nouveaux talents, aidant ainsi à lancer la musique country sur le marché commercial.

Quel impact la radio WSB a-t-elle eu sur la carrière de John Carson?

La radio WSB a permis à John Carson de toucher un public plus large, augmentant ainsi sa popularité et ses opportunités de performance.

Pourquoi le terme 'hillbilly music' était-il controversé?

Parce que certains artistes le trouvaient péjoratif et offensant, même s'il aidait à vendre des disques.

Quels instruments sont mentionnés comme ayant des influences africaines dans la musique country?

Le banjo, qui vient d'Afrique, et le fiddle, qui a des influences britanniques et européennes.

Comment la famille Carter a-t-elle contribué au développement de la musique country?

La famille Carter a enregistré des chansons traditionnelles et a influencé de nombreux artistes futurs avec leurs enregistrements des années 1920.

Outlines

00:00

🎶 La bénédiction de Nashville

À 19 ans, en déménageant à Nashville, l'auteur trouve un emploi de guide touristique au Country Music Hall of Fame. Cette opportunité lui permet d'explorer profondément la musique country et d'étudier son histoire, notamment à travers la peinture 'Sources of Country Music' de Thomas Hart Benton. La musique country est décrite comme l'expression de l'âme blanche américaine, capable de s'adapter à toutes les émotions humaines.

05:02

🎻 Fiddlin' John Carson et l'émergence de la musique country

Dans les années 1920, Fiddlin' John Carson passe de joueur de violon amateur dans des danses locales à vedette radio grâce à WSB, la première station de radio du Sud. Carson devient rapidement une célébrité régionale et enregistre des disques populaires, démontrant un marché florissant pour la musique old-time.

10:04

🎼 Les racines africaines de la musique country

La musique country est influencée par une riche diversité culturelle, y compris les racines africaines. Les interactions musicales entre les Noirs et les Blancs dans le Sud des États-Unis sont essentielles à la formation du genre. Bien que les contributions afro-américaines aient souvent été oubliées professionnellement, leur impact reste indéniable.

15:07

📻 Les spectacles radiophoniques et l'essor de la musique country

Les spectacles radiophoniques des années 1920, tels que WLS à Chicago et WSM à Nashville, jouent un rôle crucial dans la popularisation de la musique country. Émissions comme le 'Grand Ole Opry' permettent à la musique country de toucher un public large et diversifié, renforçant ainsi la vente de disques et d'assurances.

20:07

🎤 L'impact de Ralph Peer et la naissance de la musique country commerciale

Ralph Peer, producteur chez Victor Talking Machine Company, adopte une approche innovante en offrant aux artistes une part des droits d'auteur. Il découvre des talents majeurs comme Ernest Stoneman, la Carter Family, et Jimmy Rogers, contribuant à l'essor de la musique country commerciale.

25:09

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 La famille Carter et l'enregistrement historique de Bristol

La Carter Family, composée de A.P. Carter, sa femme Sarah, et sa belle-sœur Maybelle, enregistre pour la première fois à Bristol en 1927. Leur musique, ancrée dans les ballades traditionnelles et les hymnes religieux, devient un pilier de la musique country.

30:09

🚂 Jimmy Rogers et le cheminement du chanteur vagabond

Jimmy Rogers, de Meridian, Mississippi, combine ses expériences de vie et influences musicales variées pour devenir une figure emblématique de la musique country. Ses chansons, souvent inspirées du blues afro-américain, captivent le public par leur authenticité et leur style unique de yodel.

35:10

🎤 Le succès et la carrière météorique de Jimmy Rogers

En enregistrant à Bristol avec Ralph Peer, Jimmy Rogers pose les bases de sa carrière florissante. Malgré la tuberculose, il continue de produire des hits et de se produire en public, marquant durablement l'industrie de la musique country.

40:10

💰 Les gains et les dépenses de Jimmy Rogers

Avec ses premiers succès, Jimmy Rogers commence à gagner des royalties importantes qu'il dépense rapidement en biens de luxe. Il devient une icône publique, incarnant l'esprit de la classe ouvrière tout en appréciant les fruits de sa célébrité.

45:13

🎬 Les derniers enregistrements et la fin tragique de Jimmy Rogers

En 1933, malgré une santé déclinante due à la tuberculose, Jimmy Rogers continue d'enregistrer et de se produire jusqu'à sa mort à l'âge de 35 ans. Son héritage perdure à travers ses nombreuses chansons réinterprétées par les générations suivantes.

50:14

🎙️ Le legs de Jimmy Rogers et l'évolution de la musique country

Après la mort de Jimmy Rogers, la musique country continue d'évoluer et de prospérer, influencée par les fondations posées par Rogers et la Carter Family. Leur impact se reflète dans les styles et les artistes qui suivent, assurant la pérennité de la musique country dans la culture américaine.

Keywords

💡Nashville

Nashville est la ville où l'orateur a déménagé à 19 ans et a commencé sa carrière dans l'industrie de la musique country. C'est un centre important pour la musique country, connu pour ses lieux emblématiques comme le Country Music Hall of Fame. Le script décrit comment le travail de guide touristique au musée a permis à l'orateur de s'immerger dans l'histoire de la musique country.

💡Country Music Hall of Fame

Le Country Music Hall of Fame est un musée situé à Nashville qui célèbre l'histoire de la musique country. Le narrateur y travaillait comme guide touristique, ce qui lui a permis d'apprendre en profondeur l'histoire de ce genre musical. Le musée contient des œuvres importantes, comme la dernière peinture de Thomas Hart Benton, 'The Sources of Country Music'.

💡Thomas Hart Benton

Thomas Hart Benton était un artiste dont la dernière peinture, 'The Sources of Country Music', est exposée au Country Music Hall of Fame. Cette peinture est significative pour le narrateur, qui la décrit comme une représentation visuelle proche de ce que la musique country incarne : colorée, énergique et imprégnée d'histoire.

💡Sources of Country Music

'The Sources of Country Music' est une peinture de Thomas Hart Benton exposée au Country Music Hall of Fame. Elle représente diverses influences de la musique country, telles que les danses de grange, les bateaux fluviaux, les chœurs gospel, et la fusion des cultures musicales africaines et européennes. Le narrateur la considère comme une illustration fidèle de la diversité et de la richesse de la musique country.

💡Harlon Howard

Harlon Howard était un célèbre auteur-compositeur de musique country qui a décrit ce genre musical comme étant 'trois accords et la vérité'. Cette phrase capture l'essence de la musique country selon le narrateur, mettant en avant la simplicité et l'authenticité des histoires racontées dans les chansons country.

💡WSB

WSB est la première station de radio du sud des États-Unis, basée à Atlanta. Elle a joué un rôle crucial dans la popularisation de la musique country en diffusant les performances d'artistes locaux comme 'Fiddlin' John Carson'. La radio a permis de toucher un public plus large et d'augmenter la visibilité des musiciens de country.

💡Ralph Peer

Ralph Peer était un producteur de musique influent qui a découvert des talents clés comme 'Fiddlin' John Carson, la Carter Family, et Jimmie Rodgers. Il a enregistré de nombreux artistes de musique country, contribuant à la commercialisation et à la diffusion de ce genre musical. Peer est connu pour avoir introduit des pratiques commerciales innovantes, comme le partage des royalties avec les artistes.

💡Fiddlin' John Carson

'Fiddlin' John Carson était un musicien de country dont les enregistrements ont été parmi les premiers succès commerciaux du genre. Découvert par Ralph Peer, il a contribué à établir la popularité de la musique country grâce à ses performances à la radio et à ses enregistrements. Il est devenu un symbole de l'authenticité et des racines rurales de la musique country.

💡Hillbilly Music

Le terme 'Hillbilly Music' était utilisé pour décrire la musique country à ses débuts, bien que certains artistes trouvaient ce terme péjoratif. Il reflète les racines rurales et la simplicité des artistes et de leur musique, mais a aussi été utilisé de manière condescendante par les médias. Le terme a néanmoins contribué à la commercialisation et à la popularité de la musique country.

💡Grand Ole Opry

Le Grand Ole Opry est une émission de radio emblématique basée à Nashville qui a débuté en 1925. Elle a joué un rôle crucial dans la promotion de la musique country et a aidé à lancer les carrières de nombreux artistes. Le Grand Ole Opry est devenu un symbole de la musique country et un lieu de rassemblement pour les fans et les musiciens.

Highlights

Moving to Nashville at 19 and working as a tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame provided valuable exposure to country music history.

The painting 'Sources of Country Music' by Thomas Hart Benton vividly depicts the diverse origins of country music.

Country music's themes cover a wide range of emotions and experiences, including love, hardship, and everyday life.

Country music is described as 'three chords and the truth,' emphasizing its straightforward and honest storytelling.

John Carson, a Georgia factory worker, became a key figure in early country music through his performances on Atlanta's WSB radio station.

Ralph Pier's decision to record John Carson in 1923 marked a significant moment in the commercialization of country music.

The interplay between African-American and white musical traditions is a foundational element of country music.

The term 'hillbilly music' emerged in the 1920s as a marketing label for country music, despite its derogatory connotations.

Radio stations, like WLS in Chicago and WSM in Nashville, played crucial roles in popularizing country music through programs like the National Barn Dance and the Grand Ole Opry.

Ralph Pier's Bristol sessions in 1927, featuring acts like the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, were pivotal in shaping the future of country music.

The Carter Family's recordings are considered foundational, with their simple, timeless melodies and heartfelt lyrics.

Jimmie Rodgers' blend of blues and yodeling introduced a unique sound that greatly influenced future country music artists.

Jimmie Rodgers' life and career, marked by constant movement and personal struggles, resonate with themes of adventure and hardship in country music.

The impact of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family on country music is profound, inspiring countless artists across generations.

The evolving industry of country music continues to reflect the experiences and emotions of everyday Americans, maintaining its relevance and appeal.

Transcripts

[Music]

when I first moved to Nashville I was 19

I was too young to wait

tables so I got a job as a tour guide at

the Country Music Hall of

Fame and it turned out to be such a

blessing because I got I got to listen

to so much music all day every day I got

to I it was my job to learn the history

of country music we had this painting in

the museum called the sources of country

music the last painting of Thomas Hart

Benton I had to tell people about it I

hung out with this painting a lot

looking at his painting is like looking

at an old friend for me so it shows the

barn dances it shows the railroad river

boats the gospel

choirs the lap dlers

and the

fiddles and it shows the Cowboys and the

banjo coming from Africa and the slaves

and how all of this came

together it's just a beautiful thing to

look at because it's the it's the

closest thing visually really to what

country music sounds

like it's so colorful there's so much

energy in

[Music]

it well well to me it's Soul music it's

uh probably the white man's Soul

music and it comes from the

heart I believe that you can go look and

find a country song to fit any mood

you're

in any song uh that will help you feel

better sometime it might make you cry

but you'll feel better you can find that

song that's what I

believe love and chea and Hur and

fighting drink and pickup trucks and

mother you also have to hand in there a

few uh death murder Mayhem suicide you

know songs you know that are

real I think it's just simple ways of

telling stories experiencing and

expressing

feelings you can dance to it you can cry

to it you can make love to it you can

play it at a funeral you can it's just

really has something in it for everybody

and people relate to

it it's about those things that we

believe in but we can't see like dreams

and songs and

souls they're hanging around here and

different songwriters reach up and get

them country music comes from right in

here this heart and soul that we all

have it's great music that really hits

us because we're all

human country music the songwriter

harlon Howard said is three chords and

the

truth truth telling which country music

at its best is truth-telling even when

it's a big fat

lie it's what American folk music has

come to be called when it followed the

path of um of the fiddle and the

banjo all of American music comes from

the same place it's just sort of where

it ends up and country music is one of

the

[Music]

destinations

[Music]

oh

yeah

[Music]

country by the early 1920s a Georgia

factory worker named John Carson had

been playing the fiddle for nearly

nearly 40 years ever since his

grandfather first gave him one at age

10 although music was his passion he had

to support his growing family working in

one of Atlanta's textile mills making

$10 a week for 660 hours of

labor but on Saturday nights in the

crowded Factory neighborhoods Carson and

his friends started to make a little

extra money playing at Square dances for

families who had migrated from their

Farms to Atlanta now one of the South's

biggest cities now I got no money

no fidlin John Carson soon began

appearing wherever an audience could be

found store openings and farm auctions

Confederate Veterans reunions and

political events ranging from kluck's

Clan Gatherings to a rally in support of

a communist

organizer in 1922 Carson's audience

expanded again thanks to a new

technology the Atlanta Journal began

operating the South's first radio

station whose call letters

WSB stood for welcome South

brother anyone who could sing whistle

recite play any kind of instrument or

merely breathe heavily was pushed in

front of the WSB microphone

none of the talent was paid but that

made no difference they trooped to WSB

to

perform and a many stayed home to

listen the radio exposure brought Carson

invitations to play at paid performances

in Country School houses and Small Town

Theaters throughout the

region until I began to play over WSB

just a few people in and around Atlanta

to new me but now my wife thinks she's a

widow most of the time because I stay

away from home so much playing around

over this part of the

country radio made

me but an older technology would now

bring Carson and his kind of music to

even more

people by age 31 Ralph Pier had risen

through the ranks of the new general

phonograph company

in June of 1923 Pier brought ok's

Engineers to

Atlanta but after recording two female

blue singers and a quartet from

Morehouse College he was introduced to

radio station wsb's new celebrity fidlin

John

Carson Pier was reluctant to record

Carson at first uncertain a market even

existed for oldtime music a year earlier

Texas Fiddler e Robertson had recorded

two songs for the powerful Victor

Talking Machine Company but they had not

sold

will Ralph Pier decided to take a chance

on fiddlin John he recorded Carson

playing an old Minstrel song The Little

Old Log Cabin in the lane romanticizing

slave

Life fidlin John Carson comes up to the

microphone and grabs his fiddle and he

busts right into a tune that he's known

all his

life I'm getting old and and I can work

no more my rusty bladed hole I've laid

to

rest all master and mistress are lying

side by side and Spirits now are roing

in the

way about the now and the dark as they

have gone

in Atlanta the record sold like hot

[Music]

cakes here realized that there was

another segment of America predominantly

white workingclass Southerners eager to

buy recordings of Music they were

familiar

with Ralph Pier began looking for other

artists like fidlin on and soon

proclaimed in an advertisement that ok

had uncovered a brand new field for

record sales and offered oldtime pieces

that were setting off he said a craze

for this hill country

[Music]

music by the 1920s slavery had been

abolished for more than half a century

but segregation was still rigidly

enforced in every aspect of life except

kep in the music that kept crossing the

racial

divide Through the Ages blacks imitating

whites imitating blacks imitating

whites you have the banjo which comes

from Africa and you have the fiddle

which comes from the British aisles and

from

Europe and when they meet they meet in

the American South and that's the big

bang African-American style was embedded

in country music from the very beginning

of its commercial

history you can't conceive of this music

existing without this African-American

infusion but then but as the music

developed professionally too often

African-Americans were forgotten country

music wasn't called that yet but it was

music of the country it was a

combination of the Irish the recently

freed slaves bringing the banjo into the

world the Spanish effects of the V down

in

Texas the Germans bringing over the

Oompa of pocco music all

converging sprouting from so many roots

old ballads and hymns tin pen alley

compositions minstral shows and

African-American Blues the music Ralph

pier and his competitors had begun

recording in the

1920s was hard to categorize or

precisely

Define but for marketing reasons the

companies needed a name for it in 1925

Ralph Pier recorded a spirited String

Band fronted by Al Hopkins in New York

City as they were leaving he asked what

name he should use for them in his

advertising Hopkins answered call us

anything we're nothing but a a bunch of

hillbillies from North Carolina and

Virginia Pier had the name he

needed soon magazines and newspapers

were referring to the entire style as

hillbilly music not every artist

appreciated the term or the way they

were often portrayed as quaint and

quirky Backwoods ha seeds the editor of

variety magazine described Hillbillies

as illiterate and ignorant poor white

trash with the intelligence of

morons hillbilly was not a funny word

one musician said it was a fighting

word it doesn't offend us hbes it's our

music but if you're an outsider and

you're saying it's hillbilly music cuz

you don't know any better it's almost

like a racist

remark if we're Hillbillies we're proud

of that but you're not allowed to say it

if you don't really know what you're

talking about or mean it but as long as

it helped sell record records many

performers were fine with it including

fidlin John Carson who had already

adopted the Persona of a country bumpkin

from North Georgia rather than the

former Atlanta mill worker he really

[Music]

was radio was

exploding there were now hundreds of

stations in every corner of the country

and to attract more listeners they all

borrowed from one of the oldest

traditions of mixing music and commerce

the traveling Medicine

Show in a medicine show you come into

town you set up in the town square and

you hawk an

Elixir you've got this remedy and you

pass out hand bills and you take

personal testimonials from Paid dudes

out there in the audience and they tell

you about how how wonderful they feel

how their dropsy went away and and how

their their sores and festering wounds

have healed because of this corn whiskey

this snake oil so you've got your

product and music is only there to push

your product music is just like the Soap

Box you stand on it's all about the

message and radio Amplified that the

radio changed

everything shenendoa Iowa had two radio

stations owned by competing Seed

stores they staged fiddle contests and

live music from groups named the

cornfield canaries and the seed house

girls in between pitches for their

products sales skyrocketed and before

long Shan andoa population 5,000 was

flooded with visitors from all over the

Midwest who wanted to watch the

broadcast in in person prompting both

companies to build ornate auditoriums

arcade shops a miniature golf course and

tourist cabins to accommodate the

crowds but they were soon eclipsed by

Sears robuk in Chicago which launched

station WLS for the world's largest

store on Saturday night April 19th

1924 WLS premiered a new show The

National barn dance it was modeled after

a square dance program already popular

in Fort Worth but the Chicago show

quickly became the biggest of its kind

in the

nation meanwhile in Nashville Tennessee

the success of stations like Chicago's

WLS and Atlanta's WSB caught the

attention of Edwin Craig the son of the

founder of National Life and Accident

Insurance Company radio station he

believed might prove an effective way to

help the company's 2500 salesmen Who

Sold lowcost sickness and burial

policies door too to working class

families in more than 20

States Edwin Craig's father was against

it my grandfather thought it was a waste

of money and time we are in the

insurance business and that's what we

should do but Edwin said oh dead let me

show you that this can sell

insurance the whole idea was to sell

insurance with his father's reluctant

permission Craig set up a studio on the

fifth floor of the company's downtown

office building with thick carpets and

pleated drapes hung from the ceiling to

improve the Acoustics they began

broadcasting on October 5th

1925 with the call letters

WSM we Shield

millions and that became the logo of the

station and it was built around a

shield we Shield

Millions Craig recruited the personable

George D hay from WLS and made him wsm's

program director though only 30 years

old hay called himself the solemn old

judge and often punctuated his

broadcasts by blowing on a wooden

Riverboat

whistle on November 28th

1925 George Haye invited an elderly

musician named Uncle Jimmy Thompson a

fiddler since before the Civil War to

perform on the

air he called his instrument old Betsy

which he said had been passed down from

his ancestors in Scotland and that night

played for a solid

hour the response persuaded hay to

schedule a regular Saturday night barn

dance on WSM using local talent willing

to work for

free within a few weeks the barn dance

had a new name the grand o

opri it would eventually become the

longest running show on American radio

and it was doing exactly what Edwin

Craig had intended reaching a far-flung

audience to help National Life sales

force hello Miss Jones I'm from the

grand old opera can I come in a few

minutes and talk to you about some

insurance your Saturday night shindig

has got my floors down to the second

Plank and I'm afraid someone will drop

through on my barrel of

preserves would you please send one of

your agents down here to ensure my

carpets floors shoes and everything

thing in connection with the

household George

[Music]

bring to Pier hillbilly music and the

blues shared common Roots but as a

businessman he was less interested in

music history and Theory than in

profits and by July of

1927 he was enjoying plenty of

them he had left his job with okay and

joined the biggest record in label in

the nation the Victor Talking Machine

Company after making them an

unprecedented offer he would work for no

salary if he could control the

copyrights of the songs and collect the

publishing

royalties then he offered his artists

something equally

unprecedented rather than buying the

copyrights outright for a nominal fee

and keeping all the royalties as most

Publishers did he would share a portion

of future royalties with them if they

had written the

song he called it a square deal one that

had been denied artists in the past and

many of his musicians were lured by the

incentive to follow him to

Victor among them was Ernest pop

Stoneman a carpenter from the Blue Ridge

section of Southwest Virginia near the

town of

GX when Stoneman had heard some of the

early hillbilly recordings in

1924 he told his wife he could sing

better than that and went to New York to

prove it on Monday

morning

[Music]

1:00 his recording for pier of the

sinking of the Titanic became one of the

biggest hits of the

day soon he was Victor's top hillbilly

artist and making enough money to buy

some land and build a new home for his

wife and growing family which would

eventually number 23

children Pier wanted to make more

recordings of Stoneman Stoneman

suggested that Pier come to him and

bring his equipment to nearby Bristol a

city which satisi the Virginia Tennessee

Border he promised that the region was

home to plenty of other

that would make the trip

worthwhile Ralph Pier had been

corresponding with pop Stoneman who said

you need to come to Bristol so that we

can capture some of this lightning in a

bottle this sound that was coming out of

the hills around GX

[Music]

Virginia pier and two Engineers arrived

in Bristol in Late July

1927 and set up up their temporary

Studio on the second floor of a vacant

building a former hat company on the

Tennessee side of Bristol's Main

Street they were using new equipment now

which greatly improved the Fidelity of

the sound an electric carbon microphone

instead of a horn that permitted

performers to sing with greater intimacy

rather than shouting to be

heard all of the equipment except the

microphone would be hidden from the

artist Stoneman and his group laid down

10 tracks but much more important to

Ralph pier and to the future of country

music would be the two acts that showed

up in Bristol the next week three

members of a family from nearby Macy

Springs Virginia named the

Carters and a former railroad Breakman

from Meridian Mississippi Jimmy Rogers

success Pier once said is the art of

Being where lightning is going to

strike it was about to strike for him

twice and in the same

location the only thing missing in the

newspaper add to me was bring your songs

bring bring your talent to the

microphones to audition whatever and

they should have added we're going to

start an industry now because that's

what

happened

The Carter family were

Elemental

coming EO the

wood it's like you know it was the atam

it was it was the beginning of the

building blocks for the rest of us and

um those first recordings uh and those

songs they were captured rather than

written

you know they they were in the

Hills like rock

formations so in 1927 those first

Bristol recordings these songs that were

part of the collective unconscious were

gathered together documented

forever with these plaintive voices and

these Elemental

guitars the Bedrock was formed for the

rest of us

Alvin Pleasant Carter was 35 years old

that summer of

1927 trying to make ends meet in the

southwest corner of Virginia in one of

the state's most impoverished counties

in an area called poor

Valley AP had been born with a paly a

slight shaking in his hands and

sometimes in his voice that his mother

blamed on a lightning bolt that had

struck the ground next to her just

before his birth although his schooling

ended when he was 10 he had learned to

play the fiddle and read the shape note

song books used in the local Methodist

Church impressing people with his Rich

Bas

voice he took a job selling fruit tree

saplings rambling for miles on foot from

Farm to

farm in

1914 after Crossing clinch Mountain to

find customers on the more erous side

called Rich Valley he heard a young

woman's clear and deep voice singing

nearby it caught his interest so did the

singer

herself Sarah Dar was barely 16 at the

time and steeped in Old Mountain ballads

and gospel

hymns a year later they

married AP brought her by wagon to a two

room cabin in poor Valley later building

a more proper home in the foothills of

clinch Mountain not far from Macy's

spring as Restless as he was ambitious

AP would be gone for weeks at a time

over the next 10 years selling his trees

while leaving Sarah to care for their

children tend the crops chop firewood

and handle all the responsibility ities

of a mountain home without his

help when he was home they sang at

church

Gatherings after one man gave Sarah $10

because he said she had the prettiest

voice I ever heard AP got the notion

they might make a little money with

their

music in 1926 a scout for the Brunswick

label appeared in the region he was

looking for a singing Fiddler and

suggested putting Sarah in the

background because he said a woman in

the lead could never be popular AP

wouldn't

agree instead he added another woman to

the group a younger cousin of Sarah's

named mayel Addington a shy teenager who

had learned to play the banjo from her

mother as well as the auto harp then she

took up the guitar and mastered

it when Maybel married ap's brother eard

the couple moved to a two-story house

less than a mile from AP and Sarah's

home in Late July of

1927 AP heard about Ralph Pier's Bristol

sessions and announced they were going

the women were reluctant at first Sarah

was still nursing her third child and

mayel now 18 was

pregnant e was against it too since his

wife was so far along but AP was

insistent persuading e to lend him his

car by promising to weed his brother's

cornfield in

exchange it took them all day to make

the 26 miles to

Bristol the next morning August 1st

1927 they auditioned for

pier as soon as I heard Sarah's voice he

recalled that was it

I knew it was going to be

[Music]

wonderful that evening the Carters

returned to record four songs beginning

with Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow an

old tune Sarah and mayel had known all

their

lives although AP hadn't written the

original Pier considered his arrangement

of it and the others they played

different enough for Carter to claim a

composer's credit

and permitting Pier to be the

[Music]

publisher I'm in

sorrow for the only one I

love when shall he see me oh no never

till we Meet in Heaven

[Music]

above and so simple right it means it's

like you've heard the melody a million

times that's one of the songs it feels

like it's always

existed if Taylor Swift or Carrie

Underwood or whoever the hottest girl of

the moment is wants to know where they

come from they need to go all the way

back to the voice of Sarah

Carter cuz she was the first one it's

Sarah then there's been everybody else

it's that

simple far as guitar playing goes

there's May Bel then there's everybody

else that's the Genesis of it

all we made it home Sarah remembered and

never thought no more about it we never

dreamed about the record business

turning out the way it did AP started

work hoing his brother's cornfield just

as he'

promised meanwhile back in Bristol Pier

was about to record someone else who

would also change hillbilly music

forever around the water tanks waiting

for a

somebody told me a story one time about

Red Foley and Bob Wills and Ernest tub

they got together one time and they were

all big Jimmy Rogers fan they said could

we could we agree on our favorite

10 top 10 Jimmy Rogers songs and they

said well said after a lot of debate and

talk said they couldn't get it down less

than

50 James Charles Rogers from Meridian

Mississippi was still a month shy of his

30th birthday in August of

1927 but he had already packed several

lifetimes into those years most of them

spent in constant

motion his mother had died by the time

he was six and his father who quickly

remarried was often absent working as a

foreman for the New Orleans and

Northeastern

railroad little Jimmy ended up in the

care of a spinster Aunt who was Charmed

by his irrepressible good humor and

indulged his adventurous Spirit he

started skipping Sunday school then

School itself preferring instead to

shoot dice with the Sho shine boys at a

local barber shop listen to traveling

salesman swap stories or haunt

meridian's theaters that offered silent

movies between Vaudeville

acts he picked up the mandal ly then the

banjo then the guitar won an amateur

contest singing Bill Bailey won't you

please come home and at age 13 ran away

for a while with a traveling Medicine

Show before his father retrieved him in

Alabama and put him to work as a water

boy for the railroads mostly black Crews

who laid and maintained the

tracks just look at the train yards

north or

southbound you can almost see and hear

Rogers and those characters that he

worked with in those

[Music]

yards and you can hear the music of

Mississippi you can hear the music of

the Old South being sung to

him almost like those field chants or

you know the labor camps or when they

were dragged

TI you can absolutely see how Jimmy

Rogers took it all

in Ho Hey

hey hey hey ho

hey off and on for the next decade he

held a series of railroad jobs flagman

baggage man and then a Breakman On The

Run between Mississippi and New

Orleans but it was never steady

work he married at age 19 was separated

in less than a year hobo around the

country then came back to Meridian and

in 1920 after his divorce came through

married Carrie Williamson the

17-year-old daughter of a Methodist

preacher 9 months later she gave birth

to

Anita when he wasn't working Jimmy

loafed around pool rooms and Rail Yards

when he was working his paychecks

quickly disappeared on tickets to shows

on every photograph record he could buy

and on a men's perfume he had discovered

in New Orleans orans black narcissus

whose scent he thought masked the harsh

smell of railroad

fumes his pockets all had holes in them

any money that went into them went right

on out

again he always declared that money was

no good until after you'd spent it then

it was good for it had furnished you and

those around you with the good things of

Life hey

it was chicken one day feathers the next

Carrie remembered but it seemed that our

chickens were mostly all

feathers Rogers joined another Traveling

Show in

1923 performing some blues numbers he'd

picked up but it was cut short when he

got called home after his and car's

six-month-old second daughter

[Music]

died a year later came more bad news

working once more for the railroad

Rogers developed a hacking cough carry

noticed Flex of blood in his

handkerchief a doctor diagnosed the

problem it was

tuberculosis at the time the leading

cause of death in the United States

there was no known

cure

sleep on the afternoon of August 4th

1927 Jimmy Rogers entered Ralph Pier

makeshift

Studio I liked him the first time I saw

him Pier

recalled Rogers sang only two tunes that

day the soldier sweetheart and Sleep

Baby

Sleep he assured Pier that with a little

more time he could come up with a lot

more then he left

town while Angels watch

during his two weeks in Bristol Pier

recorded more than two dozen performing

acts a few of them would go on to have

long careers in the music

business most would soon be

forgotten but by discovering the Carter

family and Jimmy Rogers Ralph Pier had

set the future of Country Music in

Motion I think Jimmy Rogers represent Ed

the rambling side of country

music the desire to hit the road leave

responsibilities behind to go and

experience the

world the Carter family on the other

hand embodied the sanctity of the home

and of the family particularly mother

who kept the home

together and those have been two

important impulses in country music ever

since sort of the reverse size of of the

same

coin

that November shortly after his first

recording had been released Rogers

showed up unannounced in New York City

with only $10 in his pocket he checked

into an expensive hotel showed the desk

clerk a copy of his new record and

brashley told him to charge everything

to the Victor

Company then he called Ralph Pier to say

he was ready for another

session among the four sides Rogers

recorded a few days later was one he had

strung together from a mixture of songs

he had heard over the years a standard

12 Bar Blues Melody with snatches of

borrowed lyrics that introduced Thelma

that gal that made a wreck out of me but

bragged I can get more women than a

passenger train can

haul then warned I'm going to buy me a

pistol just as long as I'm tall

and I'm going to shoot poor Thelma just

to see her jump and

fall to it he added what he called a

blue yodel something he had been

developing that also Drew from Deep

Roots the Alpine yodel that became

popular in America in the

1840s then were adapted by black and

blackface minstral singers at the turn

of the

century Jimmy Rogers was conflating the

blue

with the rural white experience and

sound and I think this went on a

lot we just don't see it until he showed

up and of course he had that little

[Music]

yodel and uh people hadn't really heard

that

before he was tacking yles onto just

about everything Carrie remembered even

his share of conversation around the

house was largely

yodel Pier released the new song Under

the title blue yodel in the spring of

1928 it was an immediate

[Music]

hit we had songs that spoken the

language they understood about subject

matter they

understood he had this wonderful ear and

this wonderful

voice and his delivery was

totally totally unheard

of I think it came out of the the black

blues and mixed him with with his yodel

and they called him the blue

[Music]

Yoder Rogers had even greater success

with a song recorded in a third session

also derived from africanamerican blues

and Jug Band musicians he's in the jail

house

now we get to go to the other side of

the tracks when we buy Jimmy Rogers

records we're able to go to those Juke

joints that we're not invited

to whether we know it or not that's

where the appeal

is in the

now in

the by Midsummer of 1928 with the

release of more songs Breakman blues and

the number peer entitled blue total

number two royalties started pouring in

$1,000 a month which Rogers spent as

quickly as they

arrived he paid $1,500 for the Jimmy

Rogers special a personalized Martin

guitar with gold inlay his name spelled

out in mother of pearl on the neck and

the word thanks in blazed on the

back he began a tour of major theaters

and auditoriums in the South making $500

a week sometimes appearing in his

railroad outfit and billing himself as

the singing

Breakman in Miami appearing before a

huge International men's bible class he

admitted he didn't know any church songs

so he sang in the jail housee now and

the racy Frankie and Johnny

instead they gave him a standing

ovation

then he made a triumphant return to

Meridian arriving in a shiny new car

wearing expensive clothes and diamond

rings and making a public point of

paying off his old

debts he talked about us he was our

representative as country people he was

our

[Music]

ambassador he was a rogue just like the

rest of

us he had hard times just like the rest

of

us but we appreciated him dressing up in

his cool clothes and driving his fancy

car and talking about us country

people he represented as

well Rogers added a string of personal

appearances and autograph sessions at

local music stores and caroused with old

friends despite his increasing

exhaustion

each performance left him weaker

dripping in sweat and gasping for breath

one night he blacked out

backstage a doctor told him that without

proper rest he wouldn't live more than

another year or

two instead Rogers booked himself on

another tour and another recording

session Ralph Pier now began

experimenting with new orchestrations

and styles for his star Jazz ensembles

small orchestras africanamerican jug

bands ukuleles Champion whistlers or

simply musicians Jimmy Rogers happen to

have met the day before a recording

session Pier said he could record

anything it didn't matter to him where

the music came from it didn't matter to

him what the style was that he that he

played I I think he he was willing to do

whatever was uh commercial whatever

would would would uh catch the attention

of of listeners to help him come up with

more songs that could be copyrighted

Rogers had enlisted car's sister Elsie

McWilliams a Sunday School music teacher

with a gift for turning an overheard

phrase or random incident into a Melody

with

lyrics Jimmy couldn't read musical

notations crazy little fly specs with

funny Tales he called them so she often

came to teach her new compositions to

him in person in all Elsie McWilliams

would write or contribute to more than a

third of Rogers recorded

songs Rogers had relocated to Texas

whose dry climate had attracted several

sanitariums for treating

tuberculosis in his new surroundings he

became the yodeling

Cowboy inspiring a generation of

followers to believe that all Cowboys

not only sang but

yodel sure I'll give her that old guitar

out of there in the fall of

1929 Pier brought Rogers to a studio in

Camden New Jersey to make a short

talking

picture many music Executives saw the

talkies as a threat to live performances

Pier saw them as another opportunity for

his star to become better

known

around tanks Wai a

train a th miles away from home sleeping

in the

rain oh my pocket book is empty my heart

is full of pain I'm a th miles away from

home waiting for a train

[Music]

the on May 14th

1933 Rogers arrived in New York City and

checked into the same hotel near Time

Square where he had stayed back in

1927 when he was a complete

unknown as always he was worried about

money and wanted to go back into the

studio Ralph Pier was shocked at at his

appearance and insisted he rest a few

days before starting his recording

session on May 17th in the Victor Studio

he began the way he had started his

recording career just himself and his

guitar I've been away just a year to day

but soon I will cease to wrong in two

long difficult days he laid down six

songs

home the tuberculosis was shredding his

lungs and he was heavily sedated for the

pain sipping whiskey to clear his throat

between

takes the engineers had to carry him to

his cab after the second afternoon and

he rested for two days before returning

to record two more songs propped up by

pillows in an easy chair in front of the

microphone on May 24th

he felt strong enough to stand at the

microphone and performed four songs

resting on a c in the rehearsal room

between each take soon I'll be

[Music]

back for

old with the session over Rogers felt

reinvigorated he took in Coney Island

the next day had hot dogs for lunch

drank a glass of newly legalized 3.2

beer and napped in the

Sun but that night back at his hotel

fits of coughing swept through him and

he began hemorrhaging bright red spots

onto his

pillows early in the morning of May 26th

1933 Jimmy Rogers died drowning in his

own

blood he was only 35 years

old his career had lasted less than 6

years but in that time Jimmy Rogers had

recorded more than a hundred songs many

of which would be re-recorded for

Generations by other artists as proof

that they were staying true to the

music's

Roots Jimmy Rogers started it

all without Jimmy Rogers there would be

no Bob Wills without Jimmy Rogers there

would be no Hank Williams Jimmy Rogers

there would who knows um he was it his

songs never go away generation after

generation Bob Dillan recorded them whan

recorded them Johnny Cash recorded him

Dolly

paron everybody that is anybody has

recorded a Jimmy Roger

song the songs keep coming at

you he set the pace for people like

Ernest tub people like Hank Williams

people like

me and uh just a

whole big section of country music

wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for

Jimmy

Rogers in the years that followed the

music that Jimmy Rogers The Carter

family and others had made would

continue to evolve continue to welcome

new musicians and styles

continue to grow as an industry and

continue to reflect the experiences of

everyday

Americans especially during the hard

times

ahead

Mississippi

and

[Music]

you well good

morning

and

[Music]

Captain good morning to you sir hey

hey do you need another

[Music]

mun hey

[Music]

[Applause]

hey

[Music]

I'm

[Music]

lady

heyy

[Music]

good my hey hey I'm think of it I want

to be amus

[Music]

skin