Urban vs. Rural in American Identity U.S. media cultures, 1939-1945
• Revival of a traditional Anglo-American opposition between rural and urban cultures. • Americans (both urban and rural) romanticize "simpler" times of the wild west. • The success of "country and western" music developed as an important new part of U.S. identity.
‣ Romanticized the 19th-c westward expansion of an ethno-centric Anglo-American culture.
‣ Americans learned to value "rugged individualism" as one of the most important and distinctive American virtues. Country & Western Music 1938-1945: Urban vs. Rural in American Identity
• The late 1930s: a revival of a traditional Anglo-American opposition between rural and urban cultures. • Americans (both urban and rural) romanticize "simpler" times of the “wild west.”
‣ Will Rogers, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers made it big portraying a sparkling new version of the 19th-century pioneer ideal on radio and film.
‣ "Hillbilly music," made famous in the 1930s, comes to be known as Country and Western Music
‣ Early stars include the Carter Family, Roy Acuff, Pete Seeger, and Hank Snow Gene Autry, the singing cowboy (1907-1998) Gene Autry -- the Singing Cowboy
• First success as host of the 1931 hit radio show "National Barn Dance"; continued throughout the 1930s and 1940s with numerous shows like "Gene Autry's Melody Ranch" • One of the 1930s' most popular film stars with films like "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds" and "The Phantom Empire." • The only entertainer in history to earn a "Hollywood Star" four times: for radio, music, film, and television. • "Back in the Saddle Again" (1939), "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds", "Mexicali Rose", "Mother Jones" Gene Autry in "Phantom Empire"; a Hollywood Serial Film shown in theaters as well as on experimental TV broadcasts. (Television had been invented years earlier but there was no demand for the technology and no broadcast system.) Country & Western Music 1938-1945: Urban vs. Rural in American Identity
• The success of "country and western" music developed as an important new part of U.S. identity.
‣ The “Grand Ole Opry” — radio variety show staged like a “Barn Dance,” romanticized Anglo-American pioneer culture
‣ Americans learned to value "rugged individualism" and self-reliance as core American virtues. The Carter Family U.S. media cultures: 1939-1945
• Pioneers of “Old-Timey” Music perf. from the 1930s through the 1960s • Sara Daugherty Carter began the group with husband Alvin and cousin Maybelle. All three raised in SW Virginia, immersed in gospel music • Lipsitz (1994): “Ma” Maybelle Carter was an innovative guitarist
‣ Learned Piedmont-influenced blues “pickin’” by bluesman Leslie Riddles
‣ Led family in call-and-response versions of folk songs (many she collected herself The Carter Family U.S. media cultures: 1939-1945
• “Border Radio” made the Carters the first country stars. ‣ Mexican radio station XERA was owned by quack doctor John Brinkley
‣ 1938-1939, 500+ kW transmitters allowed broadcast to the midwest and south U.S., without ad restrictions. • In the 1940s & 1950s, the “Grand Ole Opry” helped cultivate a second generation of radio and television fans. • Maybelle’s daughter June often took center stage.