1.
Tacoma, Washington
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Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city in and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washingtons Puget Sound,32 miles southwest of Seattle,31 miles northeast of the capital, Olympia. The population was 198,397, according to the 2010 census, Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third largest in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of activity for the South Sound region. Tacoma adopted its name after the nearby Mount Rainier, originally called Takhoma or Tahoma and it is locally known as the City of Destiny because the area was chosen to be the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the late 19th century. The decision of the railroad was influenced by Tacomas neighboring deep-water harbor, by connecting the bay with the railroad, Tacomas motto became When rails meet sails. Today, Commencement Bay serves the Port of Tacoma, a center of trade on the Pacific Coast. Like most central cities, Tacoma suffered a decline in the mid-20th century as a result of suburbanization. Neighborhoods such as the 6th Avenue District have become revitalized, tacoma-Pierce County has been named one of the most livable areas in the United States. In 2006, Tacoma was listed as one of the most walkable cities in the country and that same year, the womens magazine Self named Tacoma the Most Sexually Healthy City in the United States. In contrast, Tacoma was also ranked as the most stressed-out city in the country in a 2004 survey, Tacoma gained notoriety in 1940 for the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which earned the nickname Galloping Gertie. The city of Tacoma and surrounding areas were inhabited for thousands of years by American Indians, predominantly the Puyallup people, mcCarver, who named his project Tacoma City, derived from the indigenous name for the mountain. Tacoma was incorporated on November 12,1875, following the merger of Old Tacoma, the transcontinental link was effected in 1887, but the railroad built its depot on New Tacoma, two miles south of the Carr-McCarver development. The two communities together and joined. The population grew from 1,098 in 1880 to 36,006 in 1890, rudyard Kipling visited Tacoma in 1889 and said it was literally staggering under a boom of the boomiest. George Francis Train was a resident for a few years in the late 19th century, in 1890, he staged a global circumnavigation starting and ending in Tacoma to promote the city. A plaque in downtown Tacoma marks the start and finish line, in November 1885, white citizens led by then-mayor Jacob Weisbach expelled several hundred Chinese residents peacefully living in the city. The next day two Chinese settlements were burned to the ground, the discovery of gold in the Klondike in 1898 led Tacomas prominence in the region to be eclipsed by the booming development of Seattle
2.
Washington (state)
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It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. Washington is sometimes referred to as Washington State or the State of Washington to distinguish it from Washington, Washington is the 18th largest state with an area of 71,362 square miles, and the 13th most populous state with over 7 million people. Washington is the second most populous state on the West Coast and in the Western United States, Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano, is the states highest elevation at almost 14,411 feet and is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States. Washington is a leading lumber producer and its rugged surface is rich in stands of Douglas fir, hemlock, ponderosa pine, white pine, spruce, larch, and cedar. Manufacturing industries in Washington include aircraft and missiles, shipbuilding and other equipment, lumber, food processing, metals and metal products, chemicals. Washington has over 1,000 dams, including the Grand Coulee Dam, built for a variety of purposes including irrigation, power, flood control, the Washington Territory was named after George Washington, the first President of the United States. The area was part of a region called the Columbia District after the Columbia River. The area was renamed Washington in order to avoid confusion with the District of Columbia, Washington is the only U. S. state named after a president. To distinguish it from the U. S. capital, which is named for George Washington, Washington is sometimes referred to as Washington State, or, in more formal contexts. Washingtonians and other residents of the Pacific Northwest refer to the state simply as Washington, calling the nations capital Washington, D. C. or, often, Washington is the northwestern-most state of the contiguous United States. Washington is bordered by Oregon to the south, with the Columbia River forming the western part, to the west of Washington lies the Pacific Ocean. The high mountains of the Cascade Range run north-south, bisecting the state, from the Cascade Mountains westward, Western Washington has a mostly marine west coast climate, with mild temperatures and wet winters, autumns and springs, and relatively dry summers. The Cascade Range contains several volcanoes, which reach altitudes significantly higher than the rest of the mountains, from the north to the south, these major volcanoes are Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams. Mount Rainier, the tallest mountain in the state, is 50 miles south of the city of Seattle and it is also covered with more glacial ice than any other peak in the contiguous 48 states. Western Washington also is home of the Olympic Mountains, far west on the Olympic Peninsula and these deep forests, such as the Hoh Rainforest, are among the only temperate rainforests in the continental United States. Eastern Washington – the part of the state east of the Cascades – has a dry climate. It includes large areas of steppe and a few truly arid deserts lying in the rain shadow of the Cascades. Farther east, the climate becomes less arid, with annual rainfall increasing as one goes east to 21.2 inches in Pullman, the Okanogan Highlands and the rugged Kettle River Range and Selkirk Mountains cover much of the northeastern quadrant of the state
3.
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
4.
Carl Smith (country musician)
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Carl Milton Smith was an American country music singer. Known as Mister Country, Smith was the husband of June Carter and Goldie Hill, and he was one of countrys most successful male artists during the 1950s, with 30 Top 10 Billboard hits, including 21 in a row. Smiths success continued well into the 1970s, when he had a single every year except one. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, a native of Maynardville, Tennessee, Carl Smith aspired to a musical career after hearing the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. He sold seed to pay for guitar lessons as a teenager, at age 15, he started performing in a band called Kitty Dibble and Her Dude Ranch Ranglers. By age 17, he had learned to play the bass and spent his summer vacation working at WROL-AM in Knoxville, Tennessee. After graduating from school, he served in the U. S. Navy from 1944–47. He returned to WROL and played string bass for country singers Molly ODay and Skeets Williamson, a colleague at the station sent an acetate disc recording of Smith to WSM-AM and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and WSM soon signed him. In 1950, Smith was signed to a contract with Columbia Records by producer Don Law. In 1951, his song Lets Live a Little was a big hit, during 1951 he had up three other hits, including If the Teardrops Were Pennies and his first No.1 hit, Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way. The songs made Smith a well-known name in country music and his band, the Tunesmiths, featured steel guitarist Johnny Silbert, who added an element of Western swing. In 1952, Smith married June Carter, daughter of Maybelle Carter of the Carter Family and it was the first marriage for both. Junes third husband was Johnny Cash, in 1955 the couple had a daughter, Rebecca Carlene Smith, who later became known as Carlene Carter, a country singer in her own right. The couple recorded the duets, Times a Wastin and Love Oh Crazy Love, during the rest of the 1950s, Smith made regular appearances on Billboards country charts, racking up many hits, including 30 in the Top 10. His biggest hits include Loose Talk, Wicked Lies, Hey Joe. and he had five No.1 hits in his career, Loose Talk was his last, in 1955. Hey Joe. got to Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart for Frankie Laine in October 1953 for two weeks, some of his songs did, however, make the pop charts. His biggest pop entry was the song Ten Thousand Drums in 1959, in 1956, Smith quit the Grand Ole Opry. Soon after, he joined The Phillip Morris Country Music Show and spent more than a year touring the United States and he also made regular appearances on ABC-TVs Jubilee USA and was a fill-in host for Red Foley
5.
Pee Wee King
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Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski, known professionally as Pee Wee King, was an American country music songwriter and recording artist best known for co-writing Tennessee Waltz. King was born in Abrams, Wisconsin to a Polish American family and he learned to play the fiddle from his father, who was a professional polka musician. In the 1930s, he toured and made movies with Gene Autry. King joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1937, King and Stewart first recorded The Tennessee Waltz in 1948, and it went on to become a country music standard. Kings other songs included Slow Poke and You Belong to Me and his songs introduced waltzes, polkas, and cowboy songs to country music. King was not permitted to use the drummer and trumpeter he featured on his stage shows when the played at the Grand Ole Opry. His band also introduced on-stage dancing and Nudie Cohns customized rhinestone cowboy outfits to the Opry which later became popular with Nashville and country musicians and he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974. He died of an attack in Louisville, Kentucky, at age 86. Pee Wee King, RCA Victor,1954 Waltzes, RCA Victor,1955 Swing West, RCA Victor,1956 Country Barn Dance, Camden,1965 Ballroom King, Detour,1982 Hog Wild Too. Zu Zazz,1990 Pee Wee King and His Golden West Cowboys, Bear Family,1995 Pee Wee Kings Country Hoedown, Bloodshot,1999 Hall, in The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Pee Wee King at the Country Music Hall of Fame Pee Wee King at the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Pee Wee King at the Internet Movie Database Pee Wee King obit Pee Wee King biography
6.
Eddy Arnold
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Richard Edward Eddy Arnold was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s and he sold more than 85 million records. A member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Arnold was born on May 15,1918, on a farm near Henderson, Tennessee. His father, a sharecropper, played the fiddle, while his mother played guitar, Arnolds father died when he was just 11, forcing him to leave school and begin helping on the family farm. This led to him later gaining his nickname—the Tennessee Plowboy, one of his brothers, PFC John Hendrix Arnold, fought in World War II and died in the Normandy landings. Arnold attended Pinson High School in Pinson, Tennessee, where he played guitar for school functions and he quit before graduation to help with the farm work, but continued performing, often arriving on a mule with his guitar hung on his back. Arnold also worked part-time as an assistant at a mortuary, in 1934, at age 16, Arnold debuted musically on WTJS-AM in Jackson, Tennessee, and obtained a job there during 1937. He performed at nightclubs and was a permanent performer for the station. During 1938, he was hired by WMPS-AM in Memphis, Tennessee and he soon quit for KWK-AM in St. Louis, Missouri, followed by a brief stint at WHAS-AM in Louisville, Kentucky. He performed for WSM on the Grand Ole Opry during 1943 as a solo artist, in 1944, Arnold signed a contract with RCA Victor, with manager Colonel Tom Parker, who later managed Elvis Presley. Arnolds first single was noticed, but the next, Each Minute Seems a Million Years. Its success began a decade of unprecedented chart performance, Arnolds next 57 singles all ranked in the top 10, in 1946, Arnold scored his first major success with Thats How Much I Love You. In 1948, he had five songs on the charts simultaneously. That year, he had nine songs in the top 10, five of these were number one, with Parkers management, Arnold continued to dominate, with 13 of the 20 best-scoring country music songs of 1947–1948. He became the host of Mutual Radios Purina-sponsored segment of the Opry and of Mutuals Checkerboard Jamboree, recorded radio programs increased Arnolds popularity, as did the CBS Radio series Hometown Reunion with the Duke of Paducah. Arnold quit the Opry during 1948, and his Hometown Reunion briefly broadcast in competition with the Opry on Saturday nights, in 1949 and 1950, he performed in the Columbia movies Feudin’ Rhythm and Hoedown. Arnold began working for television in the early 1950s, hosting The Eddy Arnold Show, the summer program was broadcast successively by all three television networks, replacing the Perry Como and Dinah Shore programs. He also performed as a guest and a guest host on the ABC-TV show Ozark Jubilee from 1955–60, Arnold featured in the syndicated Eddy Arnold Time from 1955 to 1957
7.
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
