In 1995, Scottish fiddler Aly Bain persuaded musicians and singers from Scotland, Ireland and America to get together in a remote Scottish west coast location for jam sessions. The product of those sessions was broadcast on UK BBC TV. Sadly, no record exists of the historic performances which included names like Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffiths, Iris DeMent, Guy Clarke and Jerry Douglas from the States, plus some of the most famous and innovative of Scottish and Irish Folk singers. However, in 1998 Aly Bain produced "Transatlantic Sessions 2", and this time they were not only broadcast, but two CDs of the music were released, sub-titled "The Greatest Back-Porch Show of all Time." The full list of artists featured would take up too much space, but they include: from America - Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, Nanci Griffiths, Radney Foster and Roseanne Cash; and from Scotland and Ireland- Aly Bain, Ishbel McAskill, Iain MacDonald, John Martyn, Eddi Reader, Maura O'Connell and Ronan Browne.

About the same time, a group of people in Glasgow - Scotland's largest city - decided to organize an event that has become a large annual festival called "Celtic Connections", featuring both unknown musicians and major stars performing in a variety of venues, and originating from Scotland, Ireland, America - from anywhere with Celtic Connections.

Also in the late 1990s, Scottish Folk singer Dougie MacLean and Nashville star Kathy Mattea developed a personal friendship and a musical alliance, with each of them appearing on the others' albums.

What is it about Celtic Folk music that attracts country superstars ranging from Steve Earle to Dolly Parton? What is it about American Country music that attracts both Folk and Rock singers in the UK and Ireland, in spite of the fact that Country is thought of over here as "uncool."?

The answer lies in history. The USA, as we know it today, is a country primarily of people descended from immigrants. Many of those immigrants left Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries to escape persecution or poverty, or simply to try and build a better life. The potato famines in Ireland resulted not just in the death of thousands of Irish, but also in the emigration of many people from their native land to England, to USA, to Canada. In the late 18th century and in the 19th century, many Gaelic speaking Highland Scots were cleared off their land, many of them forced to leave Scotland for America and Australia.

These people took their music with them; often they arrived with nothing but the clothes they stood up in and the songs in their hearts.

Many of these songs continued to be sung for years, often little different from the original Celtic versions. In 1952, Harry Smith produced his famous "Anthology of American Folk Music" (released on a 6 CD box set in 1997) covering everything from mountain ballads to blues. Many of the songs - particularly on the first two CDs - are Celtic and English Folk songs taken to America by immigrants. Many others have their roots in such songs. Much of the music, particularly the fiddle playing, is reminiscent of traditional Scottish Ceilidhs, when people would gather together to tell stories, recite poems, sing songs, dance, and of course drink and fall in love.

Throughout the mid-20th century John, and then Alan, Lomax toured the more remote parts of the USA, making field recordings of singers and musicians. Rounder records have released some of these field recordings on CDs. Particularly interesting is "Ozark Frontier: Ballads and Old Timey Music from Arkansas." Alan Lomax wrote of these recordings:

"...print source popular songs, old timey fiddle and banjo tunes, and nineteenth century minstrel compositions...were cherished alongside the old Child ballads."

The "Child ballads" refers to the work of Boston born 19th century Folk song and Ballad collector Francis J. Child, who collected and collated all the Scottish and English traditional Ballads he could find, including variants. Child's five volume "The English & Scottish Popular Ballads" (published between 1882 - 1898) was as important to British Folk music as that of the Lomax's was to American Folk music. It is ironic that this major work on British Folk music was produced by an American.

Through time, many of these songs metamorphosed into new songs addressing the concerns of the settlers: the farmers, the mineworkers, the railroads, the cowboys, itinerant workers, etc. Often the old melodies remained, or bits of tunes or words from different songs would be combined. Themes would be adapted to the New World, and as radio developed so these songs would reach larger and larger audiences, and the pace of adaptation increased.

This process is apparent in the work of the first two big superstars of Country music: Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. Both Rodgers and A. P. Carter combined all the elements of different Folk musics they came across, mixing and matching melodies and words and in the process copyrighting the songs. Many of these songs are still played today (for example A. P. Carter's "Wildwood Flower" and Jimmie Rodgers' "Hobo's Last Ride").

In Scotland and England, many of these songs found a wide audience and metamorphosed into variants as a result of the Romany Gypsies, who traveled the country. In America the spread of these songs was also in part a result of travelers, whose work or lack of it took them across the country. It is worth remembering that Jimmie Rodgers worked for a while as a brakeman and that Woody Guthrie was a part of the mass migration that resulted from the dustbowl phenomenon.

This process can be examined in some detail by taking one song as an example. When syphilis was rife in Europe, there was a whole range of songs from Ireland, Scotland and England about the disease. Variously called "The Unfortunate Rake", "The Dying Soldier", "Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime", these songs all had very similar melodies, were all sung in the first person, and all told the story of how others should learn from the mistakes of the singer. And they all had similar refrains that went something like:

Beat the drum slowly,
Play the fife lowly,
Sound the death march as you carry me along,
Cover my body in sweet smelling posies,
For I'm the young (rake, soldier, man, girl, lass, etc) cut down in (his/her) prime.
(or and I know I've done wrong).

There are lots of other variants.

Sound familiar? It ought to: it is very close to part of the words of one of the most popular and most recorded of Country songs: "The Streets of Laredo."

The song was originally taken to the Appalachians by Irish immigrants, and later Scottish immigrants also brought with them versions of the song. From there the story gets hazy. What is clear is that as the song traveled and continued to be sung, the cause of death changed. Versions began to appear from throughout the South and the Midwest, sung by both black and white singers. Most versions continued to include some of the imagery of the original song, even when it made little sense in the new context. The song has been collected and recorded under numerous titles including "St James Infirmary", "St James Hospital", Western Song", "Tom Sherman's Bar" and "Way Down in Lodorra." The first recorded use of the title "Streets of Laredo" was in 1876, by Francis Henry Maynard. In some versions the cause of death is not made clear, but in most surviving versions death is a result of gun shot wounds.

Under various titles it has been sung by some of America's most noted singers: Doc Watson ("St James Hospital"); Louis Armstrong ("St James Infirmary"); Johnny Cash ("Streets of Laredo"); Arlo Guthrie ("Streets of Laredo"), and many others. Each of these singers introduced lyrical and melodic changes.

There are many other archetypal American songs that have their roots across the Atlantic, including what is perhaps the most famous Carter Family song of all: "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" Although this song was copyrighted by A. P. Carter, it appears to have been originally claimed by an English hymn writer named Ada Ruth Habershon, with music by Charles H Gabriel from Iowa (was this the first transatlantic collaboration?) In my view it is likely that elements of both the words and the music had been around for some time before Habershon & Gabriel collated them in about 1900. The refrain of Habershon's song was:

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
In a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky?

The verses refer to the number of people round the fireside dwindling as more and more family members die.

The tune that A. P. Carter used was identical to Haberson's and Gabriel's, and the refrain is almost identical, but more positive. The verses have been changed so that they refer to the death not of various family members but of the mother.

One of the major themes in Scottish and English Ballads was what has become known as the "murder ballad" (we're a blood-thirsty lot this side of the Atlantic!) Sometimes a man kills his unfaithful wife; sometimes a man kills his wife/lover so as to be free to marry someone else; sometimes a wife kills a husband; sometimes a jealous and spurned suitor kills his/her rival; sometimes an unmarried mother kills her illegitimate baby. And so on. These Ballads may have been the pre-literate equivalent of detective stories and murder mysteries. They may also have served a similar purpose to that of newspapers today, and were sometimes political satire. Often they contained a moral for the listener.

Murder stories - whether on film or in book - remain among the most popular fictions. Most of us seem to like a good mystery. It is therefore not surprising that many of these "murder ballads" remained popular and that the form became a staple of both black and white Folk music in America. Famous American murder ballads include "Frankie & Johnnie" (retitled and slightly re-written by Leadbelly as "Frankie & Albert"); "Banks of the Ohio" (recorded by the Monroe Brothers in 1940s, and by many others since); "Omie Wise" (a variant of "Ohio" recorded by Doc Watson);
"Cocaine Blues" (copyrighted by Johnny Cash, but based on a traditional song); "Delia" (Johnny Cash); "Little Sadie" (a variant on "Cocaine Blues" copyrighted by Bob Dylan); "The First Mrs. Jones" (Bill Anderson); "The Cold Hard Facts of Life" (Bill Anderson); "I Just Can't Let You Say Goodbye" (Willie Nelson). One of Country music's most prolific singers of murder ballads is Porter Wagoner. To my knowledge he has recorded four of the above list of songs - three of them on one album!

Another sub genre of the Child Ballad consists of songs in which a suitor is spurned, dies of a broken heart, and then the woman or man who spurned him or her realizes that they really did love the dead person, and they too then die of a broken heart. One of the classics of this genre is "Barbara Allen." On her excellent 1994 live album "Heartsongs", Dolly Parton performs an emotional and powerful version of this song, featuring Irish Gaelic band Altan. The performance begins and ends with Altan singer Mairead Nimhaonaigh singing the song in Irish Gaelic, and Dolly Parton is backed by the rest of the band playing traditional Irish instruments.

Modern Country music is big business, with high-powered record executives; major radio stations; glitzy award ceremonies; tourist attractions; and lots and lots of hype, backstabbing and insincere smiles and tears. However, the musicians still play a form of music that owes a lot to those persecuted, disease ridden, hungry and frightened immigrants forced to leave the lands of their forefathers.

And Country music has repaid the debt, and continues to do so.

Until the 1950s, Country music was virtually unknown in the UK. The only American music that took off in a big way over here was Jazz or Jazz-influenced music (big band sound, crooners, etc). However, this was beginning to change, thanks to a number of phenomena.

Firstly, American B movies became popular during the 50s, particularly at children's matinees on Saturday mornings, when B movie westerns would be heavily featured. Lots of children in drab, post war Britain imagined themselves to be their cowboy heroes, and were exposed to gun fights, ranchers, one-horse towns, desert landscapes and singing cowboys. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were particularly popular, and some of their songs began to be featured on radio programs aimed at children. As television became more widespread, more families had access to American westerns like Bonanza, Maverick, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Rawhide, and others. Even today there are grown men and women who dress up as cowboys or cowgirls; and the western theme remains a major part of the UK Country music scene. Some of the biggest country hits in the UK have had western themes, for example: "High Noon" (Frankie Laine), "Cool Water" (Slim Whitman), "El Paso" (Marty Robbins), "A Boy Named Sue" (Johnny Cash) and "Coward of the County" (Kenny Rogers).

Secondly, in the 1950s a musical phenomenon occurred in the UK called Skiffle. A Glasgow singer called Lonnie Donegan is credited with popularizing, if not inventing, the style. Donegan had begun his musical career playing Trad Jazz, before going solo with his own band. Different forms of American music were beginning to find their way into this country, partly as a result of American servicemen based over here who bought their music with them and partly through major ports at London, Liverpool and Glasgow. Jazz was already popular, and Blues and American Folk were beginning to be heard. Inevitably, some of the music also had its roots in Country music. Lonnie Donegan combined all these elements with British music hall, and played the resulting music on primarily home-made instruments. He was an immediate hit, charting with songs like "Rock Island Line" and "Tom Dooley." The music was melodically (and deceptively) simple, rhythmic and fast paced. Lots of teenagers began to make their own instruments (often "borrowing" ordinary household implements) and imitate Lonnie Donegan.

Lonnie Donegan once claimed that the name "Skiffle" came from New Orleans, where it was used to refer to House Rent Parties (parties that were held to raise money to pay the rent). The music is not dissimilar to American Jug Band music.

Although the Skiffle craze was relatively short-lived, it had a major influence on the UK popular music scene, introducing the diversity of American popular music to a mass audience for the first time, while giving that music a distinctive British feel. Lonnie Donegan himself soon became something of a novelty singer, charting with music hall influenced songs like "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?" and "My Old Man's a Dustman."

Donegan was also influential in the development of the careers of UK's most famous Country duo: Miki & Griff, whose biggest hit (in 1962) was a cover of Burl Ives' "A Little Bitty Tear." They also played at the Grand Ole Opry in 1964. Many other UK country acts, such as the Hillsiders, also had their roots in Skiffle.

Skiffle was of crucial importance in the development of both the folk music revival and the start of an embryonic Country music scene. The very first Country music show on UK radio was called "Country Meets Folk" and was presented by Wally Whyton who had performed children's songs and was in at the start of Skiffle. In the 50s, Whyton formed a Skiffle band called The Vipers which has been cited as a major influence by members of groups such as Rolling Stones and Beatles as well as by folk musicians such as Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick. Three members of the Vipers - Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Jet Harris - went on to form what became the most successful instrumental group in the history of UK popular music: the Shadows. Up until a year before his death from cancer in 1997, Whyton was still hosting Country Club on UK radio.

Thirdly, Rock'n'Roll hit the UK in the late 1950s, initially courtesy of Bill Haley & the Comets (who had begun life as a Western Swing band). As in much of the western world, in the UK Rock'n'Roll swept everything before it. Skiffle, Jazz, big band swing, crooners, etc all seemed to disappear, to be replaced by this raw and raunchy music that scandalized many older people but was loved by the young. Soon, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eddie Cochran, the Everly Brothers and many others were appearing in the UK charts. At the time, I doubt if many people in the UK were aware of the role of Country music in the development of Rock'n'Roll. But the Country roots of Elvis, Haley, Jerry Lee, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers were there for people to hear, and many 1950s and early 1960s Teddy Boys later developed an interest in country music.

Fourthly, in the late 1950s and particularly in the 1960s there was an increased interest developing into Folk music, partly as a result of Skiffle, partly due to the increased availability of American music, and partly as an expression of regional pride. Folk clubs began to spring up in cities and towns throughout the country. Musicians were beginning to play the old Folk songs and ballads that are a part of our heritage. Many Folk singers and Folk clubs also played music from America: Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bill Monroe, and Bluegrass in particular developed a following. Many of those involved in the "Folk revival" were also political activists, espousing various radical causes.

In the mid 1960s, following the success of Dylan, Scottish Folk singer Donovan was marketed as the "British Dylan", singing self-composed songs backed by guitar and harmonica, many of which were poor imitations of the master. His repertoire also included more traditional American material including "Candy Man" and "Remember the Alamo."

In Folk clubs, audiences could hear traditional songs, protest songs, contemporary singer-songwriters, and music imported from America: Folk, Blues and traditional Country. The development of "pirate" (i.e. illegal) off-shore radio stations like Radio Caroline began to undermine the stranglehold of the BBC and brought increasing amounts and variety of American music to the ears of UK listeners. Not only Dylan, but also the likes of Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez and others began to be heard. This too influenced the popularity of home grown Folk, as well as influencing the direction that folk music took.

Partly resulting from Skiffle and Rock'n'Roll, an embryonic Country music scene began to appear in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Acts like Miki & Griff, and Kenny Johnson and the Hillsiders began to popularise Country music in small venues in the larger cities, and opened for touring acts like Marty Robbins, Slim Whitman and others. The Hillsiders actually recorded in Nashville with Bobby Bare on an album produced by Chet Atkins that reached #17 on the US Billboard Country Charts. From the mid 1960s, (coinciding with the rising popularity of the folk clubs) Country music began to reach a wider audience and more US Country acts began to tour (normally small) venues in the UK. But the music made little impact on the mainstream, rarely got radio plays and was often treated as a joke. In any case, most of the acts that toured the UK were products of the Nashville Sound, and most of the British acts performed mainly covers of US hits.

However, Folk and Rock were about to embrace country and change attitudes towards country music in the UK.

Folk-rock is a term that I have always been uncomfortable with; however, it is a useful tool to describe the music that arose from the influence of Dylan. In the 1960s Folk-rock was a major influence on UK music, often combined with an interest in and use of hallucinogenic drugs. It was as a result of Folk-rock that interest in the UK in Country music really began to take off. In 1968, Dylan released "John Wesley Harding" and the Byrds, influenced by Gram Parsons, brought out "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"; in 1969 Dylan released "Nashville Skyline", and in the same year performed his Country-rock at the Isle of Wight festival.

Suddenly Country music became "cool." If Dylan and the Byrds performed it, then it must be worth listening to. Chart wise, Johnny Cash was the first beneficiary of this interest. But home-grown bands also began to play Country music - and, more importantly, admit that it was Country. Country influenced songs began appearing on albums by bands like Beatles and Rolling Stones. Rolling Stones guitarist and songwriter Keith Richards developed a friendship with Gram Parsons (based partly on their mutual addiction to heroin), and the musical outcome of this can be heard on some tracks on the Stones' late 60s albums "Beggars Banquet" and "Let It Bleed."
The Beatles covered Country numbers such as "Act Naturally", and after they split Paul McCartney recorded some songs in Nashville, and Ringo Starr recorded with Buck Owens.

Blues guitarist Eric Clapton also introduced Country elements into his music in the 1970s, and rock band "Dire Straits" acknowledged their debt to Country music from the start. Their guitarist, Mark Knoppler, went on to record duets with Chet Atkins.

At the same time as Dylan and the Byrds were turning people on to Country music, a UK promoter called Mervyn Conn took what may have been the biggest gamble of his career thus far and in 1968 booked Wembley Stadium in London for a Country Music Festival over the Easter weekend. Conn was an astute promoter who often foresaw trends before others, and his International Country Music Festival became a major event in the UK music calendar for two decades. During that time, most of the big names from America performed, often combining their appearances with nationwide tours, and most half-way decent UK country acts were given stage time.

In the 1970s and 80s, more Country music festivals began, and there was a large growth in the number of clubs. Meanwhile, Country-rock maintained its popularity, even at the height of Punk Rock. In fact, Lubbock singer and songwriter Joe Ely toured with UK Punk band the Clash. And new-wave singer Elvis Costello, who rose to popularity on the back of Punk, recorded an album of country standards in Nashville. Nick Lowe, who came to prominence during the Punk era and who produced much of Elvis Costello's work, began working with Country artists such as Carlene Carter (whom he married), John Hiatt and later Johnny Cash.

Albert Lee was a guitarist who had learnt to play the instrument by listening to Buddy Holly, and worked with various R&B and Rock bands before returning to his early love of Country music. In 1968 (the same year as Dylan and the Byrds went Country, and Conn started his Country music festival), Lee formed Country-rock band Country Fever, and when that split up in 1970 formed the seminal Heads, Hands & Feet, which in 1973 provided the backing for Jerry Lee Lewis's "London Sessions." Also in 1973, he began touring and recording with the Crickets. After moving to California in 1974 he played with the Everly Brothers and toured with UK R&B act Joe Cocker. Then in 1976, replaced the great James Burton as lead guitarist in Emmylou Harris's Hot Band.

Country acts continue to be invited to the less insular Folk festivals. The annual Cambridge (England) Folk Festival normally includes several Country singers, and in recent years the likes of Iris DeMent, Nanci Griffiths, Stacey Earle, Steve Earle, and Townes Van Zandt have performed there. And the annual Rock festival at Glastonbury has in recent years featured Willie Nelson and Dwight Yoakim.

That almost brings us full circle. This article began with Aly Bain, who was born in the small town of Lerwick on the Shetland Islands (the most northerly part of Scotland), and developed a love of the fiddle. Despite its remoteness, small size and small population, Shetland has long been a haven of not just traditional folk music but also country music. In Lerwick, the only town on Shetland, there is a country music club that is open 7 days a week - something that must be unique in the UK. Apart from his solo work, he has recorded and toured with Scottish accordionist Phil Cunningham. In the late 1980s he produced a TV program called "Down Home" that traced fiddle music from its Scottish roots to America and Canada, and during the filming of which he visited America and played with fiddlers both country and Cajun. He enjoyed the experience so much that he reciprocated by inviting musicians to Scotland's west coast, and producing the "Transatlantic Sessions" with which this article started.

Kevin Crowe,
Durness,
Scotland.
email: lochcroispol@btopenworld.com

January 2003.