The following includes a summary of Keith Negus’ chapter called’ The Corporation, Country Culture and the Communities of Musical Production’.
Throughout this blog site the history of Country Music has been looked at on a number of occasions. However, I do want to bring it up again this time to discuss how technology has effected the emergence of the genre and the cyclical changes Country Music has seen over the years. According to Negus (1999) Country Music can be traced back to the movement of people from Scotland, Ireland and Northern England to the ‘new world’ and their subsequent meeting with the musical styles of African-Americans and immigrants from other parts of Europe. The music that resulted was known as ‘country cutlure’ and ‘Hillbilly style’. Country Music operated as a commercial business long before the modern recording industry and radio broadcasting was around to produce and distribute music. The introduction of new technologies such as the radio and phonograph did however offer a new way of cultural production and communication. ‘These new forms of technological mediation were used together as a way of discovering, refining, modifying, organizing and ultimately bringing about the standardisation of country music’. (Negus, 1999, p. 104). Radio and Phonograph allowed country music to be widely distributed and the first country records date from the 1920’s. Performers such as Jimmie Rogers, who was known as the father of country music, brought popular appeal to the music and it was seen as more than ‘ethnic’ regional music. His commercial success, that was during a time economic hardship in America, was evidence that country music was both creative and a commercial phenomenon. The radio performance event ‘ The Grand Ole Opry’ was of crucial importance to Country Music. It was a radio variety show and helped to form the link between country music and the city of Nashville. Studios, label offices and promotional teams were set up in Nashville.
After the introduction of radio came sound in the cinema. It was important for the dissemination of Country Music and also helped to form the western and cowboy images adopted by performers.
During the 1960’s the entire US music industry underwent a period of corporization that involved a number of merges and takeovers. By the 1970’s country music was incorporated into an expanding and controlling music industry. Changes occured in music radio and cross-overs began occuring. Artists including Olivia Newton John, Ann Murray and John Denver moved from the country charts to pop charts and back again.
It is suggested that country music reached one of its lowest points with the Film ‘Urban Cowboy’, featuring John Travolta. According to critics the film threatened to reduce country music to ‘a little more than superficial pastiche’.
However, just a few years later country music was booming. This was due to rock influenced music and music videos. Artists like Garth Brooks who performed stage shows similar to rock tradition and Shania Twain who used sexy pop glamour marketing techniques in her videos. With the pop charts declining and country music having more stations than any other genre of music, newspapers were proclaiming that country music would become the new mainstream and Nashville would be as significant as Los Angeles. Yet, this was not to happen. 1994 was the peak of Country Music and 95 to 96 were seen as the levelling off period. Sales began to fall again by 1997. This boom was in many ways was the latest stage of the county music cycle.
The Book was written in 1999 so I believe that Country Music is still going through the cyclical stage and maybe soon we’ll see another boom for this genre.
Negus, K. (1999). ‘Music Genres and Corporate Cultures’, Routledge, London.
By Rachelle Fenning
