A Brief Analysis on the Springing up of American Country Music in the 20th Century

【Abstract】American country music is one of the prominent symbols of American culture in the 20th century.It was a product of 20th century which derived from folk music. It was a blend of traditional and popular musical forms characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic structure. The genre was so distinctive that appealed to most of the mountain area locals and then it has grown up rapidly since the beginning of the 1920s. This paper explaining the reasons why this special kind of music form just came into being in the 20th century.

【Key words】American country music； springing up

【作者簡介】罗雨虹（1994-），女，汉族，四川宜宾人，西华大学外国语学院在读研究生，研究方向：翻译理论与实践。

1. Introduction

American country music attracted people all over the world and it was originated from Southern United States at the early 20th century.Country music has its roots in folk music as cowboys created songs about the old American country life.They combined new musical instruments like the Hawaiian steel guitar with traditional violin and banjo thus the new music pattern was born. The country music was characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic structure with solo or ensemble improvisations as basic tunes and chord pattern.For the melody was easy to remember and the lyrics narrated things impressed people， it obtained special attention from American rural areas.

2. The Reasons for the Springing up of American Country Music

After springing up in the early 1920s， it hit the American music market for several decades. But what made American country music come into being in the 20th century？

2.1 The Historical Reason

After World WarⅠ America achieved in the international arena and it obtained unprecedented development.Material comforts led to leisure and entertainment desire， thus then a new time for the music industry was coming.By 1924， the music already had a northern market and the recording industry also began to have great interests in country music.Sooner people were fond of country music and the album production was a national demand. Since then， people invested capital to the recording industry aiming at launching the country music into a vaster market.In the 1930s， the status of country music in the mainstream of pop music was consolidated.American country can be regarded as a product in time of war.

2.2 The Cultural Reasons

America is a pool formed by the multi-ethnic culture since the 18th Century，while people got used to their own old traditional culture， language and folkway， which directly spurred on the culture shock.After they settled down， the people were looking for leisure-time activities. Finally they tried to combine all kinds of special folk songs from different areas with the string instruments to create music style and then it became the original folk music.The immigrants gradually enjoyed this music style which was regarded as the prototype of country music.

2.3 The Religious and Racial Reason

Thanks to the worldwide immigrants，America became multi-ethnic hodgepodge of races and religions.People in different races and religions had their own faith，while they gathered in the country and most of them were poor so they were fond of cowboy style.All these aspects added multi-ethnic elements into country music that made it distinguish from other American pop music genre.The music without any discrimination upon religions and races attracted the roughscuff.

3. Conclusion

Country music was brought into big cities and was stick the mark “American Dream”，which contributed to it’s popularization.Owning to globalization and culture shock，country music now mix up something new to meet the appetite of the audiences， which helps American country music to establish the incomparable position in the international music industry.American country music experience development and evolutionwhile it still maintains its original charm.Definitely， it is an eternal banner in world’s music industry and will never be substituted.

References：

[1]Anne Peckhanm， Modern Pop Music Skills[J].Beijing： People’s Music Publishing House，2009.

[2]Neal Haas Penelope， Master of Country Music[M].Beijing：Chinese Youth Press，1998.

[3]Robert Mundell and C.Lowell Harriss， The Reconsideration of the 20th Century[M].American：Columbia University press，2000.

[4]孔义龙.20世纪美国多元化主义音乐教育评述[J].西安音乐学院报，1999（1）：3-4.

[5]孟奇玉.美国乡村音乐的风格与演唱[J].沈陽大学学报，2001（2）： 2-3.