"If it sounds Country, man, that's what it is - a Country song." - Kris Kristofferson.

"That ain't no part of nothing." - Bill Monroe.

1). MURDER ON MUSIC ROW?

Dale Watson, George Strait and Alan Jackson record songs extolling the virtues of "traditional" country music. Shania Twain and Faith Hill ditch steel guitars and record emotional beat ballads and up tempo rock songs, performing at stadiums normally associated with acts like the Rolling Stones. Garth Brookes plays at ear shattering volume, incorporating athletics and pyrotechnics without once losing his cowboy hat. Bands such as the Cowboy Junkies and the Be Good Tanyas, who at one time would have found a home with Greenwich Village folkies, find their records filed under Country. Wilco and the Handsome Family, who combine the aesthetics of Country music and Rock, are labelled as "Americana" along with country roots rockers like Steve Earle and "new traditionalists" such as Iris DeMent and Gillian Welch.

Meanwhile, Dolly Parton, after a flirtation with pop music, has been playing acoustic mountain music on her recent albums; Willie Nelson continues to experiment with different genres, including reggae and jazz; and prior to his tragic death Johnny Cash was working with a rock producer and including in his repertoire songs made famous by punk and post-punk artists.

Country music publications, musicians, radio and record company executives and fans continually debate the state of Country music, asking questions such as: is real Country music a thing of the past? have artists and Country radio sold out? are Pop artists jumping on the bandwagon to gain airplay? And so on.

We have been here before: the Urban Cowboys in the 1980s; Country-Rock in the 1970s; the Nashville Sound in the 1960s; Rockabilly in the 1950s; Western Swing in the 1940s. So what is country music? And why is it that each generation appears to revisit similar controversies?

The answer to both questions lies in the fact that there is no such thing as "pure" Country music: the genre has always been a hybrid, bringing together the best from a wide variety of sources.

2). LET'S ALL HELP THE COWBOYS SING THE BLUES.

The United States is essentially a country of immigrants. Over 300 hundred years or so, its native population has been decimated, and the world the Native American inhabited has hardly existed for some time. Each new wave of immigrants brought its own music: songs and traditions from Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Spain, Germany and other parts of Europe; the music the African slaves bought with them; the religious music from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other spiritual traditions - all of these found their way into the very heart of the country.

Although segregation and ghettos were a fact of life for many years in America, music seemed to find a way to transcend these barriers. For example, on the cattle ranges, freed Black slaves, Mexicans of Spanish origin, emigrants from Scotland and others all worked together, ate together, fought (and often died) together, and sang together. Songs would be shared, and verses and tunes would be "borrowed."

Most of the songs we associate with the cowboy are either songs that have their roots in Europe (e.g. "Streets of Laredo") or romanticised music with its roots in the myths created by Hollywood: the casual listener would probably be unaware of just how many black people worked as cowboys, and much of their music has either been lost or been assimilated into Country music. Yet approximately one quarter of cowboys were black. The great black folk-blues singer and songwriter, Leadbelly (Hudie Leadbetter) had some cowboy songs in his repertoire, including the excellent "When I Was A Cowboy (Western Plains)." The chorus of this song is the familiar:

"Come a cow, cow, yippy, come a cow, cow, yippy yippy, ay"

while the verses take the listener on a tour of the Western plains that incorporates Jessie James, Buffalo Bill and the burning of a rancher's home.

After the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, there were very few jobs that were open to the former slaves. The low-status and dangerous occupation of cowboy was one of the few. Like former Scottish drovers, many of the freed slaves had inherited droving skills from their (or their forefathers') work with cattle in African countries such as Gambia.

Western songs remain a major theme in Country music, and many contemporary Country stars sport stetsons and cowboy boots. This key genre of Country music was heavily influenced by Celtic, Spanish and Black music. Ultimately, out of this hybrid comes all the great Country cowboy songs. Texan-Jewish Country singer and songwriter Kinky Friedman takes this process into interesting areas with his powerful "Ride 'Em Jewboy" which combines the imagery of the "Wild West" with the holocaust in Nazi Germany:

"Ride, ride 'em Jewboy,
Ride 'em all around the old corral.
I'm, I'm with you boy,
If I've got to ride six million miles."

3). WAITIN' FOR THE TRAIN.

The cattle trails were one of two key arenas where blacks and whites worked together, the other being the railroads. Like the cowboy, the railroad worker's job took him to different parts of the country, where he heard music from different traditions. As on the cattle trails, the railroads brought together blacks and whites in a dangerous job where only by co-operating could they survive. Like the cowboys, railroad workers shared much together, including music.

One of the earliest stars of Country music was Jimmie Rodgers who for many years worked as a brakeman on the railways, in the process assimilating music from a wide range of cultures and traditions. His recording career was very short: his first recordings ("The Soldier's Sweetheart" and "Sleep Baby Sleep") were made in Bristol, Tennessee in August 1927; his last recordings were laid down on May 24th 1933, the day before his untimely death. Yet without his influence, Country music as we have come to know it would not exist. He was like a sponge soaking up music from across America and from every ethnic group. His repertoire included sentimental parlour songs, violent barroom songs, western songs, gospel, prison songs, murder ballads, earthy love songs, work songs, blues, and much more; in fact, very similar to the repertoire of many Country singers even today. Though many of his recordings have simple acoustic backings, he also recorded with an Hawaiian orchestra and with Jazz Musicians, including Louis Armstrong.

Out of this mix, Jimmie Rodgers created one type of song that has become synonymous with his name and that epitomises the hybrid nature of Country music: the Blue Yodel. In these songs, he combined twelve bar blues, Appalachian mountain music, western music and the style of singing known as Yodelling, which originated in Central Europe. In all he wrote 13 Blue Yodels, but he used the yodel in many other of his recordings. "Blue Yodel #1" remains one of the most famous Country songs of all time, often under the title "T for Texas.":

"T for Texas, T for Tennessee,
T for Texas, T for Tennessee,
T for Thelma, that gal that made a wreck out of me."

The song has the traditional 12 bar blues format, with the first and second line repeated. Like most blues singers, he inserts phrases at various points that break up the rhythm; for example, in the second stanza:

"If you don't want me mamma, you sure don't have to stall,
Lord, Lord, If you don't want me mamma, you don't have to stall,
I can get more women than a passenger train can haul."

Much of the lyric reads like a particularly bitter form of stream-of-consciousness writing, in which he castigates his woman, tells her can get as many women as he wants, then threatens to shoot the "rounder that stole away my gal", as well as shooting "Thelma just to see her jump and fall." Finally, he decides he wants to leave Georgia where the "water tastes like turpentine" and he is "treated like a dirty dog."

Many blues singers use harmonica or slide guitar in between the verses; Jimmie Rodgers obtains a similar effect by using his voice: his famous blue yodel. Here we see the use of a mid-European motif to create the effect found in 12-bar black music. There is also another possible reference here: many Jazz singers use scat singing to great effect (for example, Ella Fitzgerald). As with the yodel, scat uses the voice as an instrument, and ranges up and down the musical scale.

The song also looks back to the Scottish and English Murder Ballad. For example:

"I'm gonna buy me a pistol just as long as I'm tall
I'm gonna shoot poor Thelma just to see her jump and fall"

and:

"I'm gonna buy me a shotgun with a great long shiny barrel
I'm gonna shoot that rounder that stole away my gal."

The song also looks forward. One of Johnny Cash's most famous songs, written about 30 years after "Blue Yodel #1", contains the line:

"I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die."

Cash claims that when he was writing "Folsom Prison Blues" he wanted to choose the nastiest reason for someone committing murder and that "just to watch him die" seemed to fit the bill. However, the structure is quite close to the line in the Rodgers song:

"I'm gonna shoot poor Thelma just to see her jump and fall."

4). DOWN SOUTH BLUES.

Jimmie Rodgers was not the only early Country act to be heavily influenced by black music. Virginian Dock Boggs recorded 12 songs (plus some outtakes) in 1927 and 1929. He was rediscovered during the 1960s Folk Revival, and recorded a further 50 songs between 1963 and 1968. His voice was as raw as sandpaper scratching on a board, and he accompanied himself on the most mournful sounding banjo I have ever heard. In many ways his repertoire was similar to other Appalachian singers: snippets of melodies and words brought to America from Scotland, Ireland and England; gospel; work songs; and the blues. His themes include lost love; murder ballads; approaching death; poverty, and drunkenness. His songs are invariably sad. In fact, he produces in an embryonic form the "high lonesome sound" that, in the hands of Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brother and others, later became Bluegrass. Listening to Boggs singing "Pretty Polly", "Down South Blues" and other banjo driven mournful numbers, one wonders if his music was an influence on the style of Ralph Stanley.

The influence of Jimmie Rodgers, Dock Boggs and others can be heard in the early recordings of Country superstars Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe. Not only did they both record versions of "Blue Yodel #8 (Mule Skinner Blues)" - Bill Monroe sang versions of other Blue Yodels as well - but also Rodgers and Boggs white blues can be heard on songs such as Acuff's "Freight Train Blues", "Worried Mind" and "Night Train to Memphis", and on Monroe's "Six White Horses", "Dog House Blues" and "Rocky Road Blues."

5). STAY ALL NIGHT, STAY A LITTLE LONGER.

Much of the music we have been discussing so far was sad, reflective, acoustic and generally performed by solo artists, with great emphasis placed on the lyrics. However, that was not the only music to be influential on the development of Country. Both the immigrants from Europe and the black descendants of slaves brought with them strong traditions of dance music, often combined with humour and novelty.

For many centuries in Scotland, the traditional form of entertainment was the "Ceilidh." Ceilidhs would normally take place in someone's house, and there would be copious amounts of (often home made) whisky and (often poached) food. Everyone would be encouraged to participate, to contribute whatever talent they had. There would be storytellers, there would be traditional unaccompanied Gaelic songs, and there would be lots of fiddle driven dance music - particularly once the whisky had begun to take effect. Much of the Celtic diaspora found its way to the Appalachians, where the same fiddle driven dance music enlivened the hard and poverty stricken lives of these new Americans. (For a fuller discussion of the links between Celtic music and Country music, see my article "Full Circle"). The Appalachian region was, and remains, awash with fiddle based dance bands.

Interesting as the fiddle based dance music of the Appalachians is, a full discussion of it is beyond the remit of this article. However, there is a dance music that originated in Texas in the 1930s that is central to an understanding of the hybrid nature of Country music: namely Western Swing.

Western Swing had its roots in the fiddle music of Scotland and Ireland, the Medicine Shows that toured America until the early years of the 20th century, and Black-Face Minstrels, and in the hands of Milton Brown and Bob Wills also incorporated Southern Blues, Jazz, Tin Pan Alley, Cowboy songs and Mexican music.

The American Medicine Show had its roots in 14th century Europe, when travelling minstrels and jesters would tour towns and villages performing for local people and sell wares, including quack cures. The earliest such shows in America date back to the 18th century, and they soon became a major way for large firms to sell their (generally ineffective) remedies, often by reference to generally spurious links to Native American remedies. (One of the most famous of these was Rattlesnake Oil). At one stage, several States attempted to ban the Shows, but with no effect: they provided often isolated and poverty stricken areas with entertainment. Typically, the show would include musicians, black-face comics, jugglers, competitions and then the sales pitch. Many of the big names in American entertainment began their professional lives on Medicine Shows, including Buster Keaton and Roy Acuff. The two most important names in Western Swing - Bob Wills and Milton Brown - worked in Medicine Shows in the 1920s. The sponsorship that became an artistic fact of life in America with the development of radio and later television is found in embryonic form in these Medicine Shows.

One of the most uncomfortable issues that faces any lover of American roots music is that of the Black-Face Minstrel. The history of Race and Country music cannot be adequately dealt with in a few short paragraphs, and instead will form the basis of a future article. For the time being I will content myself with a brief outline of the history of Black-Face Minstrels. The first white musician we know of to "black-up" was Thomas Dartmouth Rice in 1828, who created a black character called "Jim Crow." His song and dance routine "Jump Jim Crow" was first performed in Louisville, KY, and he quickly became both a national and international star, leading to many imitators. The story of "Jump Jim Crow" was made into a short film in 1940, featuring the most famous black-face minstrel of all, Al Jolson. The black-face minstrel remained one of the most popular forms of live entertainment in America right up to the 1920s, and even spawned imitations abroad (including England's "Black & White Minstrel Show", which was aired on UK TV well into the 1970s).

The most famous Western Swing act of all was Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys. Without Wills, it is unlikely that Western Swing would have become as influential as it did, and the music would probably have remained an acoustic fiddle based sound, and become an interesting but probably minor historical footnote. He transformed the sound, introducing amplification, drums and a horn section. His music was crucially influential in the development of Hillbilly Boogie Woogie, the Honky Tonk sound popularised by the likes of Ernest Tubb and Lefty Frizzell, and ultimately Rockabilly and Rock'n'Roll.

Milton Brown and Bob Wills began playing together in the late 1920s. The band they formed had no fixed name. In 1930, they were employed to play on a Fort Worth radio show advertising the products of the Aladdin Lamp Company, and called themselves the Aladdin Laddies. The General Manager of Barrus Mill & Elevator Company, W. Lee O'Daniel (who eventually became a Senator and Governor of Texas), liked what he heard and poached them for his own show advertising the light-crust flour the firm produced; so Wills and Brown changed the name of their group to the Lightcrust Dough Boys. It was from this that Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies, Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, and a whole host of other Western Swing bands grew.

In 1932, Brown left the Dough Boys to form his Musical Brownies. Sadly, Brown died in a car crash in 1936. Up until his death, he rivalled Bob Wills for popularity, and it is probable that had he lived his music would have developed and become as influential as Wills. Brown's band was the first to use an amplified steel guitar, and from the start his music was heavily influenced by Dixieland Jazz.

After Brown left the Dough Boys, he was replaced as vocalist by Tommy Duncan, whose smooth crooning became a key part of the Texas Playboys sound for many years. In 1933, O'Daniel, who was a supporter of Prohibition, sacked Wills because of the latter's fondness for alcohol. Wills took his vocalist, Tommy Duncan, with him and formed the now legendary Texas Playboys. Over the next two years, O'Daniel used his influence to get Wills sacked from a number of radio jobs. In 1935, Wills and his band got a residency on a Oklahoma radio station, made Tulsa their home, and was signed up by Brunswick Records.

Wills arrived for the first recording session with his 13 piece band that included fiddles, banjo, amplified steel guitar, guitar, banjo, piano, trumpet, saxaphone, trombone, bass and drums. The producer, Art Satherley, objected to the horns and the drums. He also objected to Wills trademark hollering during band solos. Wills threatened to walk out unless he could do things his way, and instructed his band to pack their instruments. Satherley gave way and, as so often was to prove the case in the history of Country music, the musician was proved right: the songs sold well and numbers like "Osage Stomp" became classics of the genre. A year later they returned for a second recording session.

Arguably, Wills most famous song is "San Antonio Rose." At the 1935 session, Wills had recorded an instrumental called "Spanish Two Step." Producer Satherley liked this number, and asked if Wills had anything in a similar vein; so in 1938, Wills played "Spanish Two Steps" backwards, and called it "San Antonio Rose." The tune came to the attention of Irving Berlin's New York based company, who wanted to publish it. However, they lost interest when they realised it was an instrumental, so Wills wrote some words and recorded it in 1940 with his by then 18-piece band. "New San Antonio Rose" became his signature tune, reaching Number 11 in the Pop Charts as well as being turned into a massive hit by crooner Bing Crosby. This session also produced other enduring classics including "Corrina Corrina", "Lone Star Rag", "Big Beaver" and "Time Changes Everything." The music Wills was now producing was as close to Jazz as it was to Country.

In 1941, Wills - like many other Country artists - began to appear in Hollywood films. Although his acting was apparently very rudimentary, it gave him yet another outlet for his music. As with many other musicians, the U.S. entry into the 2nd World War in 1942 effectively put his career on hold. Wills spent a few months in the army before being discharged as medically unfit. After the war, he formed a new "Texas Playboys" with fewer personnel and continued to record regularly until the early 1950s. Although he never attained the popularity and commercial success he had enjoyed prior to 2nd World War, his music remained innovative and some of his most famous numbers come from these years, including "Faded Love", "Bubbles in My Beer" and "Deep Water."

In 1945, Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys made their only appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, complete with drums and horns. Apparently, the Opry manager told Wills that drums and horns weren't allowed on the Opry, so Wills said he wouldn't play, The Opry backed down and, for the first time ever, drums were played at the home of Country Music. Nowadays, drums and amplified instruments are the norm on the Opry.

Bob Wills was the grandfather of modern country music, influencing the development of Boogie Woogie, Honky Tonk, Rock'n'Roll, and the careers of legends such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Asleep At The Wheel. Like Jimmie Rodgers, he did this by synthesising a wide variety of musical genres to create something totally new.

6). SING ME AN OLD FASHIONED SONG.

This brief survey of the hybrid nature of Country music brings us to the end of the 2nd World War. The period from the 1950s onwards will be explored in a later article, but already we can see that there never was anything "pure" about Country music. During these early years of commercial recordings, Country was a fascinating and exciting mix of cultural and musical influences, all vying for attention. Only in the 1950s would the music begin to take shape and self-consciously try and separate itself from other genres. As we will see, in the process more and more music became producer, radio and record label led, rather than musician and audience led.

Kevin Crowe, November 2003.