1.
Katharine Lee Bates
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Katharine Lee Bates was an American songwriter. She is remembered as the author of the words to the anthem America the Beautiful and she graduated from Needham High School in 1872, from Newton High School in 1875, and from Wellesley College with a B. A. in 1880. She taught at Natick High School during 1880–81 and at Dana Hall School from 1885 until 1889 and she returned to Wellesley as an instructor, then an associate professor 1891–93 when she was awarded an M. A. and became full professor of English literature. She studied at Oxford University during 1890–91, while teaching at Wellesley, she was elected a member of the newly formed Pi Gamma Mu honor society for the social sciences because of her interest in history and politics. Bates was an author of many volumes of poetry, travel books. She popularized Mrs. Claus in her poem Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride from the collection Sunshine and other Verses for Children. She said, Though born and bred in the Republican camp, I cannot bear their betrayal of Mr. Wilson and their rejection of the League of Nations, our one hope of peace on earth. In 1910, when a colleague described free-flying spinsters as fringe on the garment of life, Bates answered, I dont think I mind not being woven in. Bates died in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on September 28,1929, the historic home and birthplace of Bates in Falmouth, was sold to Ruth P. Clark in November 2013 for $1,200,000. Bates lived in Wellesley with Katharine Coman, who was a history, the pair lived together for twenty-five years until Comans death in 1915. Others contest the use of the term lesbian to describe such a Boston marriage, writes one, We cannot say with certainty what sexual connotations these relationships conveyed. We do know that these relationships were deeply intellectual, they fostered verbal and physical expressions of love. The first draft of America the Beautiful was hastily jotted down in a notebook during the summer of 1893, later she remembered, One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to 14, 000-foot Pikes Peak. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules, but when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse, the words to her only famous poem first appeared in print in The Congregationalist, a weekly journal, for Independence Day,1895. The poem reached an audience when her revised version was printed in the Boston Evening Transcript on November 19,1904. Her final expanded version was written in 1913, the hymn has been sung to several tunes, but the familiar one is by Samuel A. Ward, written for his hymn Materna. The Bates family home on Falmouths Main Street is preserved by the Falmouth Historical Society, there is also a street named in her honor, Katharine Lee Bates Road in Falmouth
2.
Samuel A. Ward
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Samuel Augustus Ward was an American organist and composer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he studied music in New York and he is remembered for the 1882 tune Materna, which he intended as a setting for the hymn O Mother Dear, Jerusalem. This was published ten years later, in 1892, Samuel Augustus Ward was the founder and first director of the still extant Orpheus Club of Newark, where he died in 1903 leaving no surviving children. Buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in the city, he was the last in an unbroken line of Samuel Wards, beginning with the Rhode Island Governor. Ward was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. A. Ward Samuel A. Ward at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Free scores by Samuel A. Ward at the International Music Score Library Project Free scores by Samuel A. Ward in the Choral Public Domain Library
3.
Grace Church (Newark)
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Grace Church in Newark, is an active and historic Episcopal Church located at 950 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey. The church building, designed by Richard Upjohn, who was also the architect of Trinity Church and it is widely esteemed as an outstanding example of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States. The church was built on the site of the old Essex County Courthouse, the tune for America the Beautiful, called Materna, was written here by the parish organist Samuel A. Ward in 1882. Grace remains widely known for its church, sacramental liturgy, or order of service, at the center of which. Incense, lights, and beautiful vestments are used, which render the ceremonial intelligible to all the senses, much of the congregation enthusiastically participates in the service. Music plays an important role in worship, at the 10,30 Mass on Sundays most of the liturgy is sung—some parts by the congregation and others by a small choir. The chants of the proper of the Mass are sung to their proper Gregorian Chant melodies, from September through June the choir sings other liturgical music of all periods, with emphasis on Renaissance polyphony. The choir often offers a mass setting including the Kyrie, Gloria, the congregation sings three hymns, the Credo, Sanctus, psalm refrain, and other responses. The organ is a 48-stop tracker instrument built by Casavant Frères in 1990, the Grace Church Music Society, organized in 2008, each year sponsors a series of recitals and concerts. The diverse congregation includes people from Africa and the Caribbean as well as Europeans, Caucasian Americans and its members are young and old, married and single, gay and straight. The parish is committed to Catholic faith and practice in The Episcopal Church, the Rev. Dr. J. Brent Bates became the parishs seventeenth rector in March 2011. James M. Hopkins is the director of music and he recently succeeded Joe Arndt who held the position from 2008-2015, and James McGregor, who held the position for the previous forty-eight years. Masses are offered on Sundays at 8, 00am and 10, 30am with Sunday School, additional family and youth activities are held weekly and forms of worship like Stations of the Cross and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament are held during Advent and Lent. National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, New Jersey Official Site Historical resources from Project Canterbury
4.
Independence Day (United States)
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It declared that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as a new nation, the United States of America, and were no longer part of the British Empire. Independence Day is the National Day of the United States, Congress debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, finally approving it two days later on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail, The second day of July,1776, I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, adamss prediction was off by two days. Most historians have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2,1776, although not a signer of the Declaration of Independence, James Monroe, another Founding Father who was elected as President, also died on July 4,1831. He was the third President in a row who died on the anniversary of independence, calvin Coolidge, the 30th President, was born on July 4,1872, so far he is the only U. S. President to have been born on Independence Day. In 1777 thirteen gunshots were fired in salute, once at morning and once again as evening fell, on July 4 in Bristol, ships in port were decked with red, white, and blue bunting. In 1778, from his headquarters at Ross Hall, near New Brunswick, New Jersey, General George Washington marked July 4 with a ration of rum for his soldiers. Across the Atlantic Ocean, ambassadors John Adams and Benjamin Franklin held a dinner for their fellow Americans in Paris, in 1779, July 4 fell on a Sunday. The holiday was celebrated on Monday, July 5, in 1781 the Massachusetts General Court became the first state legislature to recognize July 4 as a state celebration. In 1783, Moravians in Salem, North Carolina, held a celebration of July 4 with a music program assembled by Johann Friedrich Peter. This work was titled The Psalm of Joy and this is recognized as the first recorded celebration and is still celebrated there today. In 1870 the U. S. Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees, in 1938 Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday. Independence Day is a holiday marked by patriotic displays. Similar to other summer-themed events, Independence Day celebrations often take place outdoors, Independence Day is a federal holiday, so all non-essential federal institutions are closed on that day. Many politicians make it a point on day to appear at a public event to praise the nations heritage, laws, history, society. Families often celebrate Independence Day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbecue, many take advantage of the day off and, in some years, decorations are generally colored red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag
5.
Wellesley College
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Wellesley College is a private womens liberal arts college located west of Boston in the town of Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, Wellesley is home to 56 departmental and interdepartmental majors spanning the liberal arts, as well as over 150 student clubs and organizations. The college is known for allowing its students to cross-register at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brandeis, Babson College. Wellesley athletes compete in the NCAA Division III New England Womens and Mens Athletic Conference, in 2016, Wellesley was ranked the third best liberal arts college in the United States by U. S. News & World Report and first on The Princeton Review Best Professors list. Also, Forbes magazine in 2015 ranked Wellesley 26th among all U. S. colleges and universities. Wellesley is currently the highest endowed womens college in the world, with an endowment of nearly $1.8 billion, notable alumnae include Hillary Rodham Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Soong Mei-ling, Cokie Roberts, and Diane Sawyer. Its charter was signed on March 17,1870, by Massachusetts Governor William Claflin, the original name of the college was the Wellesley Female Seminary, its renaming to Wellesley College was approved by the Massachusetts legislature on March 7,1873. Wellesley first opened its doors to students on September 8,1875, the first president of Wellesley was Ada Howard. The original architecture of the college consisted of one large building, College Hall. From its completion in 1875 until its destruction by fire in 1914, on March 17,1914, College Hall was destroyed by fire, the precise cause of which was never officially established. The fire was first noticed by students who lived on the floor near the zoology laboratory. It has been suggested that an electrical or chemical accident in this laboratory—specifically, a group of residence halls, known as the Tower Court complex, are located on top of the hill where the old College Hall once stood. After the loss of the central College Hall in 1914, the adopted a master plan in 1921. The campus hosted a Naval Reserve Officer training program during the Second World War and began to revise its curriculum after the war. The 500-acre campus includes Lake Waban, evergreen and deciduous woodlands and he also wrote, I must admit that the exceedingly intricate and complex topography and the peculiarly scattered arrangement of most of the buildings somewhat baffled me. The original master plan for Wellesleys campus landscape was developed by Olmsted, Arthur Shurcliff and this landscape-based concept represented a break from the architecturally-defined courtyard and quadrangle campus arrangement that was typical of American campuses at the time. The most recent master plan for Wellesley College was completed in 1998 by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, according to the designers, this plan was intended to restore and recapture the original landscape character of the campus that had been partially lost as the campus evolved through the 20th century. In 2011, Wellesley was listed by Travel+Leisure as one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States
6.
Colorado Springs, Colorado
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Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in the east central portion of the state and it is situated on Fountain Creek and is located 60 miles south of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. At 6,035 feet the city stands over 1 mile above sea level, Colorado Springs is situated near the base of one of the most famous American mountains, Pikes Peak, rising above 14,000 feet on the eastern edge of the Southern Rocky Mountains. The city is home to 24 national governing bodies of sport, the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic Training Center. The city had an population of 456,568 in 2015, ranking as the second most populous city in the state of Colorado, behind Denver. The Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an population of 712,327 in 2016. The city covers 194.9 square miles, making it the most extensive municipality in Colorado, Colorado Springs was ranked number five by U. S. News & World Report on the list of 2016 Best Places to Live in the USA. The Ute, Arapaho and Cheyenne peoples were the first to inhabit the area which would become Colorado Springs, part of the territory included in the United States 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the current city area was designated part of the 1854 Kansas Territory. In 1859, after the first local settlement was established, it part of the Jefferson Territory on October 24. Colorado City at the Front Range confluence of Fountain and Camp creeks was formally organized on August 13,1859 during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. It served as the capital of the Colorado Territory from November 5,1861, until August 14,1862, in 1871 the Colorado Springs Company laid out the towns of La Font and Fountain Colony, upstream and downstream respectively, of Colorado City. Within a year, Fountain Colony would be renamed Colorado Springs, the El Paso County seat shifted from Colorado City in 1873 to the Town of Colorado Springs. On December 1,1880, Colorado Springs expanded northward with two annexations, the second period of annexations was during 1889–90, and included Seaveys Addition, West Colorado Springs, East End, and another North End addition. In 1891 the Broadmoor Land Company built the Broadmoor suburb, which included the Broadmoor Casino, and by December 12,1895, by 1898, the city was designated into quadrants by the north-south Cascade Avenue and the east-west Washington/Pikes Peak avenues. From 1899 to 1901 Tesla Experimental Station operated on Knob Hill, alexander Airport north of the city opened in 1925, and in 1927 the original Colorado Springs Municipal Airport land was purchased east of the city. In World War II the United States Army Air Forces leased land adjacent to the municipal airfield and this was only one of several military presences in and around Colorado Springs during the war. In November 1950, Ent Air Force Base was selected as the Cold War headquarters for Air Defense Command. The former WWII Army Air Base, Peterson Field, which had been inactivated at the end of the war, was re-opened in 1951 as a U. S. Air Force base
7.
Colorado College
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The Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, near the foot of the Rocky Mountains. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell, the college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its 90-acre campus,70 miles south of Denver. The college offers 42 majors and 33 minors, and has a student-faculty ratio of 10,1, famous alumni include Ken Salazar, Lynne Cheney, James Heckman, and Marc Webb. Colorado College is affiliated with the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, Most sports teams are in the NCAA Division III, with the exception of Division I teams in mens hockey and womens soccer. Colorado College was founded in 1874 on land designated by U. S. Civil War veteran General William Jackson Palmer, founder Thomas Nelson Haskell, described it as a coeducational liberal arts college in the tradition of Oberlin College. Like many U. S. colleges and universities that have endured from the 19th century, it now is secular in outlook, Cutler Hall, the colleges first building, was completed in 1880 and the first degrees were conferred in 1882. The Beta-Omega Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity was chartered in 1904, William F. Slocum, president from 1888 to 1917, oversaw the initial building of the campus, expanded the library and recruited top scholars in a number of fields. In 1930 Shove Chapel was erected by Mr. John Gray, katharine Lee Bates wrote America the Beautiful during her summer teaching position at Colorado College in 1893. The tune has become somewhat of a school anthem for Colorado College and is commonly sung at commencement. In addition to its programs, the college offers a Master of Arts in Teaching degree. Tutt Library has approximately half a million bound volumes, in 2012, Colorado College yielded a student-to-faculty ratio of 10,1. Blocks are only three weeks long during the session, during which there are also graduate blocks of differing lengths. In parallel with the students, professors teach only one block at a time, classes are generally capped at 25 students to encourage a more personalized academic experience. In its 2017 edition, U. S. News & World Report ranks Colorado College as tied for 24th-best liberal arts college in the nation and No.2 among the most innovative national liberal arts colleges. The most innovative schools are making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life. Kiplingers Personal Finance places Colorado College 22nd in its 2016 ranking of best value liberal arts colleges in the United States, in 2016, Forbes rated it 57th overall in Americas Top Colleges, which ranked 660 national universities and liberal arts colleges. CC is considered a Hidden Ivy, CC was also ranked 19th on Newsweeks Most Desirable Urban Schools list in the same year. In 2012, Colorado College placed 12th in Niches Colleges with the Happiest Students, Colorado College is considered a most selective school by U. S. News & World Report
8.
World's Columbian Exposition
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The Worlds Columbian Exposition was a worlds fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbuss arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, the water pool, represented the long voyage Columbus took to the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D. C. the Exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on architecture, sanitation, the arts, Chicagos self-image, and American industrial optimism. The layout of the Chicago Columbian Exposition was, in part, designed by John Wellborn Root, Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted. It was the prototype of what Burnham and his colleagues thought a city should be and it was designed to follow Beaux Arts principles of design, namely French neoclassical architecture principles based on symmetry, balance, and splendor. The color of the generally used to cover the buildings facades gave the fairgrounds its nickname. Many prominent architects designed its 14 great buildings, artists and musicians were featured in exhibits and many also made depictions and works of art inspired by the exposition. The exposition covered more than 600 acres, featuring nearly 200 new buildings of predominantly neoclassical architecture, canals and lagoons, more than 27 million people attended the exposition during its six-month run. Dedication ceremonies for the fair were held on October 21,1892, the fair continued until October 30,1893. On October 9,1893, the day designated as Chicago Day, the debt for the fair was soon paid off with a check for $1.5 million. Chicago has commemorated the fair one of the stars on its municipal flag. Schwab, Chicago railroad and manufacturing magnate John Whitfield Bunn, and Connecticut banking, insurance, the fair was planned in the early 1890s during the Gilded Age of rapid industrial growth, immigration, and class tension. Worlds fairs, such as Londons 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition, had been successful in Europe as a way to bring together societies fragmented along class lines, the first American attempt at a worlds fair in Philadelphia in 1876, drew crowds but was a financial failure. Nonetheless, ideas about distinguishing the 400th anniversary of Columbus landing started in the late 1880s. Civic leaders in St. Louis, New York City, Washington DC and Chicago expressed an interest in hosting a fair to generate profits, boost real estate values, Congress was called on to decide the location. What finally persuaded Congress was Chicago banker Lyman Gage, who raised several million dollars in a 24-hour period, over. The exposition corporation and national exposition commission settled on Jackson Park, Daniel H. Burnham was selected as director of works, and George R. Davis as director-general. Burnham emphasized architecture and sculpture as central to the fair and assembled the periods top talent to design the buildings, the temporary buildings were designed in an ornate Neoclassical style and painted white, resulting in the fair site being referred to as the “White City”
9.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
10.
Kansas
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Kansas /ˈkænzəs/ is a U. S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas is named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribes name is said to mean people of the wind or people of the south wind. For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous, tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. When it was opened to settlement by the U. S. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided. The abolitionists eventually prevailed, and on January 29,1861, after the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. By 2015, Kansas was one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles is the 15th largest state by area and is the 34th most populous of the 50 United States with a population of 2,911,641, residents of Kansas are called Kansans, officially. Mount Sunflower is Kansass highest point at 4,041 feet, for a millennia, the land that is currently Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. The first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, in 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, from 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today. In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state, the Kansas–Nebraska Act became law on May 30,1854, establishing the U. S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas, and opening the area to broader settlement by whites. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado Springs, Missouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Kansas all along its eastern border. These settlers attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery, the secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Directly presaging the American Civil War, these forces collided, entering into skirmishes that earned the territory the name of Bleeding Kansas, Kansas was admitted to the United States as a free state on January 29,1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. He was roundly condemned by both the conventional Confederate military and the partisan rangers commissioned by the Missouri legislature and his application to that body for a commission was flatly rejected due to his pre-war criminal record
11.
Great Plains
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The region is known for supporting extensive cattle ranching and dry farming. The Canadian portion of the Plains is known as the Prairies, some geographers include some territory of northern Mexico in the Plains, but many stop at the Rio Grande. The term Great Plains is used in the United States to describe a sub-section of the even more vast Interior Plains physiographic division and it also has currency as a region of human geography, referring to the Plains Indians or the Plains States. There is no region referred to as the Great Plains in The Atlas of Canada, in terms of human geography, the term prairie is more commonly used in Canada, and the region is known as the Prairie Provinces or simply the Prairies. The region is about 500 mi east to west and 2,000 mi north to south, much of the region was home to American bison herds until they were hunted to near extinction during the mid/late 19th century. It has an area of approximately 500,000 sq mi, current thinking regarding the geographic boundaries of the Great Plains is shown by this map at the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The term Great Plains, for the region west of about the 96th or 98th meridian, nevin Fennemans 1916 study, Physiographic Subdivision of the United States, brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. Before that the region was almost invariably called the High Plains, today the term High Plains is used for a subregion of the Great Plains. The Great Plains are the westernmost portion of the vast North American Interior Plains, during the Cretaceous Period, the Great Plains were covered by a shallow inland sea called the Western Interior Seaway. However, during the Late Cretaceous to the Paleocene, the seaway had begun to recede, leaving thick marine deposits. During the Cenozoic era, specifically about 25 million years ago during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, existing forest biomes declined and grasslands became much more widespread. The grasslands provided a new niche for mammals, including many ungulates and glires, traditionally, the spread of grasslands and the development of grazers have been strongly linked. The vast majority of animals became extinct in North America at the end of the Pleistocene. In general, the Great Plains have a variety of weather through the year, with very cold and harsh winters and very hot. Wind speeds are very high, especially in winter. Grasslands are among the least protected biomes, humans have converted much of the prairies for agricultural purposes or to create pastures. The Great Plains have dust storms mostly every year or so, the 100th meridian roughly corresponds with the line that divides the Great Plains into an area that receive 20 in or more of rainfall per year and an area that receives less than 20 in. The region is subjected to extended periods of drought, high winds in the region may then generate devastating dust storms
12.
Pikes Peak
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Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The ultra-prominent 14, 115-foot fourteener is located in Pike National Forest,12.0 miles west by south of downtown Colorado Springs, the mountain is named in honor of American explorer Zebulon Pike, who was unable to reach the summit. The summit is higher than any point in the United States east of its longitude, Pikes Peak is one of Colorados 53 fourteeners, mountains more than 14,000 feet above sea level. The mountain rises 8,000 ft above downtown Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak is a designated National Historic Landmark. Tava or “sun, ” is the Ute word that was given by these first people to the mountain that we now call Pikes Peak, the band of Ute people who called the Pikes Peak region their home were the Tabeguache, meaning the People of Sun Mountain. The Ute people first arrived in Colorado about 500 A. D. although their traditions say they were created on Pikes Peak, in the 1800s, when the Arapaho people arrived in Colorado, they knew the mountain as Heey-otoyoo’ meaning Long Mountain. Early Spanish explorers named the mountain El Capitán meaning The Leader, American explorer Zebulon Pike named the mountain Highest Peak in 1806, and the mountain was later commonly known as Pikes Highest Peak. American explorer Stephen Harriman Long named the mountain James Peak in honor of Edwin James who climbed to the summit in 1820, the mountain was later renamed Pikes Peak in honor of Pike. The name was simplified to Pikes Peak by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1890, Pikes Peak is composed of a characteristic pink granite called Pikes Peak granite. The color is due to an amount of potassium feldspar. Through the process of uplifting, the hardened rock pushed through the Earths crust and created a dome-like mountain, years of erosion and weathering removed the soil and rock leaving the exposed mountain. Soils on Pikes Peak are classified as Cirque Land above timberline, the first Europeans to discover Pikes Peak were the Spanish in the 1700s. The first American sighting is credited to members of the Pike expedition. After a failed attempt to climb to the top in November 1806, Pike wrote in his journal. here we found the snow middle deep, the thermometer which stood at 9° above 0 at the foot of the mountain, here fell to 4° below 0. The first European-American to climb the peak came 14 years after Pike, Edwin James, a young student who had just graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont, signed on as the relief botanist for Stephen Harriman Longs expedition after the first botanist had died. The expedition explored the South Platte River up as far as present-day Denver, then turned south, James and two other men left the expedition, camped on the plains, and climbed the peak in two days, encountering little difficulty. Along the way, James was the first to describe the blue columbine, Gold was discovered in the area of present-day Denver in 1858, and newspapers referred to the gold-mining area as Pikes Peak. Pikes Peak or Bust became the slogan of the Colorado Gold Rush and this was more due to Pikes Peaks visibility to gold seekers traveling west across the plains than any actual significant gold find anywhere near Pikes Peak
13.
Antlers Hotel (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
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The Antlers is a Wyndham Hotel located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It opened in 1967 and is the hotel of that name on the same site. The first Antlers Hotel was built in 1883 and burned down in 1898, the second Antlers Hotel, completed in 1901, was torn down in 1964 to make way for the current Antlers. The hotel site is located in the center of downtown Colorado Springs, on Cascade Avenue, the hotel is near the former Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad depot building and Antlers Park and adjacent to the Antlers Garage. The downtown hotel has 292 rooms, including seven executive suites, within the hotel are an indoor pool, health club, day spa, beauty salon, restaurant, and a pub. In June 1883, twelve years after he founded the City of Colorado Springs and it was named for the large elk and deer racks that Palmer installed in the hotel. It had 75 unique guest rooms, a room, Turkish Bath, childrens playroom, billiards room. The hotel had gas lights, steam heat, hot and cold water, and it was unusually elegant for a hotel in the west. Palmer contributed $125,000 towards the cost of its construction and it was an elegant hotel with commanding views of Pikes Peak,200 rooms, a restaurant, the Rose Ballroom, fireproof walls, tapestries, and mosaic floors. Presidents who visited the hotel include Theodore Roosevelt, who gave a speech off a balcony in 1901, and Warren G. Harding, William Henry Harrison. William Jackson Palmer died in 1909, after which Spencer Penrose attempted to buy the hotel, the second Antlers Hotel building was torn down after September 20,1964, when the last guest checked out. The current structure was built by Western International Hotels and opened on March 20,1967 as the Antlers Plaza Hotel, the hotel is about 170 feet tall with 14 floors. The Antlers hotel was remodeled for $24,000,000 in 1989-1990, in 1998, the hotel, then operating as the Antlers Doubletree Hotel, was sold to the Adams Mark Hotels & Resorts for $35.4 million. It was renamed the Antlers Adams Mark, the hotel was purchased for $27.2 million in 2003 by a joint venture of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Group and Pyramid Hotel Group, which then spent an estimated $7.5 million in renovations. When it announced the renovations to the 292 room hotel, the changed its name from Antlers Adams Mark Hotel to Antlers Hilton Hotel. A limited liability company of LNR Partners of Miami Beach, Florida, the hotel went into foreclosure and was purchased by an entity of LNR Partners at a foreclosure auction in December 2013. On October 27,2015, the property was purchased by attorneys Perry R. Sanders, Jr. the new owners quickly dropped the Hilton name, renaming the hotel simply The Antlers. On September 29,2016, the hotel joined Wyndham Hotels as The Antlers, in 1927, there were 24 hotels in downtown Colorado Springs, and as of 2015, the Antlers and the Mining Exchange are the only remaining downtown hotels
14.
Hymn tune
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A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm, editors bring extensive knowledge of theology, poetry, and music to the process of compiling a new hymnal. Ideally, a hymn is set out in clear, unambiguous language, although it deals with profound thoughts, a hymn states them so simply and directly that he who runs may read and understand. Simplicity, which is the servant of clarity, is the first characteristic of hymnic expression, when editors choose a text for the planned collection, it may already be paired to a tune that supports its meaning, catches its spirit, and allows for congregational participation. This pairing may be used elsewhere, even recognized, appearing in many other hymnals. However, if a hymn has been linked to a tune the editors think is not the best partner for it, partnerships of texts and tunes can give special attention to the interpretive opportunities in a text by providing artistic support of the message through its musical setting. Often the author of a text has not composed a setting of text or otherwise paired the text to a particular tune. It then becomes the challenge to complement that text with a tune for publication. Where the meter of a text is regular, editors can choose an existing tune of the meter that fits the text, often there is more than just one good possible partner available. If one refers to the hymnals metrical index, more possible tunes may be found, of the same meter, in The Anatomy of Hymnody, Austin C. Lovelace explores the relevance of the meter to a text, a meter of few syllables, perhaps with a trochaic stress pattern, fits best an exhortive or forceful declamation of ideas. A stirring, motivating text will fit this meter well, using a more lyrical meter suggests a more expansive or introspective treatment of ideas. An author may have superb ideas but may have chosen a meter which exhorts when it should be expansive, in such cases the editor is challenged to achieve an overall fit which doesnt distract from the message of the text. Editorial skills are evident in the credits of some hymns. For the well-loved and great hymn, All Creatures of Our God and King and it is wedded to the tune Lasst uns erfreuen, first printed in the Geistliches Kirchengesangbuch, dated 1623, and is presented with a harmonization by Ralph Vaughan Williams, dated 1906. Some texts become associated with several tunes, for different reasons, some tunes set numerous texts. Wareham LM, melody William Knapp, alt. harm, Hymns Ancient and Modern,1875, after James Turle, sets three texts in Hymnal 1982. It has supported more than 20 texts in various hymnals, the practice of naming hymn tunes developed to help identify a particular tune
15.
Coney Island
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The site was formerly an outer barrier island but became partially connected to the rest of Long Island by land fill. Coney Island is well known as the site of amusement parks, the attractions reached a historical peak during the first half of the 20th century, declining in popularity after World War II and years of neglect. Coney Island is the westernmost part of the islands of Long Island. At its highest it is 7 feet above sea level, the perimeter of Coney Island features man made structures designed to maintain its current shape. The beaches are not a natural feature with replenishing sand being cut off by the jetty at Breezy Point. Sand has been redeposited on the beaches via beach nourishment since 1922-1923, the first such project ever, Sheepshead Bay on the east side is, for the most part, enclosed in bulkheads. The original Native American inhabitants of the region, the Lenape and this name has been attributed the meaning of land without shadows or always in light describing how its south facing beaches always remained in sunlight. A second meaning attributed to Narrioch is point or corner of land, the Dutch established the colony of Nieuw Amsterdam in that area in the early 17th century. The western most island was Coney Island, a 1.25 mile shifting sandspit with an island at its western end extending into Lower New York Bay. East of Coney was originally a peninsula called Coney Hook but in 1750 a canal was dug through the Coney Hook salt-marsh from Brown’s creek east to Hubbard’s creek. This connection to the waterways behind the islands allowed shipping traffic to travel from Jamaica Bay to New York Harbor without having to venture out into the ocean, the canal turned Coney Hook into a detached half mile long island called Pine Island, due to the woods on it. East of Pine was the largest section of island called Gysberts or Guisberts Island, containing most of the land and extending east through todays Brighton Beach. Each island was separated by an inlet that could only be crossed at low tide, Development of the island was slow over the period of the Dutch occupation up through the early 1800s due to land disputes and the intervening Revolutionary War and War of 1812. By the early 1800s there were only a handful of farms across the entire island. There is no historical consensus on how the island got the name Coney Island, a name, in the form of Conyne Eylandt. Development on Coney Island has always been controversial, when the first structures were built around the 1830s, there was an outcry to prevent any development on the island and preserve it as a natural park. Starting in the early 1900s, the City of New York made efforts to all buildings. It was an effort to reclaim the beach which by then had almost completely built over with bath houses, clam bars, amusements
16.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
17.
John F. Kennedy
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Kennedy was a member of the Democratic Party, and his New Frontier domestic program was largely enacted as a memorial to him after his death. Kennedy also established the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, Kennedys time in office was marked by high tensions with Communist states. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam by a factor of 18 over President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in Cuba, a failed attempt was made at the Bay of Pigs to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro in April 1961. He subsequently rejected plans by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to orchestrate false-flag attacks on American soil in order to gain approval for a war against Cuba. After military service in the United States Naval Reserve in World War II and he was elected subsequently to the U. S. Senate and served as the junior Senator from Massachusetts from 1953 until 1960. Kennedy defeated Vice President, and Republican presidential candidate, Richard Nixon in the 1960 U. S, at age 43, he became the youngest elected president and the second-youngest president. Kennedy was also the first person born in the 20th century to serve as president, to date, Kennedy has been the only Roman Catholic president and the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22,1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested that afternoon and determined to have fired the shots that hit the President from a sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository. Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald two days later in a jail corridor, then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded Kennedy after he died in the hospital. The FBI and the Warren Commission officially concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin, the majority of Americans alive at the time of the assassination, and continuing through 2013, believed that there was a conspiracy and that Oswald was not the only shooter. Since the 1960s, information concerning Kennedys private life has come to light, including his health problems, Kennedy continues to rank highly in historians polls of U. S. presidents and with the general public. His average approval rating of 70% is the highest of any president in Gallups history of systematically measuring job approval and his grandfathers P. J. Kennedy and Boston Mayor John F. Fitzgerald were both Massachusetts politicians. All four of his grandparents were the children of Irish immigrants, Kennedy had an elder brother, Joseph Jr. and seven younger siblings, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert, Jean, and Ted. Kennedy lived in Brookline for ten years and attended the Edward Devotion School, the Noble and Greenough Lower School, and the Dexter School through 4th grade. In 1927, the Kennedy family moved to a stately twenty-room, Georgian-style mansion at 5040 Independence Avenue in the Hudson Hill neighborhood of Riverdale, Bronx and he attended the lower campus of Riverdale Country School, a private school for boys, from 5th to 7th grade. Two years later, the moved to 294 Pondfield Road in the New York City suburb of Bronxville, New York. The Kennedy family spent summers at their home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in September 1930, Kennedy—then 13 years old—attended the Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut. In late April 1931, he required an appendectomy, after which he withdrew from Canterbury, in September 1931, Kennedy attended Choate, a boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, for 9th through 12th grade
18.
The Star-Spangled Banner
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The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States of America. Key was inspired by the large American flag, the Star-Spangled Banner, the poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a mens social club in London. To Anacreon in Heaven, with lyrics, was already popular in the United States. Set to Keys poem and renamed The Star-Spangled Banner, it became a well-known American patriotic song. With a range of one octave and one fifth, it is known for being difficult to sing, although the poem has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today. Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom, hail, Columbia served this purpose at official functions for most of the 19th century. My Country, Tis of Thee, whose melody is identical to God Save the Queen, following the War of 1812 and subsequent American wars, other songs emerged to compete for popularity at public events, among them The Star-Spangled Banner, as well as America the Beautiful. Beanes was accused of aiding the arrest of British soldiers, because Key and Skinner had heard details of the plans for the attack on Baltimore, they were held captive until after the battle, first aboard HMS Surprise and later back on HMS Minden. On the morning of September 14, the flag had been lowered. During the bombardment, HMS Terror and HMS Meteor provided some of the bombs bursting in air, Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort. This flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, had made by Mary Young Pickersgill together with other workers in her home on Baltimores Pratt Street. The flag later came to be known as the Star-Spangled Banner and is today on display in the National Museum of American History and it was restored in 1914 by Amelia Fowler, and again in 1998 as part of an ongoing conservation program. Aboard the ship the day, Key wrote a poem on the back of a letter he had kept in his pocket. At twilight on September 16, he and Skinner were released in Baltimore and he completed the poem at the Indian Queen Hotel, where he was staying, and titled it Defence of Fort MHenry. Much of the idea of the poem, including the flag imagery and some of the wording, is derived from a song by Key. The song, known as When the Warrior Returns, was written in honor of Stephen Decatur, absent elaboration by Francis Scott Key prior to his death in 1843, some have speculated in modern times about the meaning of phrases or verses. Professor Mark Clague has stated that the two verses of Keys lyric vilify the British enemy in the War of 1812 and in no way glorifies or celebrates slavery. Clague asserts that the used to refer to British professional soldiers but also the Corps of Colonial Marines which Key viewed as scoundrels
19.
Tiangong-1
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Tiangong-1 is Chinas first prototype space station, serving as both a manned laboratory and an experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities. Tiangong-1 was visited by a series of Shenzhou spacecraft during its operational lifetime. The first of these, the unmanned Shenzhou 8, successfully docked with the module in November 2011, a third and final mission to Tiangong-1, the manned Shenzhou 10, docked in June 2013. The manned missions to Tiangong-1 were notable for including Chinas first female astronauts, on 21 March 2016, after two years of extended lifespan, the Space Engineering Office announced that Tiangong-1 had officially ended its service. They went on to state that the link with Tiangong-1 had been lost. A couple of later, amateur satellite trackers watching Tiangong-1 began to speculate that Chinas space agency had lost control of the station. In September, after conceding they had lost control over the station, officials announced that the station would re-enter, the China National Space Administration designed Tiangong-1 as an 8. 5-tonne space-laboratory module, capable of supporting the docking of manned and autonomous spacecraft. In 2008, the China Manned Space Engineering Office released a description of Tiangong-1, along with its larger successor modules, Tiangong-2. A model of the station was revealed in the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration program on CCTV on 25 January 2009. On 29 September 2008, Zhāng Jiànqǐ, vice-director of the CMSEO, xinhua later stated that Tiangong-1 would be launched in late 2010, and declared that the renovation of ground equipment was in progress. However, the launch did not ultimately take place until 2011, by mid-2011, the construction of Tiangong-1 was complete, and its systems and thermal properties were undergoing testing. Tiangong-1 has a habitable volume of approximately 15 cubic metres. Structurally, Tiangong-1 is divided into two sections, a resource module, which mounts its solar panels and propulsion systems. Tiangong-1s experimental module is equipped with gear and two sleep stations. The interior walls of the spacecraft have a paint scheme – one color representative of the ground. This is intended to help the astronauts maintain their orientation in zero gravity, high-resolution interior cameras allow manned missions to be closely monitored from the ground, and the two sleep stations have individual lighting controls. Toilet facilities and cooking equipment for the missions are provided by the docked Shenzhou spacecraft. Similarly, one member of the modules three-person crew sleeps in the Shenzhou spacecraft, Tiangong-1 was originally intended to be launched in August 2011, and was delivered to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 23 July, successfully passing a launch rehearsal test on 17 August
20.
United States Navy Band
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The United States Navy Band, based at the historic Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D. C. has served the nation as the official musical organization of the United States Navy since 1925. The band performs all styles of music — from ceremonial pieces such as ruffles and flourishes to classical, rock, jazz, since its official designation in 1925, the United States Navy Band has grown into a diverse organization of multiple performing units. There are also chamber music groups. The multiple ensembles help to meet the demand for different types of music as well as the needs of Navy recruiting. The United States Navy Band is composed of 172 enlisted musicians and four officers, the Concert Band is the Navys premier wind ensemble. This band, along with the Ceremonial Band, was part of the original Navy Band in 1925, the group plays concerts in the Washington, D. C. area, and performs a month-long national tour each year. The Ceremonial Band performs ceremonies in and around the Washington, D. C. area and their main mission is performing for funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. Additionally, the Ceremonial Band performs change of commands, retirements, patriotic openers, wreath-layings and arrivals. In 1956, Lt. Harold Fultz, then the assistant leader, organized a group from the Navy School of Music to sing chanteys. In 1980, the group added women to their ranks and expanded their repertoire to include everything from Brahms to Broadway, since their founding in 1969, the Commodores have become one of the most acclaimed jazz ensembles in the country. The seven-member group was formed in 1973 and quickly established itself in all aspects of country, the group is under the direction of banjoist Senior Chief Musician Keith M. Arneson. As the Navys premier contemporary entertainment ensemble, the Cruisers, feature eight of the Navys most dynamic performers, the group was formed in 1999. The earliest music of the United States Navy was the Shantymans Song and these melodies of the sea helped soften the rigors of shipboard life. Next came trumpeters, drummers and fifers who were carried on the frigates to sound calls, give general orders. Military bands became a section of the crew on many Navy vessels. The development of shore-based bands in the 19th century led to the creation of the Naval Academy Band, other band units afloat and ashore played a major role in promoting the morale of sailors and civilians alike. At the start of World War I many outstanding musicians left their famous orchestras and joined the United States Navy, in 1916, a 16-piece band from the battleship USS Kansas was ordered to the Washington Navy Yard to augment a 17-piece band aboard the Presidential Yacht Mayflower. The new unit known as the Washington Navy Yard Band and was given rehearsal space near the power plants coal pile
21.
United States Army Band
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The United States Army Band, also known as Pershings Own, is the premier musical organization of the United States Army, founded in 1922. Before 2002, the United States Army Band was the only Washington-based military band to have participated in a theater of combat operations. S. Army Herald Trumpets, The Army Strings, and The Army Brass Quintet. The United States Army Band was established on January 25,1922 by General of the Armies John J. Pershing, in its early years, the band was featured on RCA, CBS, the Mutual Broadcasting Network, and other networks. The band also completed four tours between 1928 and 1931 and was noted for its professionalism during a trip to Spain for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. In June 1943, the United States Army Band was called overseas to perform in North Africa, the band received a campaign streamer for their efforts during the Rhineland Campaign. Notable musicians included Metropolitan Opera bass Jerome Hines, composers Paul Hindemith and Percy Grainger, similarly, several well-known entertainers and recording artists were band members during this period. Eddie Fisher, Robert Dini, and Steve Lawrence were very popular during the 1950s, as were harpist Lloyd Lindroth, future Metropolitan Opera tenor George Shirley, throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the United States Army Band continued to perform and serve with distinction. In 1963, the participated in the state funeral of John F. Kennedy with Army Band Bugler Keith Clark performing Taps during final interment at Arlington National Cemetery. Brucker Hall, the training and performance facility, was constructed in the mid-1970s. Also during this era, the Army Blues, the Army Brass Quintet, the Army Chorale, in 1984, the band recorded and participated in the filming of Francis Ford Coppolas movie Gardens of Stone. In November 1997, the United States Army Band culminated its rich 75-year history with a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Guest artists included Walter Cronkite, Charles Osgood, and Metropolitan Opera stars Roberta Peters, in April 2000, Colonel Gary F. Lamb returned to the United States Army Band and this was the first time since 1945 that members of the band performed in a theater of foreign operations. Other celebrities that have accompanied recent tours include country singer Mark Wills, comedian Al Franken, Colonel Lamb retired in June 2005 and was succeeded by Colonel Thomas Rotondi, Jr. whose previous assignment was Commander/Conductor of the United States Military Academy Band in West Point, New York. The U. S. Army Band official website The short film A NATION SINGS is available for download at the Internet Archive
22.
Bing Crosby
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Harry Lillis Bing Crosby, Jr. was an American singer and actor. The first multimedia star, from 1931 to 1954 Crosby was a leader in sales, radio ratings. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations such as the microphone and this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Dean Martin. Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music, in 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. He is one of only 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, Crosby influenced the development of the postwar recording industry. He became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. In addition to his work with early tape recording, he helped to finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, Crosby died at the age of 74 on October 14,1977, from a sudden heart attack in Alcobendas, Spain. Crosby was born on May 2,1903 in Tacoma, Washington, in 1906, Crosbys family moved to Spokane, and in 1913, Crosbys father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Avenue. The house now sits on the campus of Crosbys alma mater Gonzaga University and he was the fourth of seven children, brothers Larry, Everett, Ted, and Bob, and two sisters, Catherine and Mary Rose. His parents were Harry Lowe Crosby, Sr. a bookkeeper, Crosbys mother was a second generation Irish-American. In 1910, seven-year-old Harry Crosby Jr. was forever renamed, the Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review published a feature called The Bingville Bugle. Written by humorist Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosbys enthusiasm for The Bugle, and noting Crosbys laugh, took a liking to him, eventually, the last vowel was dropped and the nickname stuck. Crosby later described Jolsons delivery as electric, Crosby graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1920 and enrolled at Gonzaga University. He attended Gonzaga for three years, but did not earn a bachelors degree, as a freshman, he played on the universitys baseball team. The university granted him a doctorate in 1937. In 1923, Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of school students a few years younger than himself. Al Rinker, Miles Rinker, James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, the group performed on Spokane radio station KHQ, but disbanded after two years
23.
101 Gang Songs
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Spread over two vinyl LPs, the album consists of twenty four medleys of old songs in a singalong format. Bing Crosby sings on all of the tracks except those marked with an asterisk, the chorus and orchestra accompaniment, arranged and conducted by Jack Halloran, was pre-recorded with Crosby over-dubbing his vocals. This double LP was also released as two separate single LPs under the titles, Join Bing in a Gang Song Sing Along in September 1961, the albums were released on CD in 2017 by Sepia Records. It was issued later to childrens camps as Sing Along With Bing, variety magazine reviewed the album saying “Bing Crosby is slowly moving into Mitch Miller’s territory. Crosby’s first sing along package did quite well in the market, the formula is light and simple and with Crosby leading the way the songalog is easy to follow. High Fidelity Magazine, Mitch Miller may have started the sing-along craze, hes in his jauntiest form here, leading a usually robust chorus, backed by a vigorously steady rhythm section in performances which imperiously demand participation. *Non-Bing – orchestra and chorus only
24.
Ray Charles
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Ray Charles Robinson, known professionally as Ray Charles, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called Brother Ray and he was often referred to as The Genius. Charles was blind from the age of seven and he pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He also contributed to the integration of music, rhythm and blues and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a record company. Charles cited Nat King Cole as an influence, but his music was also influenced by country, jazz, blues. In the late forties, he became friends with Quincy Jones and their friendship would last till the end of Charless life. Frank Sinatra called him the true genius in show business. In 2002, Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Billy Joel observed, This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley. Robinson was the son of Bailey Robinson, a laborer, at the time, she was a teenage orphan making a living as a sharecropper. They lived in Greenville, Florida, with Robinsons mother and his wife, the Robinson family had informally adopted Aretha, and she became known as Aretha Robinson. When she, scandalously, became pregnant by Bailey, she briefly left Greenville late in the summer of 1930 to be family members in Albany, Georgia. After that, mother and child returned to Greenville, and Aretha and he was deeply devoted to his mother and later recalled her perseverance, self-sufficiency, and pride as guiding lights in his life. His father abandoned the family, left Greenville, and took another wife elsewhere, in his early years, Charles showed a fondness about mechanical objects and would often watch his neighbors working on their cars and farm machinery. Charles and his mother were always welcome at the Red Wing Cafe, pitman would also care for Rays brother George, to take the burden off Aretha. George drowned in Arethas laundry tub when he was four years old, Charles started to lose his sight at the age of four or five, and was completely blind by the age of seven, apparently as a result of glaucoma. Destitute, uneducated and still mourning the loss of George, Aretha used her connections in the community to find a school that would accept a blind African-American student. Despite his initial protest, Charles attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf, Charles further developed his musical talent at school, and was taught to play the classical piano music of J. S
25.
The Sandlot
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The Sandlot is a 1993 American coming-of-age baseball film co-written and directed by David M. Evans, which tells the story of a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962. It stars Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Karen Allen, Denis Leary, the filming locations were in Glendale, Utah, Midvale, Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It grossed $33 million worldwide and has become a cult film, in the San Fernando Valley during the summer of 1962, Scotty Smalls is the new boy in the neighborhood, seeking desperately to fit in. He would be welcomed on the local baseball team that practices every day. Smalls asks his stepfather to teach him to play, and while his stepdad agrees, Benny soon teaches him what he needs to know, and with Bennys support, he gets a place on the team. Meanwhile, behind a wall at the end of the sandlot is a backyard inhabited by the Beast, one day, the boys last ball lands in the backyard of the Beast. Smalls attempts to retrieve it, but the others, knowing about the Beast, stop him. That evening, they tell him all about the Beast, after a couple of weeks, the puppy became the Beast, he grew enormous and aggressive, killing and devouring the thieves, bones and all. Eventually, Squints grandfather, who was the chief at the time, had Mr. Mertle chain up the Beast in the backyard. Smalls also learns that many ended up in the backyard. The next day, at a swimming pool, Squints pretends to drown so that he can kiss the lifeguard, Wendy Peffercorn. She does not take too kindly to this, and they are banned from the pool, nonetheless, she realizes that Squint has feelings for her. One day, Benny busts the guts out of their baseball, after that ball also ends up with the Beast, Smalls learns the ball was special, it was signed by Babe Ruth. Smalls stepfather has just gone to Chicago for a business trip, putting Smalls. They make many attempts to retrieve the ball, but the Beast thwarts each of their attempts. One night, Benny has a dream in which Babe Ruth gives him advice, the next day, Benny puts on PF Flyers, shoes guaranteed to make a kid run faster and jump higher, and goes into Mr. Mertles backyard, despite protests from his team. Benny retrieves the ball, but the Beast breaks his chain and escapes, chasing Benny through the streets, a theater, a picnic, the swimming pool. Mr. Mertle trades the destroyed Babe Ruth-autographed baseball for a signed by all the New York Yankees
26.
Charlie Rich
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Charles Allan Charlie Rich was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. His eclectic style of music was difficult to classify in a single genre, encompassing the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, soul. In the later part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname the Silver Fox and he is perhaps best remembered for a pair of 1973 hits, Behind Closed Doors and The Most Beautiful Girl. The Most Beautiful Girl topped the U. S. country singles charts, as well as the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles charts, Rich was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015. Rich was born in Colt, Arkansas, to cotton farmers. He graduated from Consolidated High School in Forrest City, where he played saxophone in the band. He was strongly influenced by his parents, members of the Landmark Missionary Baptist Church in Forrest City, as his mother, Helen Rich, played piano, a black sharecropper on the family land named C. J. Allen taught Rich blues piano. He enrolled at Arkansas State College on a scholarship and then transferred to the University of Arkansas as a music major after a football injury. He left after one semester to join the United States Air Force in 1953, while stationed in Enid Oklahoma, he formed the Velvetones, playing jazz and blues and featuring his wife, Margaret Ann, on vocals. He and Margaret Ann Greene had married in 1952, upon leaving the military in 1956, they returned to the West Memphis area to farm 500 acres. He also began performing in clubs around the Memphis area, playing jazz and R&B. During these times, he began writing his own material, in a September 6,2010, NPR airing of a 1992 interview with Fresh Air host Terry Gross, Charlie Rich tells the story, himself, of Bill Justis telling Richs wife those words. In 1958, Rich became a session musician for Sun Records, playing on a variety of records by Lewis, Johnny Cash, Bill Justis, Warren Smith, Billy Lee Riley, Carl Mann. He also wrote songs for Lewis, Cash, and others. His third single for the Sun subsidiary, Phillips International Records, was the 1960 Top 30 hit, Lonely Weekends and it sold more than one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America. These songs were recorded by others to varying degrees of success. Richs career then stalled and he left the struggling Sun label in 1963, signing with a subsidiary of RCA Victor and his first single for Groove, Big Boss Man, was a minor hit, but again, his Chet Atkins-produced follow-ups all stiffed. Rich moved to Smash Records early in 1965, the first single for Smash was Mohair Sam, an R&B-inflected novelty-rock number written by Dallas Frazier, and it became a top 30 pop hit
27.
Mickey Newbury
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Milton Sims Mickey Newbury, Jr. was an American songwriter, a critically acclaimed recording artist, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Newbury was born in Houston, Texas, on May 19,1940, to Mamie Ellen, as a teenager, Newbury sang tenor in a moderately successful vocal group called The Embers. The group opened for famous performers, such as Sam Cooke. Although Newbury tried to make a living from his music by singing in clubs, after four years in the military, he again set his sights on making a living as a songwriter. Before long, he moved to Nashville and signed with the publishing company Acuff-Rose Music. In 1966, country star Don Gibson had a Top Ten country hit with Newburys Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings while Tom Jones scored a hit with the same song. This feat has not been repeated, based on his phenomenal success as a writer, Newbury scored a solo deal with RCA and recorded Harlequin Melodies. Sonically, the album is different from anything else Newbury would record. The artist largely disowned the album, considering its successor Looks Like Rain his true debut, some of the songs on Harlequin Melodies would be re-recorded by Newbury for later albums, with very marked differences. Just about every aspect of his recording, Looks Like Rain, was unconventional by Nashvilles standards at the time. Cinderella Sound was located in a area of Madison and was run by guitarist Wayne Moss. Newbury would record three albums at Cinderella Sound that defied categorization, one significant aspect of their production is the inclusion sound effects to link the songs, which gave the LPs a conceptual feel and would become a Newbury trademark. His next album, Frisco Mable Joy, includes his most famous song, An American Trilogy, according to Joe Ziemers Newbury memoir Crystal & Stone, Newbury was moved to perform the song—which had been banned in some southern states—as a protest against censorship. It is the song most associated with Newbury and his original recording, reaching #26 in 1972. Newburys version would remain in the Top 40 for seven weeks, in 1972, Elvis Presleys version reached #66 and peaked at #31 on the Easy Listening chart, but it became the grandiose highlight of his live shows. The song gained exposure when Presley performed it during his Aloha From Hawaii television special in January 1973. However, his albums did not sell much, in part because of their eclecticism and Newburys growing disdain for the music business, the Outlaws a year later, which would be recognized as country musics first platinum album. Jennings and Nelson, along with a coterie of other like-minded outlaws, were heralded by many as visionaries for their independent spirit and reaped the rewards of record-breaking sales
28.
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
29.
Trace Adkins
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Tracy Darrell Adkins, known as Trace Adkins, is an American country music singer and actor. He made his debut in 1995 with the album Dreamin Out Loud, since then, Adkins has released ten more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations. I Left Something Turned on at Home went to No.1 on Canadas country chart, Adkins is widely known for his distinctive bass-baritone singing voice. In addition, Adkins has written an autobiography entitled A Personal Stand, Observations and Opinions from a Free-Thinking Roughneck and he has appeared in numerous films, including The Lincoln Lawyer and Moms Night Out. Adkins was born in Sarepta in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana and his paternal grandparents were Rayford D. Adkins and the former Mavis Giles, later Mavis Tilley. Adkins has two brothers, Clay Adkins, and Scott Devin Adkins, who died at age twenty-one in a truck accident near Plain Dealing in Bossier Parish. His maternal uncle was the Christian musician James W. Carraway and his musical interest came at an early age when his father taught him to play the guitar. At Sarepta High School, since defunct, Adkins joined a music group called the New Commitments. He was also a member of the FFA, later, Adkins attended Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. A walk-on offensive lineman on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team, Adkins left the team after his season due to a knee injury. After leaving college, he worked at an oil rig and he also worked as a pharmacy technician before pursuing a career in music. He lost the finger on his left hand in an accident using a knife to open a bucket. Adkins moved to playing in honky tonk bars for the few years in the Ark-La-Tex area and eventually moved to Nashville, Tennessee. In late-1994 Adkins met Rhonda Forlaw, who was an executive at Arista Records Nashville, Forlaw had numerous music industry friends come out to hear Adkins over the next few years. Scott Hendricks of Capitol Nashville signed him on the one night while Adkins was playing at Tillie and Lucys bar in Mt. Juliet. Adkins first single, Theres a Girl in Texas, was released in 1996 and it was followed by the release of his debut album, Dreamin Out Loud, later that year. The latter single was also a Number One hit in Canada and his second album, Big Time, produced a Top 5 in The Rest of Mine, but subsequent singles proved less successful. A change in management delayed the release of Adkins third album, although the albums title track reached Top 10, More
30.
Billy Dean
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William Harold Billy Dean, Jr. is an American country music singer and songwriter. Billy Dean first gained attention after appearing on the television talent competition Star Search. Active as a recording artist since 1990, he has recorded a total of eight studio albums and his studio albums have accounted for more than 20 hit singles on the Billboard country charts, including 11 Top Ten hits. In 2000 he had a Billboard Number one as a guest artist along with Allison Kraus on Kenny Rogers Buy Me a Rose, Dean was born in Quincy, Florida, on April 2,1962. His father, also known as Billy Dean, maintained a band called The Country Rocks in his spare time, by the age of eight, Dean began playing in his fathers band. Throughout high school, at Robert F. Munroe Day School, he continued to play music and he soon began touring in local clubs, and sang Frank Sinatras My Way at his high school graduation. Dean was also a player in high school, and was offered a scholarship to East Central Community College in Decatur. He attended college for one year before dropping out in order to pursue his career in music. By the time he was 20, Dean made the finals on the Wrangler Country Star Search and he also worked as a demo singer and took acting lessons, appearing in television commercials for McDonalds, Chevrolet and Valvoline. By the end of the decade, he had signed to a contract with EMI Music, as well as a recording contract with SBK Records. Dean made his debut in late 1990 with the single Only Here for a Little While. This song and its follow-up, Somewhere in My Broken Heart were both No.3 hits on the Billboard country charts, the latter was also a minor hit on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts. Young Man was certified gold by the RIAA, Deans self-titled second album followed in 1991, and soon earned a gold certification as well. Dean toured with The Judds on their tour in 1991, he also toured with Wynonna Judd. He wrote and recorded the song to the ABC animated television series Wild West C. O. W. -Boys of Moo Mesa. In 1992, he earned the Top New Male Vocalist award from the Academy of Country Music, fire in the Dark was the title of Deans third album. Following it were I Wanna Take Care of You, Im Not Built That Way, also in 1993, Dean had an opening slot on Alan Jacksons tour. Following his first three albums was a greatest hits album in 1994
31.
Vince Gill
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Vincent Grant Vince Gill is an American country singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has recorded more than 20 studio albums, charted over 40 singles on the U. S. Billboard charts as Hot Country Songs, and has sold more than 26 million albums. He has been honored by the Country Music Association with 18 CMA Awards, as of 2017, Gill has also earned 21 Grammy Awards, more than any other male country music artist. In 2007 he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, on February 4,2016 Gill was inducted into the Guitar Center Rock Walk by Joe Walsh of the Eagles. Gill has been married to singer Amy Grant since March 2000, Vince Gill was born in Norman, Oklahoma. His mother had a son, Bob Coen, from a previous marriage and he was Gills half-brother, but was considered a full brother by Gill. His father, J. Stanley Gill, was a lawyer and administrative law judge who played in a music band part-time. His father encouraged him to learn to play banjo and guitar, Gill attended high school at Oklahoma Citys Northwest Classen High School. While there he performed bluegrass in the band Mountain Smoke, which built a local following. After graduating from school in 1975, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Afterwards he spent an amount of time in Ricky Skaggss Boone Creek band before moving to Los Angeles to join Sundance. Gill debuted on the scene with the country rock band Pure Prairie League in 1979. He is the singer on their song Let Me Love You Tonight. Mark Knopfler once invited him to join Dire Straits, but he declined the offer and he provided background vocals for the song Tennessee Line, from Daughtrys second studio album, Leave This Town. Gill left Pure Prairie League in 1981 to join Cherry Bombs, There he worked with Tony Brown and Emory Gordy Jr. both of whom would later produce many of his albums. Gill has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since August 10,1991 and he celebrated his 25th Opry anniversary with a tribute show on August 13,2016. In 2010, Gill officially joined the country swing group The Time Jumpers, in July 2011, Gill appeared as a guest on NPRs news quiz show Wait, Wait. Dont Tell Me. Also in 2011, he appeared on the second of two tribute albums for the British rock band The Moody Blues, Moody Bluegrass TWO
32.
Carolyn Dawn Johnson
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Carolyn Dawn Johnson is a Canadian Juno Award winning country music singer-songwriter. Johnson co-wrote Chely Wrights 1999 single, Single White Female, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in September 1999, Johnson was signed, in 2000, to record label Arista Nashville. In 2001, Johnson released her debut album Room with a View, the albums first single Georgia reached No.4 on the RPM Canadian Country Singles Chart for the week of November 6,2000. Complicated was a Top Ten hit on the U. S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and her next single was also a Top Ten hit in the U. S. After a three-year hiatus, Johnson returned with the single Let Me Introduce Myself and it was the lead single from her fourth album, Love Rules, released in 2010. Carolyn Dawn Johnson was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta to John Johnson, a farmer and operator of a business, and Loretta Johnson. Johnson was raised on a farm in Deadwood, Alberta with two brothers, late older brother Derwin, who died due to an illness on Christmas Eve in 1998. Johnson was passionate about music from an age and even asked her mother how anyone could live without it. She sang at a church and started playing the piano at the age of five, learning from her pastors wife, the family later moved to Westlock, Alberta and Johnson attended RF Staples High School there. During her high school years, she learned to play the clarinet, flute and she kept up her piano lessons largely in part due to Thiessan sending books and encouraging letters to her. Her high school teachers were not as encouraging and caused her to turn away from music for a while and turn to science, a period in her life which she called a stain in her heart. During her college years, she frequently sat-in with local bands at night, in 1994, Johnson headed to Nashville after calling her mother and saying, Im going big. Im going for the big picture, in Nashville, Johnson attended songwriting workshops and writers night events. In 1997, Johnson moved permanently to Nashville after obtaining a visa and later that year. Johnsons breakthrough as a songwriter came in 1999 when Single White Female and this song became Johnsons first number one hit as a songwriter. Another one of her songs, Downtime, recorded by Messina, in 2000, Johnson was named Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year by MusicRow Magazine. In 1999, Johnson started her career as a solo artist and her success as a songwriter led her to a record deal with the Arista Nashville record label. Paul Worley, a producer with whom Johnson was working, was working with Martina McBride at that time
33.
Toby Keith
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Toby Keith Covel is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. The song has received three million spins since its release, according to Broadcast Music Incorporated, signed to DreamWorks Records Nashville in 1998, Keith released his breakthrough single How Do You Like Me Now. that year. This song, the track to his 1999 album of the same name, was the number one country song of 2000. His next three albums, Pull My Chain, Unleashed, and Shockn Yall, produced three number ones each, and all of the albums were certified 4x Platinum. A second Greatest Hits package followed in 2004, and after that, when DreamWorks closed in 2005, Keith founded the label Show Dog Nashville, which merged with Universal South Records to become Show Dog-Universal Music in December 2009. Overall, Keith has released seventeen albums, two Christmas albums, and four compilation albums. He has also charted sixty-one singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including twenty number one hits and his longest-lasting number one hits are Beer for My Horses and As Good as I Once Was, at six weeks each. He has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, Keith was born in Clinton, Oklahoma, the son of Carolyn Joan and Hubert K. Covel, Jr. and is of English ancestry. He has a sister and a brother, the family lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, for a few years when Keith was in grade school, but moved to Moore, Oklahoma when he was still young. Before the family moved to Moore, he visited his grandmother in Fort Smith during the summers and his grandmother owned Billie Garners Supper Club in Fort Smith, where Keith became interested in the musicians who came there to play. He did odd jobs around the club and started getting up on the bandstand to play with the band. He got his first guitar at the age of eight, after the family moved to Moore, Keith attended Highland West Junior High and Moore High School, where he played defensive end on the football team. Keith graduated from Moore High School and worked as a hand in the oil fields. He worked his way up to become an operation manager, at times, he would have to leave in the middle of a concert if he was paged to work in the oil field. Keith played defensive end for the 1980 Oklahoma Sooners but never saw the field before dropping out to play football in OKC. In 1982, the oil industry in Oklahoma began a rapid decline and he fell back on his football training and played defensive end with the semi-pro Oklahoma City Drillers while continuing to perform with his band. He then returned to once again on music. His family and friends were doubtful he would succeed, but, in 1984, Easy Money began playing the honky tonk circuit in Oklahoma and Texas
34.
Brenda Lee
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Brenda Lee is an American performer and the top-charting solo female vocalist of the 1960s. She sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s, and is ranked fourth in that decade surpassed only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Ray Charles. She is perhaps best known in the United States for her 1960 hit Im Sorry, and 1958s Rockin Around the Christmas Tree and she is a member of the Rock and Roll, Country Music and Rockabilly Halls of Fame. She is also a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Brenda currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Brenda Lee was born Brenda Mae Tarpley on December 11,1944, to parents Annie Grace, Lee was born in the charity ward of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. She weighed 4 pounds 11 ounces at birth, Lee attended grade schools wherever her father found work, primarily between Atlanta and Augusta. Her family was poor, often living hand-to-mouth, as a child, she shared a bed with her brother and sister in a series of three-room houses without running water. Life centered around her parents finding work, their family, and the Baptist church, Lees father was a farmers son in Georgias red-clay belt. Standing 5 ft 7 inches, he was an excellent left-handed pitcher and her mother came from an under-educated working class family in Greene County, Georgia. Though her family did not have indoor plumbing until after her fathers death, by the time she was two, she could whistle the melody of songs she heard on the radio. Both her mother and sister remembered taking her repeatedly to a candy store before she turned three, one of them would stand her on the counter and she would earn candy or coins for singing. Lees voice, pretty face and stage presence won her wider attention from the time she was five years old, at age six, she won a local singing contest sponsored by local elementary schools. The reward was an appearance on an Atlanta radio show, Starmakers Revue. Her father died in 1953, and by the time she turned ten, she was the breadwinner of her family through singing at events and on local radio. In 1955, Grayce Tarpley was remarried to Buell Jay Rainwater, who moved the family to Cincinnati, Ohio, Lee performed with Skinner at the record shop on two Saturday programs broadcast over Newport, Kentucky radio station WNOP. The family soon returned to Georgia, however, this time to Augusta, an Augusta disc jockey persuaded Foley to hear her sing before the show. Foley was as transfixed as everyone else who heard the voice coming from the tiny girl and immediately agreed to let her perform Jambalaya on stage that night. Foley later recounted the moments following her introduction, The audience erupted in applause, on March 31,1955, the 10-year-old made her network debut on Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri
35.
Lonestar
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Lonestar is an American country music group consisting of Richie McDonald, Michael Britt, Keech Rainwater, and Dean Sams. Before the groups foundation in 1992, both Rainwater and Britt were members of the group Canyon, John Rich was a member until he left in 1998, and later became one half of the duo Big & Rich, as well as a Nashville songwriter and record producer. Between 2007 and 2011, McDonald exited the band for a solo career, Lonestar has charted more than 20 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart, including 9 that reached No. 1, No News, Come Cryin to Me, Amazed, Smile, What About Now, Tell Her, Im Already There, My Front Porch Looking In, and Mr. Mom. Amazed also charted at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Amazed and My Front Porch Looking In were the top country songs of 1999 and 2003, respectively, on Billboard Year-End. The group has recorded seven albums, one EP, and a greatest hits package for the defunct BNA Records, three of their albums have been certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. The bands first two albums were defined by honky-tonk and neotraditionalist country influences, but subseuqent albums largely drew from country pop, Lonestar began in 1992 as a band named Texassee. This name was derived from the fact that all five members were natives of Texas, by 1992, Texassee changed its name to Lonestar. The band first played at a concert in Nashville in 1993, Lonestars first release for BNA was an extended play titled Lonestar Live, recorded at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville and issued in January 1995. Their debut single, Tequila Talkin, was released that August and it was included on their self-titled debut album, which was released that October. Its producers were Don Cook and songwriter Wally Wilson, with whom Rich wrote the track I Love the Way You Do That, other contributing songwriters included former solo artists Bill LaBounty, Rick Vincent, and Larry Boone. The next single, No News, became the bands first No,1, holding that position for three weeks in April 1996. A physical single release of Tequila Talkin and No News as a double A-side also went to No.22 on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, after these two songs, Runnin Away with My Heart also went to No.8 on the country charts. It was followed by When Cowboys Didnt Dance, which failed to reach top 40, and Heartbroke Every Day, both of these songs had previously appeared on the Lonestar Live EP. Their chart runs both overlapped with then-labelmate Mindy McCreadys Maybe Hell Notice Her Now, which featured McDonald as a backing vocalist, Lonestar was met with generally favorable reviews. Rick Mitchell of New Country criticized the band for using several session musicians, in 1996, Lonestar won the Academy of Country Music award for Best Vocal Group. Lonestars sixth chart single was Come Cryin to Me, which Rich, the song became the bands second No.1 single in August 1997, two months after the release of its corresponding album, Crazy Nights. As with Lonestar, it was produced by Wilson and Cook, the next single, You Walked In, was written by rock producer and songwriter Robert John Mutt Lange
36.
Lyle Lovett
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Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American country singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 25 singles to date, including his highest entry, Lovett has won four Grammy Awards, including Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Album. Its Not Big Its Large was released in 2007, where it debuted and peaked at number 2 on the Top Country Albums chart, a new studio album, Natural Forces, was released on October 20,2009 by Lost Highway Records. The last studio album on his Curb Records contract, Release Me, was released in February 2012, Lovett was born in Houston, Texas, when his family lived in the nearby community of Klein. He is the son of William Pearce and Bernell Louise Lovett and he was raised in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Lovett attended Texas A&M University, where he received Bachelor of Arts degrees in both German and Journalism in 1980 and it is a common misconception that he and Robert Earl Keen were roommates at A&M. However, they lived near each other in College Station, became friends, and wrote The Front Porch Song together. Lovetts music career began as a songwriter, but he signed with MCA Records in 1986. While typically associated with the genre, Lovetts compositions often incorporate folk, swing, blues, jazz. He has won four Grammy Awards, including Best Country Album, Best Country Duo/Group with Vocal, Best Pop Vocal Collaboration and Best Country Male Vocal. Lovett has acted in a number of films, including Robert Altmans films, The Player, Short Cuts, Prêt-à-Porter, Bastard Out Of Carolina, Cookies Fortune, more recently, he has acted in The New Guy and Walk Hard, The Dewey Cox Story. His television acting forays include Mad About You, Brothers & Sisters, The Bridge, Castle, the Bloodhound Gangs song The Bad Touch does a reference to Lovett, And youll Lovett just like Lyle. Lovett was given an award called an Esky for Surest Thing in Esquires 2006 Esky Music Awards in the April issue, the magazine said of Lovett, The secret of Lyle Lovetts endurance comes down to the three Cs, class, charisma and consistency. In the studio and on stage with his giant orchestra, hes spent two decades gracefully matching genuine songcraft with A-list musicianship, in 2010 Lovett appeared on an episode of Spectacle, Elvis Costello with. Which also featured John Prine and Ray LaMontagne and he appeared on Castle in Season 3, Episode 9 in the role of a government agent. In 2011, Lovett was named Texas State Artist Musician by the Texas Commission on the Arts, Lovett contributed a cover of Buddy Hollys Well. All Right for the tribute album Listen to Me, Buddy Holly, in 2013 Lovett appeared in Episode 2 of The Bridge, an FX series, as Flagman, a lawyer. Lovett plays a role in Angels Sing, a family Christmas movie released by Lionsgate
37.
Lorrie Morgan
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Loretta Lynn Lorrie Morgan is an American country music singer. She is the daughter of George Morgan, a country singer who charted several hit singles between 1949 and his death in 1975. Morgan charted her first single in 1978, although she did not break into the top of the U. S. country charts until her 1989 single, Trainwreck of Emotion. Since then, she has charted more than 25 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts and she has also recorded more than 15 studio albums. At various points in her life, Morgan has been married to three different country singers, Keith Whitley, Jon Randall and Sammy Kershaw and she has sold over 6 million records worldwide. Morgan was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and made her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry at age 13, performing Fred Spielman, after her father died in 1975, she took over his band at age 16 and began leading the group through various club gigs. Within a few years she disbanded the group, and in 1977 she joined the Little Roy Wiggins band and she then became a receptionist and demo singer at Acuff-Rose Music, where she also wrote songs. Morgan had one hit single in 1978, the following year she recorded another minor hit with Im Completely Satisfied With You. She began touring Nashville nightclubs and opened for a number of acts, including Jack Greene, Billy Thunderkloud and she toured as a duet partner with George Jones and spent two years as part of the Opryland USA bluegrass show and as a regular singer on TNNs Nashville Now. In 1984, Morgan scored a hit with Dont Go Changing. That year she became the youngest singer ever to join the Grand Ole Opry, four years later, she signed with RCA Records, her first major label, her first album on that label, Leave the Light On, was released in 1989. In 1990, Morgan had her first number one single, Five Minutes, morgans second album, Something in Red, was released in 1991 and went platinum. The same year, she married her husband, Brad Thompson. Watch Me, her album, was released on RCAs newest label, BNA Records, it contained the number-one single. Watch Me also was certified platinum, making Morgan the first female country artist to have three albums in a row to be certified platinum, morgans romantic life gained tabloid attention with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman. In 1994 she was voted Female Vocalist of the Year by the fans in TNNs Music City News Awards and she would earn this honor again in 1996,1997 and 1998. Morgan also appeared on Frank Sinatras Duets II album, singing a version of How Do You Keep the Music Playing intertwined with Sinatras My Funny Valentine. Morgans Greatest Hits album, which produced her third and, to date, the next year, Morgan was featured on the Beach Boys now out-of-print album, Stars and Stripes Vol.1, performing a cover of their 1964 hit, Dont Worry Baby
38.
Jamie O'Neal
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Jamie ONeal is an Australian country singer and songwriter. In 2000, ONeal released her first studio album, Shiver, the album included the back-to-back number one singles There Is No Arizona and When I Think About Angels. Two other singles were released, the track, which reached No.21 on the country charts, and Frantic. Since then, she has released her studio album, Brave. Her third studio album, Eternal, was released on 27 May 2014 and she was born Jamie Murphy in Sydney, Australia, to parents Jimmy and Julie Murphy, who were also professional musicians. In the early part of her career she was a singer in Australia, appearing on Kylie Minogues Enjoy Yourself Tour of Australia, UK, Europe. She rejoined Minogue in 1991 for the Lets Get To It Tour of the UK, ONeal was signed to Mercury Nashville in 2000, and soon after she began to work on her first album. Her first single, There Is No Arizona, debuted at No.69 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, on 31 October 2000, Shiver, was released. The album only charted to No.14 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, a second single, When I Think About Angels, debuted at No.45 on the country charts for the week of 31 March 2001. It spent several weeks on the charts, reaching one in August 2001. Following the success of the albums first two singles, Shiver was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, two additional singles followed, Shiver and Frantic, which reached No.21 and No.41 on the charts, respectively. Also in 2001, the motion picture Bridget Joness Diary featured a version of All by Myself performed by Jamie ONeal showing actress Renée Zellweger singing to it in the famous pajamas scene. In 2002, she and the country singer Mark Wills recorded a duet together and it was released as the second single from Wills album Loving Every Minute. The song only reached No.31 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, ONeals fifth single, Every Little Thing, was the first single from what was to be her second studio album, On My Way to You. However, the only managed to reach No.34 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. Shortly thereafter, ONeal and Mercury parted ways, after leaving Mercury, ONeal signed to Capitol Nashville. Her first single for the label, Trying to Find Atlantis, was released on 27 September 2004 and it reached No.18 on the Hot Country Songs chart. The song was the lead-off to Brave, which was released on 1 March 2005 and it proved to be a bigger success on the albums chart, reaching No.6 on the Top Country Albums chart
39.
The Oak Ridge Boys
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The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet. The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet and they became popular in southern gospel during the 1950s. Their name was changed to the Oak Ridge Boys in the early 1960s, and they remained a gospel group until the mid-1970s. The lineup which produced their most world-famous and most well-known country and crossover hits consists of Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, William Lee Golden, Golden and Allen joined the group in the mid-1960s, and Sterban and Bonsall joined in the early 1970s. Aside from a gap when Golden left the group and was replaced. The core group that would lead to the Oak Ridge Boys was a country group called Wally Fowler. They were requested to perform to staff members and their families restricted during World War II at the nuclear plant in nearby Oak Ridge. They were asked to sing there so often that eventually changed their name to the Oak Ridge Quartet. And because their most popular songs were gospel, Fowler decided to focus solely on southern gospel music, at the time, the quartet was made up of Wally Fowler, Lon Deacon Freeman, Curly Kinsey, and Johnny New. This group began recording in 1947, Wally Fowler And The Oak Ridge Quartet were members of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1940s. In 1957, Fowler sold the rights to the Oak Ridge Quartet name to group member Smitty Gatlin in exchange for forgiveness of a debt. As a result of personnel changes, the group lost its tenor, so they lowered their arrangements and had Gatlin sing tenor while the pianist, Tommy Fairchild. They recorded an album for Cadence Records, then in 1958 they hired Willie Wynn to sing the tenor part, at this point the group consisted of Fairchild at the piano, Wynn, Gatlin, baritone Ron Page, and bass Herman Harper. They recorded an album on the Checker Records label, one on Starday, in 1961, Gatlin changed the groups name to the Oak Ridge Boys because their producer, Bud Praeger, thought Oak Ridge Quartet sounded too old-fashioned for their contemporary sound. In 1962, Ron Page left, and the group hired Gary McSpadden as baritone with the understanding from Jake Hess that when he was ready to start a group and they recorded another album on Skylite, and then two groundbreaking albums on Warner Brothers. When Hess followed through on that promise, McSpadden quit to join a new group Hess was forming, jim Hammill was chosen to be his replacement. They made one album for Festival Records, one for Stateswood, Hammill did not get along with the rest of the group, and a fan named William Lee Golden felt that Hammill was hurting the group and asked the group if he could be Hammils replacement. After Hammils retirement from the group in 1964, Golden joined as baritone, the group recorded another album for Starday and another on Skylite in 1965
40.
Collin Raye
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Floyd Elliot Wray is an American country music singer, known professionally as Collin Raye, and previously as Bubba Wray. Under the latter name, he recorded as a member of the band The Wrays between 1983 and 1987 and he made his solo debut in 1991 as Collin Raye with the album All I Can Be, which produced his first Number One hit in Love, Me. All I Can Be was the first of four albums released by Raye to achieve platinum certification in the United States for sales of one million copies each. Raye maintained several Top Ten hits throughout the rest of the decade, 2001s Cant Back Down was his first album that did not produce a Top 40 country hit, and he was dropped by his record label soon afterward. He did not record another album until 2005s Twenty Years and Change. Between 1991 and 2007, Raye charted 30 singles on the U. S. country charts, he has also charted twice on the Adult Contemporary format as a duet partner on two Jim Brickman songs. Four of Rayes singles have reached Number One on the Billboard country music charts, 1992s Love, Me and In This Life, 1994s My Kind of Girl and his most recent album, Never Going Back, was released via Saguaro Road Records on April 28,2009. Floyd Elliot Wray was born in De Queen, Arkansas, on August 22,1960. His mother, Lois Wray, was a musician, in the 1950s, she served as an opening act for several Sun Records artists, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash. Later, she became a musician in her own right. By the 1980s, the two began a country-rock band called the Wray Brothers Band, in which Collin assumed the stage name Bubba Wray. The Wray Brothers Band performed primarily in the state of Texas, Corvallis, Oregon, by 1986, the band signed to Mercury Records, releasing four singles. After the singles performed poorly on the charts, The Wrays disbanded, after altering the spelling of his last name to Raye, he was signed to a record deal with Epic Records in 1990. His debut single, All I Can Be, entered the charts in 1991, Rayes first album, also titled All I Can Be, was released soon afterward. The follow-up single, a ballad co-written by Skip Ewing and titled Love, Me, reached number 1 on the music charts in early 1992. All I Can Be was then certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, the albums final single was Every Second, which peaked at No.2 on Billboard. Rayes second album, titled In This Life, was released in 1992, the albums title track, which served as its lead-off single, spent two weeks at number 1 and crossed over to the Adult Contemporary charts with a peak of number 21. In late 1992, Raye made an appearance on the Carl Weathers television drama series Street Justice, the second season episode, entitled Country Justice, was directed by David Winning
41.
Kenny Rogers
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Kenneth Ray Kenny Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, on September 25,2015, Rogers announced on NBCs Today Show that he was retiring from show business after a final tour to spend more time with his wife and twin boys. Two of his albums, The Gambler and Kenny, are featured in the About. com poll of The 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever and he was voted the Favorite Singer of All-Time in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People. He has received such awards as the AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs. The first single from the album, I Cant Unlove You, was also a chart hit. Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, the year he completed a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland. He has also acted in a variety of movies and television shows, most notably the roles in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler. He is also a co-founder of the restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters, kenneth Ray Rogers was born in Houston, Texas, on August 21,1938, the fourth of eight children, born to Lucille Lois, a nurses assistant, and Edward Floyd Rogers, a carpenter. Rogers is of Irish and Native American ancestry and he has five children from four of his five marriages. At his estate in Colbert, Georgia, Rogers keeps a pet goat named Smitty, according to Rogers, the goat has been center, providing a calming influence after long and stressful touring schedules. He had a solo hit in 1958 called That Crazy Feeling. After sales slowed down, Rogers joined a group called The Bobby Doyle Three. The group recorded for Columbia Records and they disbanded in 1965, and a 1966 jazzy rock single Rogers recorded for Mercury Records, called Heres That Rainy Day, failed. Rogers also worked as a producer, writer and session musician for other performers, including country artists Mickey Gilley, in 1966 he joined The New Christy Minstrels as a singer and double bass player. Feeling that the Minstrels were not offering the success they wanted, Rogers and fellow members Mike Settle, Terry Williams and they formed The First Edition in 1967. They were later joined by Kin Vassy, when the First Edition disbanded in 1976, Rogers launched his solo career. He soon developed a more middle-of-the-road sound that sold to both pop and country audiences and he has charted more than 60 top 40 hit singles. Fifty of his albums have charted and his music has also been featured in top selling movie soundtracks, such as Convoy, Urban Cowboy, and The Big Lebowski
42.
Keith Urban
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Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian-American country musician. In 1991, he released a debut album and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year. He found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, still signed to Capitol, Urban made his solo American debut in 1999 with a second eponymous album. Certified platinum in the US, it produced his first number one on Hot Country Songs with But for the Grace of God. Somebody Like You, the first single from his second Capitol album, the albums fourth single, Youll Think of Me, earned him his first Grammy. 2004s Be Here, his third American album, produced three more number 1 singles and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Platinum certification. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, containing Once in a Lifetime as well as his second Grammy song, a greatest hits package entitled Greatest Hits,18 Kids followed in late 2007. Defying Gravity and Get Closer were released on 31 March 2009 and 16 November 2010, a new single, entitled John Cougar, John Deere, John 3,16, was released in June 2015 as the lead-off single to his eighth American studio album Ripcord. Urban has released a total of nine albums, as well as one album with The Ranch. Those also include his third Grammy Award-winning single Sweet Thing from his album Defying Gravity, Urban is also known for his roles as a coach on the Australian version of the singing competition The Voice and as a judge on American Idol. Since 2006, he has married to actress Nicole Kidman. In October 2013, Urban introduced his own line of guitars. Keith Lionel Urban was born on 26 October 1967, in Whangarei, New Zealand, He is the youngest son of Marienne and Robert Bob Urban. At the age of 13, he attended Sir Edmund Hillary College in Otara, South Auckland, New Zealand and by the age of 17, he lived with his parents in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia. His father, who owned a store, put an advertisement for a guitar teacher in his shop window. Urban took lessons from his teacher, Sue McCarthy and began entering local competitions, Urban has stated that his guitar playing was influenced by two rock players, Mark Knopfler and Lindsey Buckingham. He also performed at country festivals from the age of 10, in 1983, Urban was a contestant on the Australian TV talent show New Faces. They won a golden award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival
43.
Phil Vassar
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Phillip George Phil Vassar is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, Collin Raye. In 1999, he was named by American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers as Country Songwriter of the Year, later that same year, Vassar was signed to Arista Nashville as a recording artist. His debut album, Phil Vassar, was released in early 2000, producing five hit singles on the U. S. Billboard country singles charts and earning a gold certification in the United States. He followed it in 2002 with American Child, Shaken Not Stirred in 2004 and his first album for that label, Prayer of a Common Man, was released in early 2008. He has charted nineteen singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts,1, 2000s Just Another Day in Paradise and 2004s In a Real Love. Phil Vassar was born May 28,1964 in Lynchburg, Virginia, while in college at James Madison University in nearby Harrisonburg, Vassar had taken up playing the piano, and eventually found work as a singer in clubs. He was also a member of the Eta Kappa Chapter of Theta Chi fraternity and he had decided to move to Nashville, Tennessee in order to pursue a career in music. Eventually, he was signed to a publishing contract, but was unable to land any hits on this contract. Starting in the late 1990s, Vassar began writing songs that were recorded by country music artists. Among the artists who recorded his material were Blackhawk, Collin Raye, Jo Dee Messina, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, of these, Bye, Bye, Im Alright, and Right on the Money all reached No.1 on the country charts. Bye, Bye earned Vassar his first American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers award for Song of the Year, in late 1999, Vassar was signed to his first recording contract, with the Arista Nashville label. His debut single, Carlene, was issued that year, and it featured a backing vocal from Collin Raye. The song was the single to Vassars self-titled debut album. Carlene was followed by Just Another Day in Paradise, his first No.1 hit as a singer, shortly after that song peaked, Tim McGraw topped the charts with My Next Thirty Years, which Vassar co-wrote. Overall, Phil Vassar produced three singles, the No.16 Rose Bouquet, Six-Pack Summer at No. 9, and finally Thats When I Love You, with a vocal from Jo Dee Messina. In addition, the album earned a certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping 500,000 copies
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