1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
Stuart Hamblen
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He is best known as the composer of the song This Ole House. Hamblen was born to the family of an itinerant Methodist preacher on October 20,1908, in Kellyville and he married Suzy Daniels and fathered two children with her. Hamblens father was Dr. J. H. Hamblen, a minister in the Methodist Church in Texas, who in 1946 founded the Evangelical Methodist Church denomination in Abilene, Texas. From 1931 Hamblen began hosting the radio program Family Album in California, composing music and acting in motion pictures with cowboy stars including Gene Autry, Roy Rogers. In 1934 he became the first artist signed by the American subsidiary of Decca Records, Hamblen didnt cope well with the pressures of his high-profile career and sought relief in alcohol. Many times his drinking landed him in jail for public brawling, the Texas State Historical Association reports that Hamblen identified himself as the original juvenile delinquent. Because Hamblen was hugely popular, his radio sponsors regularly bailed him out of jail, for a while, he ventured into horse-racing as an owner. Inevitably, Hamblens drinking and gambling problems severely affected his life and he subsequently gave up gambling and horse racing, and entered Christian broadcasting with his radio show The Cowboy Church of the Air, which ran until 1952. Graham said Hamblen was the No.1 radio personality in Los Angeles and that evening, also Grahams first coast-to-coast television broadcast, Hamblen shared about his faith and sang/spoke his signature hymn It Is No Secret. Graham attributed Hamblens hunting skills as instrumental in capturing a wild panther in the Los Angeles area prior to the crusade, Hamblen carried a picture of a mountain lion – might have been the wild panther – in his wallet. The cat was in his refrigerator in the garage, Stuart Hamblen died March 8,1989, in Santa Monica, California of brain cancer. In his early career as a singing cowboy he composed his song Texas Plains and it was this song that Patsy Montana reworked into her million seller hit I Want to Be a Cowboys Sweetheart. Hamblen wrote the popular songs This Ole House and Open Up Your Heart, other songs include Hell Train, It Is No Secret and Blood on Your Hands. Some of his songs depict a rather wrathful version of the Gospel. It Is No Secret was written following his acceptance of Christ, after accepting the Lord, Hamblen was fired from his position as disc jockey because he refused to do alcohol commercials. John Wayne offered him a drink shortly thereafter, Hamblen refused saying It is no secret what the Lord can do, John Wayne said, You should write a song by that title. This Ole House was inspired while on a trip in the High Sierras with a friend. The two men came upon what looked like a shack, wherein they found the body of an elderly man
3.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
4.
1950 in music
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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1950. January 3 – Sam Phillips launches Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, march 14 – Pablo Casals terminates his recording contract with RCA Records and signs with their chief competitor, Columbia Records. June 26 - Louis Armstrong records the first American version of Cest si bon with the English lyrics by Jerry Seelen, august 29 – The first American Music Competition of the Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity is won by Richard Winslow for Huswifery, a choral composition for womens voices. August – Herbert Howells Hymnus Paradisi is premiered at the Three Choirs Festival, October 1 – Italian composer Luciano Berio marries American mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian. October 11 – On temporary release from Ellis Island pending a decision from U. S. immigration authorities. November – The Eleanor Steber Award is won by soprano Willabelle Underwood, johann Sebastian Bach is reburied in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig. Malcolm Sargent becomes chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, isaak Dunayevsky is named Peoples Artist of the USSR. Mitch Miller signs as A&R man with Columbia Records, Patti Page becomes the first artist to have a Number One record on the Pop, R&B and Country charts concurrently. Al Cernick is signed to Columbia by Mitch Miller, who changes the name to Guy Mitchell. Columbia Records lures Jo Stafford away from Capitol, Georgia Gibbs leaves the Majestic label and scores her first charting single with Coral. Bandleader Les Baxter founds the school of Outer Space exotica, Sam Cooke replaces R. H. Harris as lead singer of The Soul Stirrers. The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the set of charts available for 1950. A-Razz-A-Ma-Tazz – Georgia Gibbs All My Love – Patti Page Anema e core - Tito Schipa Are You Lonesome Tonight, hal David, Redd Evans & Arthur Altman Be My Love w. Sammy Cahn m. Nicholas Brodszky The Best Thing For You w. m. Sid Robin A Bushel And A Peck w. m, Frank Loesser Candy And Cake w. m. Bob Merrill Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy w. m, Harry Stone & Jack Stapp Choon Gum w. Mann Curtis m. Vic Mizzy Cold, Cold Heart w. m. Hank Williams The Cry of the Wild Goose w. m, Bob Hilliard & David Mann Domino w. Don Raye Jacques Plante m. Louis Ferrari Freight Train w. Paul James & Fred Williams m. trad arr. Elizabeth Cotton The French Can-Can Polka w. Jimmy Kennedy m. Jacques Offenbach From This Moment On w. m. Cole Porter Frosty the Snowman w. m, steve Nelson & Jack Rollins Fugue For Tinhorns w. m. Frank Loesser Get Out Those Old Records w. m, carmen Lombardo & John Jacob Loeb Gone Fishin w. m
5.
Country music
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Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the genre of United States, such as folk music. Blues modes have been used throughout its recorded history. The term country music is used today to many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe and Africa along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon, Bristol, Tennessee, has been formally recognized by the U. S. Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music, based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. Prior to these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a musical heritage. The first generation emerged in the early 1920s, with Atlantas music scene playing a role in launching countrys earliest recording artists. Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records in 1924, many hillbilly musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville, during the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Bob Wills was another musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a hot string band. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had played at Carnegie Hall. Gospel music remained a component of country music. It became known as honky tonk, and had its roots in Western swing and the music of Mexico. By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres
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Columbia Records
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Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
7.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
8.
Ernest Tubb
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Ernest Dale Tubb, 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, in 1948, he was the first singer to record a hit version of Blue Christmas, a song more commonly associated with Elvis Presley and his mid-1950s version. Another well-known Tubb hit was Waltz Across Texas, which 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, Tubb is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Tubb was born on a farm near Crisp, in Ellis County. His father was a sharecropper, so Tubb spent his working on farms throughout the state. He was inspired by Jimmie Rodgers and spent his time learning to sing, yodel. At age 19, he took a job as a singer on San Antonio radio station KONO-AM, the pay was low so Tubb also dug ditches for the Works Progress Administration and then clerked at a drug store. In 1939 he moved to San Angelo, Texas and was hired to do a 15-minute afternoon live show on radio station KGKL-AM. He drove a delivery truck in order to support himself during this time. In 1936, Tubb contacted Jimmie Rodgers’s widow to ask for an autographed photo, a friendship developed and she was instrumental in getting Tubb a recording contract with RCA. His first two records were unsuccessful, a tonsillectomy in 1939 affected his singing style so he turned to songwriting. In 1940 he switched to Decca records to try singing again and it sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc in 1965 by the RIAA. Tubb joined the Grand Ole Opry in February 1943 and put together his band, Tubbs first band members were from Gadsden, Alabama. They were, Vernon Toby Reese, Chester Studdard, and Ray Kemo Head and he remained a regular on the radio show for four decades, and hosted his own Midnite Jamboree radio show each Saturday night after the Opry. Tubb headlined the first Grand Ole Opry show presented in Carnegie Hall in New York City in September 1947, Tubb always surrounded himself with some of Nashvilles best musicians. Jimmy Short, his first guitarist in the Troubadours, is credited with the Tubb sound of single-string guitar picking, from about 1943 to 1948, Short featured clean, clear riffs throughout Tubbs songs. Actually a jazz musician, Byrd—no relation to Jerry—remained with Tubb until 1959, another Tubb musician was actually his producer, Owen Bradley
