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Honky-tonk
A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, honky tonk, or tonk) is either a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons or the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ( tack piano) used to play such music. Bars of this kind are common in the South and Southwest United States. Many prominent country music artists such as Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Horton and Merle Haggard began their careers as amateur musicians in honky-tonks. The origin of the term "honky-tonk" is disputed, originally referring to bawdy variety shows in areas of the old West (Oklahoma, the Indian Territories and mostly Texas) and to the actual theaters showing them. The first music genre to be commonly known as honky-tonk was a style of piano playing related to ragtime but emphasizing rhythm more than melody or harmony; the style evolved in response to an environment in which pian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Country Music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is primarily focused on singing Narrative, stories about Working class in the United States, working-class and blue-collar worker, blue-collar American life. Country music is known for its ballads and dance tunes (i.e., "Honky-tonk#Music, honky-tonk music") with simple form, folk lyrics, and harmonies generally accompanied by instruments such as banjos, fiddles, harmonicas, and many types of guitar (including acoustic guitar, acoustic, electric guitar, electric, steel guitar, steel, and resonator guitar, resonator guitars). Though it is primarily rooted in various forms of American folk music, such as old-time music and Appalachian music, many other traditions, including African-American, Music of Mexico, Mexican, Music of Ireland, Irish, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hank Williams
Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. Williams recorded 55 singles that reached the top 10 of the Hot Country Songs, ''Billboard'' Country & Western Best Sellers chart, five of which were released posthumously, and 12 of which reached No.1. Born and raised in Alabama, Williams learned guitar from African-American blues musician Rufus Payne. Both Payne and Roy Acuff significantly influenced his musical style. After winning an amateur talent contest, Williams began his professional career in Montgomery in the late 1930s playing on local radio stations and at area venues such as school houses, movie theaters, and bars. He formed the Drifting Cowboys backup band, which was managed by his mother, and dropped out of school to devote his time to his career. Because his alcoholism made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lefty Frizzell
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter. Frizell is known as one of the most influential country music vocal stylists of all time. He has been cited as influencing prominent country singers like George Jones, Merle Haggard, Roy Orbison, and Willie Nelson. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982 as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In his prime, Frizzell was the first artist to achieve four songs in the top ten on the Country Music Billboard charts at one time. Frizzell went on to have more success, releasing many songs that charted in the Top 10 of the Hot Country Songs charts as an artist and songwriter. After dealing with alcoholism, he died of a stroke at age 47. Early life William Orville Frizzell was born the son of an oilman, the first of eight children, in Corsicana in Navarro County in North Texas, United States. During his childhood, his family moved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Crossover music, cross over into pop music. Cline had several major hits during her eight-year recording career, including two number-one hits on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Country Songs, Hot Country and Western Sides chart. Born in Winchester, Virginia, Cline's first professional performances began in 1948 at local radio station WINC (AM), WINC when she was 15. In the early 1950s, Cline began appearing in a local band led by performer Bill Peer. Various local appearances led to featured performances on Connie B. Gay's ''Town and Country'' television broadcasts. She signed her first recording contract with the Four Star Records, Four Star label in 1954, and had minor success with her earliest Four Star singles, including "A Chu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Webb Pierce
Michael Webb Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was an American country music vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist of the 1950s, one of the most popular of the genre, charting more number-one hits than any other country and western performer during the decade. His biggest hit was the honky-tonk-rooted " In the Jailhouse Now", which charted for 37 weeks in 1955, 21 of them at number one. Pierce also charted number one for several weeks each with his recordings of " Slowly" (1954), " Love, Love, Love" (1955), " I Don't Care" (1955), " There Stands the Glass" (1953), " More and More" (1954), " I Ain't Never" (1959), and his first number one, " Wondering", which stayed at the top spot for four of its 27 weeks' charting in 1952. For many, Pierce, with his flamboyant Nudie suits and twin silver dollar-lined convertibles, became the most recognizable face of country music of the era and its excesses. Pierce was a one-time member of the Grand Ole Opry and was posthumously i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice and phrasing. For the last two decades of his life, Jones is frequently referred to as "the greatest country singer", "The Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Rolls-Royce of Country Music", and had more than 160 chart singles to his name from 1955 until his death in 2013. He served in the United States Marine Corps and was discharged in 1953. In 1959, Jones recorded "White Lightning (The Big Bopper song), White Lightning", written by The Big Bopper, which launched his career as a singer. Years of alcoholism compromised his health and led to his missing many performances, earning him the nickname "No Show Jones." Jones died in 2013, aged 81, from hypoxic respiratory failure. Life and career Early years (1931–1953) George Glenn Jones was born on Sept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faron Young
Faron Young (February 25, 1932 – December 10, 1996) was an American country singer, musician, and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s. His hits including " If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')" and " Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young" marked him as a honky-tonk singer in sound and personal style; and his chart-topping singles " Hello Walls" and " It's Four in the Morning" showed his versatility as a vocalist. Known as the "Hillbilly Heartthrob", and following a singing cowboy film role as the "Young Sheriff", Young's singles charted for more than 30 years. In failing health, he died by suicide at the age of 64 in 1996. Young is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Early years Young was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the youngest of six children of Harlan and Doris Young. He grew up on a dairy farm his family operated outside the city. Young began singing at an early age, imagining a career as a pop singer, but after he joined some friends watching ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), marked the rise of the Honky-tonk#Music, honky-tonk style of music. In 1948, he was the first singer to record a hit version of Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson's "Blue Christmas (song), Blue Christmas", a song more commonly associated with Elvis Presley and his late-1950s version. Another well-known Tubb hit was "Waltz Across Texas" (1965) (written by his nephew Quanah Talmadge Tubb, known professionally as Billy Talmadge), which became one of his most requested songs and is often used in dance halls throughout Texas during waltz lessons. Tubb recorded duets with the then up-and-coming Loretta Lynn in the early 1960s, including their hit "Sweet Thang". Tubb is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Biography Early years The youngest of fiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hank Locklin
Lawrence Hankins Locklin (February 15, 1918 – March 8, 2009) was an American country music singer and songwriter. He had 70 chart singles, including two number one hits on ''Billboard''s country chart. His biggest hits included " Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" and his signature " Please Help Me, I'm Falling". The latter also went to number eight on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop music chart. ''Billboard''s 100th anniversary issue listed it as the second most successful country single of the rock and roll era. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. Locklin was born and raised in Florida. He developed a fondness for country music following an accident in his childhood. He learned to play the guitar during his recovery and began performing locally as well. In his early adulthood, he formed his own band called the Rocky Mountain Playboys, which played gigs and performed on local radio. Locklin was heard singing during one of these gigs, which l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tack Piano
A tack piano (also known as a harpsipiano, jangle piano, and junk piano) is an altered version of an ordinary piano, in which objects such as thumbtacks or nails are placed on the felt-padded hammers of the instrument at the point where the hammers hit the strings, giving the instrument a tinny, more percussive sound. It is used to evoke the feeling of a honky-tonk piano. Tack pianos are commonly associated with ragtime pieces, often appearing in Hollywood Western saloon scenes featuring old upright pianos. The instrument was originally used for classical music performances as a substitute for a harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one .... Honky-tonk piano A honky-tonk piano has a similar tone as a tack piano; however, the method of obtaining its sound is d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Horton
John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American country, honky tonk, and rockabilly musician during the 1950s. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narrative country saga songs that became international hits. His 1959 single " The Battle of New Orleans" was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. The song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award and in 2001 ranked number 333 of the Recording Industry Association of America's " Songs of the Century". His first number-one country song was in 1959, " When It's Springtime in Alaska (It's Forty Below)". Horton had two successes in 1960 with both " Sink the Bismarck" and " North to Alaska", the latter used during the opening credits of the John Wayne film. Horton died in November 1960 at the peak of his fame in a traffic collision, less than two years after his breakthrough. He is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hillbilly Music
''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, the term spread northward and westward with them. The usage of the term ''hillbilly'' as a descriptor receives mixed perceptions, often in part due to the nature in which it is used. It may be used in in-groups as a point of pride, while others consider its usage derogatory, especially when used as an insult. The first known instances of ''hillbilly'' in print were in ''The Railroad Trainmen's Journal'' (vol. ix, July 1892), an 1899 photograph of men and women in West Virginia labeled "Camp Hillbilly", and a 1900 ''New York Journal'' article containing the definition: "a Hill-Billie is a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
