1.
Winchester, Virginia
–
Winchester is an Independent City located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 26,203, as of 2015, its population is an estimated 27,284. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester with surrounding Frederick County for statistical purposes. Winchester is home to Shenandoah University and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, indigenous peoples lived along the waterways of present-day Virginia for thousands of years before European contact. Archeological, linguistic and anthropological studies have provided insights into their cultures, the Algonquian-speaking Shawnee began to challenge the Iroquoians for the hunting grounds later in that century. The explorers Batts and Fallam in 1671 reported the Shawnee were contesting with the Iroquoians for control of the valley and were losing, during the later Beaver Wars, the powerful Iroquois Confederacy from New York subjugated all tribes in the frontier region west of the Fall Line. By the time European settlers arrived in the Shenandoah Valley around 1729, the Iroquois Six Nations finally ceded their nominal claim to the Shenandoah Valley at the Treaty of Lancaster. The treaty also established the right of colonists to use the Indian Road, the father of the historical Shawnee chief Cornstalk had his court at Shawnee Springs until 1754. The Shawnee settled for years in the Ohio Country before being forced by the US government under Indian Removal in the 1830s to remove to Indian Territory. Winchester had a role as a frontier city in those early times. French Jesuit expeditions may have first entered the valley as early as 1606, the first confirmed exploration of the northern valley was by the explorer John Lederer, who viewed the it from the current Fauquier and Warren County line on August 26,1670. In 1705 the Swiss explorer Louise Michel and in 1716 Governor Alexander Spotswood did more extensive mapping and surveying, in the late 1720s, Governor William Gooch promoted settlement by issuing large land grants. Robert King Carter, manager of the Lord Fairfax proprietorship, acquired 200,000 acres, the Scots-Irish comprised the most numerous group of immigrants from the British Isles before the American Revolutionary War. The settlement of Winchester began as early as 1729, when Quakers such as Abraham Hollingsworth migrated up the Great Valley along the long-traveled Indian Path from Pennsylvania and he and others began to homestead on old Shawnee campgrounds. Tradition holds that the Quakers purchased several tracts on Apple-pie Ridge from the natives, the first German settler appears to have been Jost Hite in 1732, who brought ten other families, including some Scots-Irish. Though Virginia was an Anglican colony, Governor William Gooch had a tolerant policy on religion, the availability of land grants brought in many religious families, who were often given 50-acre plots through the sponsorship of fellow-religious grant purchasers and speculators. As a result, the Winchester area became home to some of the oldest Presbyterian, Quaker, the first Lutheran worship was established by Rev. John Casper Stoever, Jr. and Alexander Ross established Hopewell Meeting for the Quakers. By 1736, Scots-Irish built the Opequon Presbyterian Church in Kernstown, a legal fight erupted in 1735 when Thomas Fairfax, Sixth Lord Fairfax came to Virginia to claim his land grant
2.
Camden, Tennessee
–
Camden is a city in Benton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,582 at the 2010 census and it is the county seat of Benton County. Native Americans were living in the Camden area as early as the Archaic period, a significant archaeological site has been excavated at nearby Eva, uncovering evidence of semi-permanent habitation dating back 7000 years. The first European settlers arrived in the Benton County area around 1818, Camden has its roots as a stopover along the stage coach route between Nashville and Memphis. Initially known as Tranquility, the community had attained the name Camden by the 1830s, when Benton County was created in 1835, Camden was chosen as the county seat. The City of Camden was officially incorporated in 1838 and it was near Camden where country music stars Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins lost their lives in a plane crash on March 5,1963. Camden is situated along Cypress Creek, near the creeks confluence with the Kentucky Lake impoundment of the Tennessee River. The area is characterized by low hills to the north and west and wetlands to the east, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.7 square miles, all of it land. As of the census of 2000, there were 3,828 people,1,631 households, the population density was 344.9 people per square mile. There were 1,840 housing units at a density of 165.8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 93. 08% White,5. 33% African American,0. 26% Native American,0. 24% Asian,0. 31% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 33% of the population. 35. 1% of all households were made up of individuals and 19. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.81. In the city, the population was out with 20. 1% under the age of 18,6. 9% from 18 to 24,24. 5% from 25 to 44,22. 5% from 45 to 64. The median age was 44 years, for every 100 females there were 81.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.4 males, the median income for a household in the city was $26,348, and the median income for a family was $31,667. Males had an income of $27,413 versus $20,142 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,271, about 11. 6% of families and 16. 6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26. 1% of those under age 18 and 12. 9% of those age 65 or over. Agriculture is important to the economy of Camden and Benton County, sorghum was once a key crop, but the last sorghum processing facility closed in 2001
3.
Nashville sound
–
It was an attempt to revive country sales, which had been devastated by the rise of rock n roll. They invented the form by replacing elements of the honky tonk style with smooth elements from 1950s pop music, and using slick production. The producers relied on a group of studio musicians known as the Nashville A-Team, whose quick adaptability. The Anita Kerr Quartet was the vocal backing group in the early 1960s. In 1960, Time magazine reported that Nashville had nosed out Hollywood as the second biggest record-producing center. The term Nashville Sound was first mentioned in an article about Jim Reeves in 1958 in the Music Reporter, other observers have identified several recordings that helped establish the early Nashville sound. Country historian Rich Kienzle says that Gone, a Ferlin Husky hit recorded in November 1956, regarding the Nashville sound, the record producer Owen Bradley stated, Now weve cut out the fiddle and steel guitar and added choruses to country music. It always has to keep developing to keep fresh, countrypolitan was aimed straight at mainstream markets and it sold well throughout the later 1960s into the early 1970s. Among the architects of this sound were producers Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton, the Bakersfield sound, and later outlaw country, dominated country music among aficionados while countrypolitan reigned on the pop charts. Upon being asked what the Nashville sound was, Chet Atkins would put his hand into his pocket, shake his loose change, and say Thats what it is. By the late 1970s and 1980s, many pop music singers picked up the style and created what is known as country pop. Classic examples of Nashville sound recordings, Four Walls by Jim Reeves Gone by Ferlin Husky A Fallen Star by Jimmy C
4.
Country music
–
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
5.
Decca Records
–
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U. S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis along with American Deccas first president Jack Kapp and later American Decca president Milton Rackmil. In 1937, as a result of anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca, the British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group, which is owned by Vivendi, the US Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG. The name Decca was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the word Mecca with the initial D of their logo Dulcet or their trademark Dulcephone, Samuel, a linguist, chose Decca as a brand name as it was easy to pronounce in most languages. The name dates back to a gramophone called the Decca Dulcephone patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel. That company was renamed the Decca Gramophone Co. Ltd. Within years, Decca Records Ltd. was the second largest record label in the world, Decca bought the UK branch of Brunswick Records and continued to run it under that name. In the 1950s the American Decca studios were located in the Pythian Temple in New York City, in classical music, Decca had a long way to go from its modest beginnings to catch up with the established HMV and Columbia labels. The pre-war classical repertoire on Decca was not extensive, but was select, heinrich Schlusnus made important pre-war lieder recordings for Decca. John Culshaw, who joined Decca in 1946 in a junior post and he revolutionised recording – of opera, in particular. Hitherto, the practice had been to put microphones in front of the performers, Culshaw was determined to make recordings that would be a theatre of the mind, making the listeners experience at home not second best to being in the opera house, but a wholly different experience. To that end he got the singers to move about in the studio as they would onstage, used sound effects and different acoustics. His skill, coupled with Decca engineering, took Decca into the first flight of recording companies and his pioneering recording of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Georg Solti was a huge artistic and commercial success. In the wake of Deccas lead, artists such as Herbert von Karajan, Joan Sutherland, however, Culshaw was, strictly speaking, not the first to do this. Far from being a mere rendering of the score, the 3-LP album set used sound effects to recreate the production as if the listener were watching a stage performance of the work. Until 1947, American Decca issued British Decca classical music recordings, afterwards, British Decca took over distribution through its new American subsidiary London Records. American Decca actively re-entered the classical music field in 1950 with distribution deals from Deutsche Grammophon, American Decca began issuing its own classical music recordings in 1956 when Israel Horowitz joined Decca to head its classical music operations
6.
Kitty Wells
–
Ellen Muriel Deason, known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. Her Top 10 hits continued until the mid-1960s, inspiring a long list of country singers who came to prominence in the 1960s. In 1976, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, in 1991, she became the third country music artist, after Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, and the eighth woman to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her accomplishments earned her the nickname Queen of Country Music, Wells was born Ellen Muriel Deason on August 30,1919, one of six siblings, to Charles Cary Deason and his wife, Myrtle, in Nashville, Tennessee. She began singing as a child, learning guitar from her father and her father, Charles, and his brother were musicians and her mother, Myrtle, was a gospel singer. As a teenager, she sang with her sisters, who performed under the name the Deason Sisters on a radio station beginning in 1936. At the age of 18 she married Johnnie Wright, a cabinet-maker who aspired to country-music stardom, Wells sang with Wright and his sister Louise Wright, the three toured as Johnnie Right and the Harmony Girls. Soon Wright met Jack Anglin, who married Louise and became part of the band, Wright and Wells performed as a duo, it was at this time she adopted Kitty Wells as her stage name. Johnnie Wright chose the name from a song called Sweet Kitty Wells. When Anglin returned from the Army, he and Wright formed the Johnnie & Jack duo, Wells would tour with the pair, occasionally performing backup vocals. Before Wells rise to stardom with Honky Tonk Angels, Roy Acuff, Acuff advised Wright not to make his wife his shows headliner, because he thought women could not sell country music records. On Louisiana Hayride, she performed with her husbands duo, while these early records gained some notice, promoters still werent keen on promoting female singers, and therefore Wells was dropped from the label in 1950. In 1952, Paul Cohen, an executive at Decca Records, Wells was disenchanted with her career prospects and was considering retirement, but agreed to the session because of the $125 union scale recording payment. I wasnt expecting to make a hit, said Wells later, I just thought it was another song. It Wasnt God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels was a song to Hank Thompsons The Wild Side of Life. Wells single retorted, Its a shame that all the blame is on us women, the records message was controversial at the time, and was banned by many radio stations. NBC, in particular, was troubled by the lyric, It brings back memories of when I was a trustful wife, Wells slight alteration of trustful to trusting lifted the network ban on the song. It was temporarily banned from the Grand Ole Opry, nevertheless, audiences couldn’t get enough of it
7.
Jean Shepard
–
Ollie Imogene Jean Shepard was an American honky tonk singer-songwriter who pioneered for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart and she recorded a total of 24 studio albums between 1956–81, and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1955. After Kitty Wells 1952 breakthrough, Shepard quickly followed, and a television gig. Her first hit, A Dear John Letter, a 1953 duet with Ferlin Husky, was the first post-World War II record by a country artist to sell more than a million copies. Ollie Imogene Shepard was born November 21,1933, in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma and she was raised in Visalia, California, near Bakersfield. As a teenager, she played bass in the Melody Ranch Girls, hank Thompson discovered Shepard a few years later. She recorded her first single for the label in 1952, Crying Steel Guitar Waltz, Shepards first chart appearance was 1953s duet with Ferlin Husky, with A Dear John Letter. It was a No.1 smash, and also became a crossover pop hit. The song struck a chord with audiences as it was a duet about a soldier in the Korean War. The duos follow-up, Forgive Me John, was another hit, peaking in the Top 10 on the country chart. Because at 20 she was still a minor, Shepards parents signed her rights to Husky so she could tour, in 1955, Shepard joined ABC-TVs nationally telecast Ozark Jubilee for several years, and recorded her first studio album, Songs of a Love Affair, written by Shepard. She also charted her first solo top ten single, A Satisfied Mind, a Satisfied Mind peaked at No.4 on the Billboard country chart. Shepard had another top five hit the year with Beautiful Lies. Its flip side, I Thought of You, peaked in the top ten. Her streak of hit singles led to an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry in 1955 as one of its few female stars, Kitty Wells and Minnie Pearl were the only others. Because she was a honky tonk singer when the Nashville sound was popular and those two singles, 1958s I Want to Go Where No One Knows Me and 1959s Have Heart Will Love, earned her the title of Cash Boxs Top Female Artist of 1959. In 1960, Shepard married fellow Opry star Hawkshaw Hawkins, whom she had met on Ozark Jubilee and he died three years later in the same plane crash that killed Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. Shepard gave birth to their son Hawkshaw Jr. just one month after the crash and she later married country music musician and singer Benny Birchfield, the two remained married until her death
8.
Jimmy Dean
–
Jimmy Ray Dean was an American country music singer, television host, actor, and businessman, best known today as the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand. He became a television personality starting on CBS in 1957. He rose to fame for his 1961 country crossover hit Big Bad John and his 1963 ABC television series, The Jimmy Dean Show and his acting career included a supporting role as Willard Whyte in the 1971 James Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever. He lived near Richmond, Virginia, and was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010, Dean was born in Plainview in Hale County in West Texas in 1928, the son of George Otto Dean, and his second wife, the former Ruth Taylor. Ruth Taylor taught Jimmy how to play piano at a young age and he attributed his interest in music to the Seth Ward Baptist Church. He dropped out of school and became a professional entertainer after serving in the United States Air Force in the late 1940s. Dean was 22 and just starting in business when he married his first wife Mary Sue in 1950. Dean had his first hit, Bummin Around, in 1953 on the 4 Star label and he had minor pop hits, such as Little Sandy Sleighfoot and Sing Along, later used as the theme for TVs Sing Along With Mitch. In 1954, Dean hosted the popular Washington, D. C. radio program Town and Country Time on WARL-AM, patsy Cline and Roy Clark got their starts on the show. Although Cline and Dean became good friends, Clark was eventually fired by the singer for what was explained as his chronic tardiness, Dean replaced Clark with Billy Grammer. In 1955, Town and Country Time moved to WMAL-TV on weekday afternoons, also during 1957 while he lived in Arlington, Virginia, Dean hosted Country Style on WTOP-TV, the local Washington, D. C. affiliate for CBS on weekday mornings. CBS picked up the show nationally from Washington for eight months in 1957 under the name, then from September 14,1958, to June 1959, CBS carried The Jimmy Dean Show on weekday and Saturday afternoons. Dean became best known for his 1961 recitation song about a heroic miner, recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, the record went to number one on the Billboard pop chart and inspired many imitations and parodies. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc, the track peaked at No.2 in the UK Singles Chart. The song won Dean the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording and he had several more Top 40 songs including a Top 10 in 1962 with PT-109, a song in honor of John F. Kennedys bravery in World War II. In the early 1960s, he hosted The Tonight Show on occasion and one night introduced Roy Clark, in the mid-60s, Dean helped bring country music into the mainstream with his 1963–66 ABC-TV variety series, The Jimmy Dean Show. It presented country music entertainers including Roger Miller, George Jones, Charlie Rich, Buck Owens, the program also featured comedy and a variety of popular music artists, and Deans sketches with one of Jim Hensons Muppets, Rowlf the Dog. Dean turned to acting after his series ended in 1966
9.
Jim Reeves
–
James Travis Jim Reeves was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he well known as a practitioner of the Nashville sound. Known as Gentleman Jim, his songs continued to chart for years after his death, Reeves died in the crash of his private airplane. He is a member of both the Country Music and Texas Country Music Halls of Fame, Reeves was born at home in Galloway, Texas, a small rural community near Carthage. He was the youngest of 8 children born to Mary Beulah Adams Reeves and he was known as Travis during his childhood years. Winning an athletic scholarship to the University of Texas, he enrolled to study speech and drama, soon he resumed baseball, playing in the semi-professional leagues before contracting with the St. Louis Cardinals farm team during 1944 as a right-handed pitcher. He played for the leagues for three years before severing his sciatic nerve while pitching, which ended his athletic career. Reeves initial efforts to pursue a career were sporadic, possibly due to his uncertainty as to whether he would be drafted into the military as World War II enveloped the United States. On 9 March 1943 he reported to the Army Induction Center in Tyler for his physical examination. However, he failed the exam, and on 4 August 1943 an official letter declared his 4-F draft status, Reeves began to work as a radio announcer, and sang live between songs. During the late 1940s, he was contracted with a couple of small Texas-based recording companies and he eventually obtained a job as an announcer for KWKH-AM in Shreveport, Louisiana, then the home of the popular radio program the Louisiana Hayride. Jim Reeves was a country singer who had success early on in his career with hits such as I Love You, Mexican Joe. In addition to early hits, Reeves recorded many other songs for Fabor Records. In 1954, Abbott Records released a 45 single with Bimbo on side-A which hit #1, Jim Reeves and Little Joe Hunt met at the Louisiana Hayride which was Louisianas equivalent to Nashvilles Grand Ole Opry. After performing at the Hayride in Shreveport, Louisiana, Reeves and Hunt traveled & performed together for years in the dance halls and clubs of east Texas. Reeves became the headliner with Hunt as the backup performer, due to his growing popularity, Reeves went on to release his first album in November 1955, Jim Reeves Sings, which proved to be one of Abbott Records couple album releases. Reeves star was on the rise because he had already signed to a 10-year recording contract with RCA Victor by Steve Sholes. Sholes went on to some of Reeves first recordings at RCA Victor
10.
Eddy Arnold
–
Richard Edward Eddy Arnold was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s and he sold more than 85 million records. A member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Arnold was born on May 15,1918, on a farm near Henderson, Tennessee. His father, a sharecropper, played the fiddle, while his mother played guitar, Arnolds father died when he was just 11, forcing him to leave school and begin helping on the family farm. This led to him later gaining his nickname—the Tennessee Plowboy, one of his brothers, PFC John Hendrix Arnold, fought in World War II and died in the Normandy landings. Arnold attended Pinson High School in Pinson, Tennessee, where he played guitar for school functions and he quit before graduation to help with the farm work, but continued performing, often arriving on a mule with his guitar hung on his back. Arnold also worked part-time as an assistant at a mortuary, in 1934, at age 16, Arnold debuted musically on WTJS-AM in Jackson, Tennessee, and obtained a job there during 1937. He performed at nightclubs and was a permanent performer for the station. During 1938, he was hired by WMPS-AM in Memphis, Tennessee and he soon quit for KWK-AM in St. Louis, Missouri, followed by a brief stint at WHAS-AM in Louisville, Kentucky. He performed for WSM on the Grand Ole Opry during 1943 as a solo artist, in 1944, Arnold signed a contract with RCA Victor, with manager Colonel Tom Parker, who later managed Elvis Presley. Arnolds first single was noticed, but the next, Each Minute Seems a Million Years. Its success began a decade of unprecedented chart performance, Arnolds next 57 singles all ranked in the top 10, in 1946, Arnold scored his first major success with Thats How Much I Love You. In 1948, he had five songs on the charts simultaneously. That year, he had nine songs in the top 10, five of these were number one, with Parkers management, Arnold continued to dominate, with 13 of the 20 best-scoring country music songs of 1947–1948. He became the host of Mutual Radios Purina-sponsored segment of the Opry and of Mutuals Checkerboard Jamboree, recorded radio programs increased Arnolds popularity, as did the CBS Radio series Hometown Reunion with the Duke of Paducah. Arnold quit the Opry during 1948, and his Hometown Reunion briefly broadcast in competition with the Opry on Saturday nights, in 1949 and 1950, he performed in the Columbia movies Feudin’ Rhythm and Hoedown. Arnold began working for television in the early 1950s, hosting The Eddy Arnold Show, the summer program was broadcast successively by all three television networks, replacing the Perry Como and Dinah Shore programs. He also performed as a guest and a guest host on the ABC-TV show Ozark Jubilee from 1955–60, Arnold featured in the syndicated Eddy Arnold Time from 1955 to 1957
11.
Skeeter Davis
–
Mary Frances Penick, better known as Skeeter Davis, was an American country music singer who sang crossover pop music songs including 1962s The End of the World. She started out as part of the Davis Sisters as a teenager in the late 1940s, in the late 1950s, she became a solo star. Davis was the first of seven born to William Lee and Sarah Rachel Roberts Penick, in Dry Ridge. Because her grandfather thought that she had a lot of energy for a young child, the Penick family moved to Erlanger, Kentucky in 1947, where Skeeter met Betty Jack Davis at Dixie Heights High School, becoming instant friends. They sang together through much of high school, and at Decoursey Baptist Church and they formed the duet known as the Davis Sisters, and started singing on Detroit radio station WJRs program Barnyard Frolics. Eventually, the duo were signed by RCA Victor in 1951, earlier demo recordings were eventually released on Fortune Records. RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes liked the Davis Sisters harmonies and offered the duo a recording contract in 1953. Their most successful release was I Forgot More Than Youll Ever Know, the record ranks No.65 on the Top 100 Country Singles of All Time, according to Billboard historian Joel Whitburn. While I Forgot More Than Youll Ever Know was climbing the charts, the crash killed Betty Jack Davis and left Skeeter with severe injuries. After the accident, Skeeter and Betty Jacks sister, Georgia, Skeeter decided to retire from the music industry in 1956, and get married, ending the duet. Davis decided to go back into music as a solo act in 1958. She began touring with Ernest Tubb and she returned to RCA Victor and that year, Davis recorded Lost to a Geisha Girl, an answer song to Hank Locklins hit Geisha Girl, which reached the country Top 15 and became her first solo hit. Atkins worked with Davis as a guitarist on all of these sessions, at Davis suggestion, Atkins frequently multi-tracked Davis voice for harmony vocals to resemble the sound of the Davis Sisters. This echo can be found on several of her solo hits. Davis had a Top 5 country hit, Set Him Free, in 1959 and she also joined the Grand Ole Opry that year, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Set Him Free, becoming the first female country singer to be nominated for a Grammy. From 1960 to 1962, Davis had top ten hits with the songs Im Falling Too, My Last Date, Where I Ought to Be, Im Falling Too in 1960 was her first entrance as a solo onto the pop charts. The song went all the way to the Top 40, unheard of for a country singer at the time. In 1961, she scored a second pop hit with a version of Floyd Cramers instrumental country pop smash Last Date called My Last Date which did even better making the Top 30 on the pop charts
12.
Brenda Lee
–
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
13.
Loretta Lynn
–
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter with multiple gold albums over a career of almost 60 years. She is the most awarded female recording artist and the only female ACM Artist of the Decade. Lynn is the second of eight born to Clara Marie Clary and Melvin Theodore Ted Webb. In January 1948, 15-year-old Loretta married Oliver Doolittle Lynn and their life together inspired the music she wrote. In 1953 Doolittle bought her a $17 Harmony guitar and she often appeared at Bills Tavern in Blaine, Washington, and the Delta Grange Hall in Custer, Washington, with the Pen Brothers band and the Westerneers. She cut her first record, Im a Honky Tonk Girl and she became a part of the country music scene in Nashville in the 1960s. In 1967 she had the first of 16 number-one hits and her later hits include Dont Come Home A Drinkin, You Aint Woman Enough, Fist City, and Coal Miners Daughter. Lynn focused on womens issues with themes about philandering husbands and persistent mistresses. Country music radio stations refused to play her music, banning nine of her songs. She and contemporaries like Tammy Wynette provided a template for artists in country music to follow. Her best-selling 1976 autobiography, Coal Miners Daughter, was made into an Academy Award–winning film of the title in 1980, starring Sissy Spacek. Her album Van Lear Rose, released in 2004, was produced by the rock musician Jack White, Lynn and White were nominated for five Grammys. Lynn has received awards in country and American music. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2013, Lynn has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since joining on September 25,1962, her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry was on October 15,1960. Lynn has recorded 70 albums, including 54 studio albums,15 compilation albums, and one tribute album, Lynn was born and raised in Butcher Hollow, Van Lear, Kentucky, a mining community near Paintsville. Her mother was of Scots-Irish and Cherokee ancestry, Loretta was the second of eight children. She was named after the film star Loretta Young, Ted Webb never got to see his daughter become famous, as he died in 1959 of coalworkers pneumoconiosis before Lorettas first single, Im A Honky Tonk Girl, was released. Besides her famous siblings and children who perform, she is related to the country singer Patty Loveless on her mothers side and she is also related, on her mothers side, to Venus Ramey, Miss America of 1944
14.
Jan Howard
–
Lula Grace Johnson, known professionally as Jan Howard, is an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry star. She attained popular success as a female vocalist during the 1960s. Many of her hits were written by her husband at the time, Howards biggest hit and signature song was the 1966 country hit Evil on Your Mind, which peaked at number five on the Billboard country charts. The song is included in the book Heartaches By the Number, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she dueted with Bill Anderson on a number of top-10 hits, including the number-one hit For Loving You. Howard was born in West Plains, Missouri, in 1930, at age 15, she married, and soon had children. After dealing with two marriages, she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she met aspiring songwriter Harlan Howard. They married in Las Vegas one month later, one evening, she was singing while washing dishes in her kitchen and Harlan heard her sing for the first time, and liked what he heard. He thought Jan had talent and wanted her to become a country music singer, Harlan persuaded Jan to make a demonstration tape of one of the songs he wrote, Mommy For a Day. The song was later a big hit for Kitty Wells and she soon worked as a demo singer for her husband, singing demos for other country artists, such as Buck Owens and Tex Ritter. Jan Howard originally sang the demo for the Patsy Cline hit I Fall to Pieces, in 1959, she made her debut as a recording artist backed by Wynn Stewarts band. She recorded her first song that year called Yankee Go Home, along with the Harlan Howard composition, in 1959, under the name Jan Howard, she released the single Yankee Go Home, which failed to hit the country charts. In 1960, the Howards went to Nashville, Tennessee, where they appeared on The Prince Albert Show, Howard then released her first single under her new record company, Challenge. Occasional appearances on the Grand Ole Opry led to friendships with several country singers, according to Clines 1980 biography, Honky Tonk Angel, Cline originally yelled at Howard after a performance on the Opry stage. Howard fought back, and Cline was shocked by her reply, Cline then said to Howard, Anybody who stands up to Cline is all right, were gonna be good friends. The two were friends until Clines death in 1963. Meanwhile, painfully shy Jan was suffering from the scars of her youth. When her weight dropped below 97 pounds, Harlan hospitalized Jan, Howard appeared on ABC-TVs Jubilee USA on February 6,1960, and later that year she won Billboard magazines Most Promising Female Country Award. In 1962, she charted successfully on the charts at number 27 with
15.
Dottie West
–
Dottie West was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and fellow recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genres most influential and groundbreaking female artists. Dottie Wests career started in the 1960s, with her Top 10 hit, Here Comes My Baby Back Again, which won her the first Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1965. In the early 1970s, West wrote a popular commercial for the Coca-Cola company, titled Country Sunshine and her duet recordings with Rogers, Every Time Two Fools Collide, All I Ever Need Is You, and What Are We Doin in Love, became country music standards. Dottie West was born Dorothy Marie Marsh on October 11,1932, outside McMinnville and she was the first child of ten born to Pelina Artha and William Hollis Marsh. The family was poor and to make ends meet, Pelina opened up a restaurant, dotties father, Hollis Marsh, was an alcoholic who beat and sexually abused her. The abuse continued until she was 17, when she reported him to the local sheriff. She testified against her father in court, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, after living with the sheriff for a short time, she moved to McMinnville with her mother and siblings. She also joined her school band, The Cookskins, where she sang. In 1951, she obtained a scholarship to Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville. At the same time, West made numerous trips to Nashville in the hopes of landing a recording deal, in 1959, she and Bill auditioned for producer Don Pierce at Starday, and were immediately offered a contract. West often played hostess to these struggling songwriters, offering them a place to stay, in return, they taught West about the structure of songwriting. During this time, she became a close friend of groundbreaking female country singer Patsy Cline. Cline would become one of Wests biggest career inspirations, as West related to Ellis Nassour in the 1980 book Patsy Cline, the greatest advice Cline ever gave her was, When youre onstage sing to the audience with all of your heart and mean it. Then cast a spell over them, if you cant do it with feeling, then dont. Cline even offered to help pay Wests rent or buy groceries when she, West had asked Cline to ride with her and Bill in their car, but Cline, anxious to get back home to her children, opted to fly instead. In 1963, Jim Reeves recorded a song written by West called Is This Me and it became a No.3 hit that year. As a result, Reeves helped West secure a contract with RCA Victor
16.
Willie Nelson
–
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American musician, singer, songwriter, author, poet, actor, and activist. He was one of the figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has involved in activism for the use of biofuels. Born during the Great Depression, and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven, during high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from school in 1950, he joined the Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music, during this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in Honky-tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote Family Bible, in 1958, he moved to Houston, Texas after signing a contract with D Records. He sang at the Esquire Ballroom weekly and he worked as a disk jockey, during that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including Funny How Time Slips Away, Hello Walls, Pretty Paper, and Crazy. In 1960 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and later signed a contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Prices band as a bassist. In 1962, he recorded his first album. And Then I Wrote, due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to Austin, the ongoing music scene of Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement, performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters. In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the acclaimed album. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted, the Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. In 1990, Nelsons assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, the difficulty of paying his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments he had made during the 1980s. In 1992, Nelson released The IRS Tapes, Wholl Buy My Memories, the profits of the double album—destined to the IRS—and the auction of Nelsons assets cleared his debt. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, reviews ranged from positive to mixed. He explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television
17.
Pop music
–
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
18.
Contralto
–
A contralto is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto voice type is divided into the coloratura, lyric. Contralto is primarily meaningful only in reference to classical and operatic singing, the term contralto is only applied to female singers, men singing in a similar range are called countertenors. A true contralto is often regarded as the rarest of the female voices, some vocal theorists have found that the vocal folds are thicker than those present in other female voices. Studies have used cameras to photograph visible differences which are found in countertenors. The contralto has the lowest vocal range of the voice types. The contralto voice range is between tenor and mezzo-soprano, although tenors and baritones are usually male singers, some women can sing as low and are called female tenors or female baritones. With the exception of very rare female singers, such terms are usually informal, more formal terminology would be contralto profundo and contralto basso or oktavistka but these are not traditionally named among the fach system. Some of the rare contraltos that can sing the female equivalent of tenor and baritone include Zarah Leander, Ruby Helder, within the contralto voice type category are three generally recognized subcategories, coloratura contralto, lyric contralto, and dramatic contralto. Given its deviations from the norms, this voice type is quite rare. The lyric contralto voice is lighter than a dramatic contralto but not capable of the ornamentation and this class of contralto, lighter in timbre than the others, is the most common today and usually ranges from the E below middle C to the second G above middle C. The dramatic contralto is the deepest, darkest, and heaviest contralto voice, usually having a heavier tone, singers in this class are rare. True operatic contraltos are rare, and the operatic literature contains few roles written specifically for them, a common saying among contraltos is that they may play only witches, bitches, or britches. Examples of contralto roles in the operatic repertoire include the following. * indicates a role that may also be sung by a mezzo-soprano, category of contraltos List of operatic contraltos Fach, the German system for classifying voices Voice classification in non-classical music List of contraltos in non-classical music Coffin, Berton. Coloratura, Lyric and Dramatic Soprano, Vol.1, vocal Workouts for the Contemporary Singer. Media related to Contralto vocalists at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of Contralto at Wiktionary
19.
Genre
–
Genre is any form or type of communication in any mode with socially-agreed upon conventions developed over time. Genres form by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented, often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, some genres may be rigid with strictly adhered to guidelines while others may be very flexible. Genre began as a classification system for ancient Greek literature. Poetry, prose, and performance each had a specific and calculated style that related to the theme of the story. Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, in later periods genres proliferated and developed in response to changes in audiences and creators. Genre became a tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictable art. Because art is often a response to a state, in that people write/paint/sing/dance about what they know about. Genre suffers from the ills of any classification system. Genre is to be reassessed and scrutinized, and to works on their unique merit. While the genre of storytelling has been relegated as lesser form of art because of the heavily borrowed nature of the conventions, proponents argue that the genius of an effective genre piece is in the variation, recombination, and evolution of the codes. The term genre is used in the history and criticism of visual art. These are distinguished from staffage, incidental figures in what is primarily a landscape or architectural painting, Genre painting may also be used as a wider term covering genre painting proper, and other specialized types of paintings such as still-life, landscapes, marine paintings and animal paintings. The concept of the hierarchy of genres was a one in artistic theory. It was strongest in France, where it was associated with the Académie française which held a role in academic art. Genres may be determined by technique, tone, content. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as adult, young adult. They also must not be confused with format, such as novel or picture book
20.
Reba McEntire
–
Reba Nell McEntire is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She began her career in the industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band, on local radio shows with her siblings. While a sophomore in college, she performed the National Anthem at the National Rodeo in Oklahoma City and caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall who brought her to Nashville and she signed a contract with Mercury Records a year later in 1975. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five studio albums under the label until 1983. The album brought her success, bringing her a series of successful albums. She has sometimes referred to as The Queen of Country. And she is one of the artists of all time. In the early 1990s, McEntire branched into film starting with 1990s Tremors, Reba Nell McEntire was born March 28,1955, in McAlester, Oklahoma, to Jacqueline and Clark Vincent McEntire. She was named for her maternal grandmother Reba Estelle Smith, Reba Smith was the daughter of Byron Williams B. W. Her father, and her grandfather, John Wesley McEntire, were both champion steer ropers and her father was a World Champion Steer Roper three times, John McEntire was the son of Clark Stephen McEntire and Helen Florida McEntire. Her mother had wanted to be a country-music artist but eventually decided to become a schoolteacher. Reba reportedly taught herself how to play the guitar, Reba played guitar in the group and wrote all the songs. The group sang at rodeos and recorded The Ballad of John McEntire together, released on the indie label Boss, the song pressed one thousand copies. In 1974, McEntire attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University planning to be a school teacher. While not attending school, she continued to sing locally. That same year she was hired to perform the anthem at the National Rodeo in Oklahoma City. Country artist Red Steagall, who was performing that day, was impressed by her vocal ability and agreed to help her launch a country-music career in Nashville. After recording a tape, she signed a recording contract with Mercury Records in 1975
21.
LeAnn Rimes
–
Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian, known professionally as LeAnn Rimes, is an American singer. Known for her vocals, Rimes rose to stardom at age 13 following the release of the Bill Mack song Blue. The albums eponymous single, Blue, became a Top 10 hit. Rimes has won awards, including two Grammys, three ACMs, a CMA,12 Billboard Music Awards, and one American Music award. She has sold over 37 million records worldwide, with 20.3 million album sales in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan, Billboard ranked her 17th artist of the 1990–2000 decade. Rimes has also written four books, two novels and two childrens books, margaret LeAnn Rimes was born in Jackson, Mississippi. She is the child of Wilbur Rimes and Belinda Butler. The family moved to Garland, Texas when she was six and she was enrolled in vocal and dance classes, and was performing at local talent shows at the age of 5. Rimes began her career in theatre, performing in a Dallas, Texas production of A Christmas Carol. After appearing on the television competition show Star Search, where she clearly charmed host Ed McMahon in addition to being a one-week champion. Rimes appeared a number of times on Johnnie Highs Country Music Revue in Arlington, Texas, by age nine, Rimes was an experienced singer. She toured nationally with her father and also performed a cappella renditions of The Star Spangled Banner at the opening of the Dallas Cowboys football games. Wilbur Rimes began recording his daughter under the independent label Nor Va Jak when she turned eleven and she released three albums between 1991 and 1996. Rimes was discovered by Dallas disc jockey and record promoter Bill Mack, Mack was impressed by Rimess vocal ability, and over the following three years, he made various attempts to bring Rimes to a mainstream level. In July 1994, Rimes recorded the song on her independent album, after signing with Curb Records, Rimes re-recorded a new version of Blue for her debut studio album, and as a single. However, Rimes told a BBC radio program in October 2016 that the company accidentally released the version she had recorded as an 11-year-old. She said it was this version peaked at number ten on the Billboard Country Chart. During this time the media was reporting that Rimes was the successor to Patsy Clines legacy, the album Blue sold 123,000 copies in its first week, the highest figure in SoundScan history at that time
22.
Walkin' After Midnight
–
Walkin After Midnight is a song written by Alan Block and Donn Hecht and recorded by American country music artist Patsy Cline. The song was given to pop singer Kay Starr, however, her label rejected it. The song was left unused until Hecht rediscovered it when writing for Four Star Records, originally Cline was not fond of Walkin After Midnight, but after making a compromise with her label she recorded it. In January 1957, Cline performed the song on an episode of the CBS television program and it garnered a strong response from viewers and was therefore rush-released as a single February 11,1957. Walkin After Midnight became Clines first major hit single, reaching No.2 on the Billboard country music chart and No.12 on its pop chart. Although the song was her only hit until 1961, the version sold over one million copies and is often included on authoritative lists of the all-time greatest songs in country music. Alan Block and Donn Hecht wrote the song in 1954, a few years before Cline recorded it, according to Hecht, after securing a songwriting contract with Four Star Records, his assignment was to pick an artist from the label whom he could compose a song for. Hecht was impressed by Clines vocals and realized her voice was best suited to pop music, among his catalog of pop-styled songs was Walkin After Midnight, originally intended for traditional pop artist Kay Starr, and written in the key of B-flat. Starrs record label had rejected the version, and it was left unused for years. Hecht pawned his furniture, had a made with singer Lynn Howard, and played the demo for Clines producer. Her first reaction to Walkin After Midnight was negative, however, Hecht, the compromise was that Cline would record it as long as she could also record A Poor Mans Roses, a song she favored. Walkin After Midnight is a pop song with stylistic elements taken from the genres of jazz, traditional pop. Its session members were part of Nashvilles A-Team of musicians, who played on most of the sessions on RCA Victor. Among the musicians were Harold Bradley, Grady Martin, and Bob Moore, alanna Nash of the book Will the Circle Be Unbroken. More than any of the songs she recorded for the 4 Star label in the 1950s. On January 28,1957, Cline was invited to perform a song on the CBS television program hosted by Arthur Godfrey entitled and she originally intended to perform A Poor Mans Roses on the show, instead the shows producers preferred Walkin After Midnight. Although Cline did not want to sing it, she performed the song during the programs 8,30 pm slot, the excessive amount of audience applause caused a technical difficulty and froze the applause meter on the show. Because of the amount of applause, Cline won first place in the show that night
23.
Hank Cochran
–
Garland Perry Hank Cochran was an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting during the 1960s, Cochran was a songwriter in the genre, including major hits by Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy Arnold. Cochran was also a recording artist between 1962 and 1980, scoring seven times on the Billboard country music charts, with his greatest solo success being the No.20 Sally Was a Good Old Girl, in 2014, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Born during the Great Depression in Isola, Mississippi, he contracted pneumonia, whooping cough, measles, the doctor didnt believe that he would survive. His parents divorced when he was 9 years old and he relocated with his father to Memphis, Tennessee, but then was put into an orphanage. He was sent to live with his grandparents, in Greenville, Mississippi and his uncle Otis Cochran taught him how to play the guitar as the pair hitchhiked from Mississippi to southeastern New Mexico to work in the oilfields. After returning to Mississippi in his teens, he went to California, while there he formed The Cochran Brothers, a duo with un-related Eddie Cochran. Aged 24 he hitchhiked for Hollywood, but ended up going to Nashville in 1960 and it became a major success for Patsy Cline, reaching No.1 on the Billboard country music charts and No.12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Cline also recorded Cochrans Shes Got You, and Why Cant He Be You, in 1960, he was on a date at a movie theater when the film inspired him. He left the theater quickly, and by the time he got home fifteen minutes later had composed Make the World Go Away, Ray Price recorded the song, and it scored No.2 on the Billboard country charts in 1963. The next year Eddy Arnold would make the song his signature hit, scoring No.1 on the music charts. Arnold would also record the song I Want to Go with You, Cochran wrote several successful songs sung by Burl Ives. He also wrote songs for George Strait, Merle Haggard, Dont You Ever Get Tired, a No.1 scoring record for Ronnie Milsap, while working at publishing company Pamper Music, he used to spend nights performing in a Nashville tavern named Tootsies Orchid Lounge. There he took notice of a new performer whose talent left Cochran amazed and he encouraged management to contract the young songwriter, Willie Nelson, giving Nelson a raise that was owed to him at the time. In 2008, he let singer Lea Anne Creswell come to his home and choose an albums worth of songs, Cochran was married five times, Jeannie Seely was his fourth bride, and Suzi his fifth, from 1982. He had cancerous tumors removed surgically from his pancreas and lymph node at a Nashville hospital in July 2008, and he died on July 15,2010, age 74. In October 2012, singer Jamey Johnson released Living for a Song, A Tribute to Hank Cochran, – The Encyclopedia of Country Music. – New York, Oxford University Press, – ISBN 978-0-19-517608-7 Official website Songwriter Hank Cochran Talks About His Hits article
24.
I Fall to Pieces
–
I Fall to Pieces is a single released by Patsy Cline in 1961, and was featured on her 1961 studio album, Patsy Cline Showcase. I Fall to Pieces was Clines first number-one hit on the Country charts and it was the first of a string of songs written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard for Cline. I Fall to Pieces became one of Clines most-recognizable hit singles and it has also been classified as a Country music standard. Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard met in California, and became songwriting partners, one night, Cochran was mulling over song ideas, when he thought of a title, I Fall to Pieces. Cochran met with Howard at his house the day, where they finished writing the song. The demonstration version of the song was recorded at Pamper Music in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, by Howards wife, Harlan Howard pitched the song to Decca producer Owen Bradley, who tried to find the right artist to record it. The song was turned down numerous times, first by Brenda Lee, Bradley then asked rising Country star Roy Drusky to record it, but he turned it down, stating that it was not a mans song. Patsy Cline was in the hallway and overheard his argument with Bradley, Cline was afraid The Jordanaires would drown out her sound, and as a result, she was not very friendly upon meeting them for the first time, according to Jordanaire member Gordon Stoker. In an interview with Loretta Lynn on her 1977 album I Remember Patsy, Bradley recollected that, for Patsy, if she could not yodel or growl on a record, but Patsy was not the only one having problems at the session. Composer Harlan Howard relates, On the night of the session and we were trying all kinds of other combinations, but they all just laid there and bled all over the floor. So, it had to be the then, like it or not. But the amazing thing was, once Patsy got into the groove, she just caressed those lyrics and we knew we had magic in the can when, on the fourth take, every grown man in that studio was bawling like a baby and Bradley said Thats the one. After listening to the playback afterward, however, she realized that Bradley was right about the songs and ended up liking the track. Subsequently, The Jordanaires became fast friends and part of Patsys inner circle. I Fall to Pieces is a Country-Pop ballad about how a womans lover does not want them to be together, yet the woman cannot understand why, explaining that every time he walks by, she falls to pieces. The beginning of the sets up the entire story of the song, I fall to pieces. I Fall to Pieces was released 30 January 1961, but upon its release, it was ignored by all radio stations. However, Pamper Music promotion man Hal Smith had faith in the two songwriters and hired road man Pat Nelson to promote the single, on April 3, the song debuted on the Billboard Country chart and began the slowest ascent ever seen
25.
Crazy (Willie Nelson song)
–
Crazy is a ballad composed by Willie Nelson. It has been recorded by artists, most notably by Patsy Cline. Partly due to the nature of the song, it has been covered by dozens of artists in several genres over the years, nevertheless. Nelsons own version appears on his 1962 debut album. And Then I Wrote, Nelson originally wrote the song for country singer Billy Walker who turned it down for the same reason Roy Drusky turned down I Fall to Pieces the previous year - that it was a girls song. The songs eventual success helped launch Nelson as a performer as well as a songwriter, musically the song is a jazz-pop ballad with country overtones and a complex melody. The lyrics describe the state of bemusement at the singers own helpless love for the object of his affection. Patsy Cline was already a music superstar and looking for material to extend a string of hits. She picked it as a follow-up to her previous big hit I Fall to Pieces and it spent 21 weeks on the chart and eventually became one of her signature tunes. Clines version is No.85 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, Nelson met Clines husband, Charlie Dick, at the bar one evening and pitched the song to him. However, Clines producer, Owen Bradley, loved the song, so after about four hours of trying – in the days of four songs being recorded in three hours – they called it a night. A week later she came back and recorded the vocal in one take. In the same interview, Lynn remembers the first time Cline performed it at the Grand Ole Opry on crutches, barbara Mandrell remembers Cline introducing the song to her audiences live in concert saying All my recent hits have come true in my life. I had a hit out called Tra-La-La Triangle and people thought about me and Gerald, I had another hit out called I Fall to Pieces and I was in a car wreck. Now Im really worried because I have a new hit single out, Willie Nelson stated on the 1993 documentary Remembering Patsy that Clines version of Crazy was his favorite song of his that anybody had ever recorded because it was a lot of magic. It was released as the second and final single from the album and she also performed this song at the White House for President George W. Bush and particularly for Laura Bush, who said it was one of her favorite songs. In 2007, the song was covered by English alternative band Apartment, Willie Nelson himself has also recorded several versions of the song over the years including a trio version with Elvis Costello and Diana Krall. Additionally, it was covered by the Kidneythieves and co-released on the Bride of Chucky soundtrack, in 1980 Crazy was part of the soundtrack for the Loretta Lynn biography Coal Miners Daughter and was sung by Beverly DAngelo who was portraying Patsy Cline. Canadian country music singer Colleen Peterson covered the song in 1993 and her version peaked at number 29 on the RPM Country Tracks chart
26.
Don Gibson
–
Donald Eugene Don Gibson was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson wrote such country standards as Sweet Dreams and I Cant Stop Loving You, Don Gibson was born in Shelby, North Carolina, into a poor working-class family, and he dropped out of school in the second grade. His first band was called Sons of the Soil, with whom he made his first recording in 1948, in 1957, he journeyed to Nashville to work with producer Chet Atkins and record Oh Lonesome Me and I Cant Stop Loving You for RCA Victor. The afternoon session resulted in a hit on both the country and pop charts. Oh Lonesome Me set the pattern for a series of other RCA hits. Blue Blue Day, recorded prior to Oh, Lonesome Me was a number 1 hit in 1958, later singles included Look Whos Blue, Dont Tell Me Your Troubles, Sea of Heartbreak, Lonesome No. 1, I Can Mend Your Broken Heart, and Woman, west and Gibson released an album together in 1969, titled Dottie and Don. He also recorded duets with Sue Thompson among these being the Top 40 hits, I Think They Call It Love, Good Old Fashioned Country Love and Oh. A talented songwriter, Gibson was nicknamed The Sad Poet because he wrote songs that told of loneliness. His song I Cant Stop Loving You, has been recorded by over 700 artists and he also wrote and recorded Sweet Dreams, a song that would become a major 1963 crossover hit for Patsy Cline. Roy Orbison was a fan of Gibsons songwriting, and in 1967. Gibsons wide appeal was also shown in Neil Youngs recorded version of Oh Lonesome Me on his 1970 album After the Gold Rush, Gibson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973. In 2001 he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, following his death from natural causes on November 17,2003, he was buried in the Sunset Cemetery in his hometown of Shelby, North Carolina. Located in Cleveland County, North Carolina, the Don Gibson Theater opened on November 2009 in historic uptown Shelby, the theater showcases a busy schedule of premier musical performances. Past performers have included Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Tom Paxton, Ralph Stanley, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, John Oates, for more information, http, //dgshelby. com/ Wolfe, Stacey. In The Encyclopedia of Country Music
27.
Johnny Cash
–
Johnny Cash was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author. He is widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and one of the music artists of all time. Although primarily remembered as an music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of multiple inductions in the Country Music, Rock and Roll and he traditionally began his concerts with the simple Hello, Im Johnny Cash, followed by his signature Folsom Prison Blues. Much of Cashs music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption and his signature songs include I Walk the Line, Folsom Prison Blues, Ring of Fire, Get Rhythm, and Man in Black. During the last stage of his career, Cash covered songs by several late 20th-century rock artists, notably Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, Cash was born on February 26,1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas, one of seven children born to Ray Cash and Carrie Cloveree. He was mostly of Scottish and English ancestry, and as an adult traced his surname to 11th-century Fife, Scotland, after meeting with the then-laird of Falkland, Fife, Cash Loch and other locations in Fife bear the name of his family. At birth, Cash was named J. R. Cash, when Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force, he was not permitted to use initials as a first name, so he changed his name to John R. Cash. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name, the Cash children were, Roy, Margaret Louise, Jack, J. R. Reba, Joanne, and Tommy. Tommy Cash also became a country artist. In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas and he started working in cotton fields at age five, singing along with his family while working. The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which inspired him to write the song Five Feet High and Rising. His familys economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, Cash was very close to his older brother, Jack. In May 1944, Jack was pulled into a head saw in the mill where he worked and was almost cut in two. He suffered for over a week before he died on May 20,1944, Cash often spoke of the horrible guilt he felt over this incident. Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money, on his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of Heaven and angels. Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in Heaven, Cashs early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught guitar by his mother and a friend, Cash began playing and writing songs at the age of twelve
28.
Elvis Presley
–
Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is referred to as the King of Rock and Roll. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis and his music career began there in 1954, when he recorded a song with producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a popularizer of rockabilly. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, Presleys first RCA single, Heartbreak Hotel, was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. He was regarded as the figure of rock and roll after a series of successful network television appearances. In November 1956, Presley made his debut in Love Me Tender. In 1958, he was drafted into military service, in 1973, Presley featured in the first globally broadcast concert via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii. Several years of drug abuse severely damaged his health. Presley is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century and he won three Grammys, also receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. Presley was born on January 8,1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love and Vernon Elvis Presley, Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered stillborn 35 minutes before his own birth. Thus, as a child, Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God, where he found his musical inspiration. Although he was in conflict with the Pentecostal church in his later years, rev. Rex Humbard officiated at his funeral, as Presley had been an admirer of Humbards ministry. Presleys ancestry was primarily a Western European mix, including Scots-Irish, Scottish, German, gladyss great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was possibly a Cherokee Native American. Gladys was regarded by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family, Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, evincing little ambition. The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance, the Presleys survived the F5 tornado in the 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of kiting a check written by the landowner, Orville S. Bean and he was jailed for eight months, and Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives
29.
Country Music Hall of Fame
–
Chartered in 1964, the museum has amassed one of the world’s most extensive musical collections. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is one of the world’s largest and most active popular music research centers, through CMF, industry leaders raised money to build the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened on April 1,1967. Located at the head of Music Row, the museum was erected on the site of a small Nashville city park, at this point, artifacts began to be displayed and a small library was begun in a loft above one of the museum’s galleries. At the outset, CMA staff had run the museum, but by 1972 the museum acquired its own small staff, which has steadily increased to over 150 full-time professionals. Building expansion took place in 1974,1977, and 1984 to store and display the museum’s growing collection of costumes, films, historic cars, musical instruments, and other artifacts. To become more accessible, in May 2001 the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum moved to a new,130,000 square feet facility in the heart of downtown Nashville’s arts and entertainment district. In 2014, the museum unveiled a $100 million expansion, doubling its size to 350,000 square feet of galleries, archival storage, education classrooms, retail stores, and special event space. The story is revealed through artifacts, photographs, and text panels, recorded sound, vintage video, sing Me Back Home is enhanced by numerous, rotating limited-engagement exhibits. In addition to the galleries, the museum has the 776-seat CMA Theater, the Taylor Swift Education Center, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has developed multiple platforms to make its collection accessible to a wider audience. From weekly instrument demonstrations to its flagship songwriting program for schools, Words & Music, the Country Music Hall of Fame honor was created in 1961 by the Country Music Association, the first inductees were Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, and Fred Rose. Roy Acuff, the first living artist to join the Hall of Fame, was elected in 1962, the most recent inductees are Jerry Reed, Don Schlitz and Alan Jackson. Over the Hall of Fame’s history, the number of new members inducted each year has varied from one to twelve, the election procedure is as follows, A small CMA nominating committee drafts slates of candidates from each category, categories have been defined variously over the years. Award recipients are determined through a two-stage balloting process, the first round of voting narrows each category to five candidates, the second round selects winners. The large select committee of electors that votes on Hall of Fame membership is composed of CMA members who have participated in the music industry for at least ten years. New Hall of Fame members receive special recognition in ceremonies at the Country Music Hall of Fame, today the plaques are displayed in a seventy-foot-high rotunda at the museum’s enlarged downtown Nashville facility. The museum’s archival and library storage, allows for the cultivation of the museum’s collection, hundreds of historic musical instruments, featuring Mother Maybelle Carter’s Gibson L-5, Earl Scruggs’s banjo, Bob Wills’ fiddle, and Bill Monroe’s mandolin. Oral histories, scrapbooks, correspondence, fan club newsletters, sheet music, periodicals, iconic Vehicles, Elvis Presley’s 1960 “Solid Gold” Cadillac limousine, Webb Pierce’s 1962 Pontiac Bonneville convertible, and Jerry Reed’s 1980 Pontiac Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit II. When viewed from the air, the forms a massive bass clef
30.
VH1
–
VH1 is an American cable television network based in New York City that is owned by the Viacom Global Entertainment Group, a unit of Viacom Media Networks. The channel was first launched on January 1,1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting Systems short-lived Cable Music Channel and it was originally created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communications and the original owner of MTV. As of February 2015, approximately 92.6 million US households receive VH1, also frequently featured in the networks early years were videos for Motown and other 60s oldies consisting of newsreel and concert footage. It was introduced on January 1,1985 with the performance of The Star-Spangled Banner by Marvin Gaye. From the start, Video Hits One was branded as a version of its sister/parent channel. It played more jazz and R&B artists than MTV and had a rotation of urban-contemporary performers. Its early on-camera personalities were New York radio veterans Don Imus, Frankie Crocker, Scott Shannon, Jon Bauman, Bobby Rivers, later VJs included Tim Byrd of WPIX-FM, a station whose eclectic ballad-and-R&B oriented format mirrored that of VH-1, and Alison Steele. Rosie ODonnell later joined the outlets veejay lineup, ODonnell would also host a comedy show featuring various comedians each episode. The format left room for occasional ad-libs by the VJ, a godsend for emcees such as Imus, in true Imus style, he used a 1985 segment of his VH-1 show to jokingly call smooth-jazz icon Sade Adu a grape for her oval-shaped head. At first many different musicians guest-hosted the program, but eventually musician/songwriter Ben Sidran became the permanent host, new-Age music videos continued to play on the channel into the 1990s. They would be seen on the Sunday morning 2-hour music video block titled Sunday Brunch, once VH1 established itself a few years later, they catered to Top 40, adult contemporary, classic rock, and 1980s mainstream pop. For a time, even music videos aired in a one-hour block during the afternoons. They started out using MTVs famous Kabel typeface font for their music video credit tags and it was later replaced in 1991 by a larger font, with the year the video was made added to the lower column that identified the label on which the album was released. In 1993, the name of the director was included at the bottom of the credits. Every week, the Top 21 Video Countdown usually had a different guest host, occasionally, they had themed countdowns as well, such as Elvira hosting scary videos for Halloween in 1991. Long blocks of videos by a particular artist or band, theme. One popular weekend program was called Video Rewind, in blocks of 1980s videos from one particular year would play for an hour. There was also a short-lived hour-long program called By Request in which viewers could call a 1–900 hotline number to request their videos, also in 1991, a popular morning program was introduced called Hits News & Weather that ran from 7 AM to 9 AM ET
31.
Country Music Television
–
Its name is an initialism for Country Music Television, which has since been de-emphasized. It was the first nationally available cable channel devoted to country music, programming on the channel originally focused on country music, including music videos, taped concerts and biographies of country music stars. CMTs current programming now consists of original reality programs and scripted series, off-network syndicated shows. As of February 2015, approximately 86,989,000 American households receive CMT, CMTV, an initialism of Country Music Television, was founded by Glenn D. Daniels, the owner of Video World Productions in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Daniels put together the group of Telestar Corporation and the Blinder Robinson & Company investment bank in a three-way split. Daniels also served as the director and the first president of the network. The network launched on March 5,1983, at 6,19 p. m. CT, beating its chief competitor, TNN, the first video clip to air on CMT was Faron Youngs 1971 hit Its Four in the Morning. The following summer, MTV filed an infringement lawsuit over the initials CMTV. In 1991, Opryland USA and its owner Gaylord Entertainment Company acquired CMT in a $34 million deal, the network was sold by a group led by radio station owner Robert Sillerman and record producer James Guercio. Opryland USA and owner Gaylord also owned CMTs competitor The Nashville Network, in October 1992, CMT launched its first international channel, CMT Europe, as part of the Sky Multichannels package. By 1998, Gaylord reported $10 million in losses from CMT Europe, Gaylord had planned to emulate the successful model created by E. by selling large programming blocks to other European channels, but these plans never occurred. All shows eventually were cancelled by 2001, in 1995, CMT dropped all videos by Canadian artists without U. S. record contracts in response to the network being replaced in Canada by Calgary, Alberta-based New Country Network. By March 1996, CMT had eventually returned the dropped videos to its playlist after reaching an agreement to acquire a 20% ownership of New Country Network, in 1997, both CMT and TNN were sold to Westinghouse, then-owner of CBS for a reported $1.5 billion. In 1999, Viacom acquired CBS, assuming ownership of CMT and TNN, Viacom also changed the format of CMT, modeling it after sister networks MTV and VH1 to include series and movies, in addition to music videos. Despite the decrease in music videos, CMT has experienced significant ratings gains since its acquisition by MTV Networks in 1999, by 2007, the channel was available in more than 83 million homes. As of 2009, the network now reaches 88 million homes, on April 4,2012, CMT announced its first cartoon series, Bounty Hunters, featuring the voices of Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall who also serve as executive producers. CMT also announced that it would air Trinity 911, a 10-episode workplace docu-comedy that follows the police force in a small Texas town, Trinity 911 was later renamed Big Texas Heat and removed from the schedule after airing four episodes. CMTs current programming consists of entertainment programming, movies and reality shows
32.
Rolling Stone
–
Rolling Stone is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who is still the publisher. It was first known for its coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine shifted focus to a readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors. In recent years, it has resumed its traditional mix of content, Rolling Stone magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason. To get it off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his own family and from the parents of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue carried a date of November 9,1967. Some authors have attributed the name solely to Dylans hit single, At Gleasons suggestion, Rolling Stone initially identified with and reported the hippie counterculture of the era. In the very first edition, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone is not just about the music, in the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark with its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazines political section. Thompson first published his most famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of prominent authors, including Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, Patti Smith. It was at point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories. One interviewer, speaking for a number of his peers, said that he bought his first copy of the magazine upon initial arrival on his college campus. In 1977, the magazine moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City, editor Jann Wenner said San Francisco had become a cultural backwater. During the 1980s, the magazine began to shift towards being an entertainment magazine. Music was still a dominant topic, but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, films, the magazine also initiated its annual Hot Issue during this time. Rolling Stone was initially known for its coverage and for Thompsons political reporting. In the 1990s, the changed its format to appeal to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors
33.
Seamstress
–
A dressmaker is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Also called a mantua-maker or a modiste, dressmaker in this sense is contrasted to tailored and has fallen out of use since the rise of casual wear in the mid-twentieth century. Mantua-maker, in the century a maker of mantuas, or in general a dressmaker. Modiste, a maker of fashionable clothing and accessories, with the implication that the articles reflect the current Paris fashions. Sewing professional is the most general term for those who make their living by sewing, teaching, writing about sewing and she or he may work out of her home, a studio, or retail shop, and may work part-time or full-time. She or he may be any or all or the following sub-specialities, A custom clothier makes custom garments one at a time, to order, to meet a customers needs. A custom dressmaker specializes in womens apparel, including day dresses, careerwear, suits, evening or bridal wear, sportswear. A tailor makes custom menswear-style jackets and the skirts or trousers that go with them, an alterations specialist or alterationist adjusts the fit of completed garments, usually ready-to-wear, or restyles them. Note that while all tailors can do alterations, by no means can all alterationists do tailoring, designers choose combinations of line, proportion, color, and texture for intended garments. They may have no sewing or patternmaking skills, and may only sketch or conceptualize garments, a wardrobe consultant or fashion advisor recommends styles and colors for a client. A seamstress is someone who sews seams, or in other words and this term is not a synonym for dressmaker. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, a seamstress did handsewing, especially under the putting-out system, older variants are seamster and sempstress. Sewist is a new term, combining the words sew and artist, to describe someone who creates sewn works of art. Bespoke Fashion design Haute couture Tailor Sewing Butterick Publishing Company, The Art of Garment Cutting, Fitting and Making,1894. Deckert, Barbara, Sewing for Plus Sizes, Design, Fit and Construction for Ample Apparel, Taunton,1999, Appendix B, How to Find, Select, kirke, Betty, Madeleine Vionnet, Chronicle Books,1998. Picken, Mary Brooks, The Fashion Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls,1957
34.
Given name
–
A given name is a part of a persons personal name. It identifies a person, and differentiates that person from other members of a group, such as a family or clan. The term given name refers to the fact that the name usually is bestowed upon a person and this contrasts with a surname, which is normally inherited, and shared with other members of the childs immediate family. Given names are used in a familiar and friendly manner in informal situations. In more formal situations the surname is commonly used, unless it is necessary to distinguish between people with the same surname. The idioms on a basis and being on first-name terms allude to the familiarity of addressing another by a given name. The order given name – family name, commonly known as the Western order, is used throughout most European countries and in countries that have cultures predominantly influenced by Western Europe. The order family name – given name, commonly known as the Eastern order, is used in East Asia, as well as in Southern and North-Eastern parts of India. The order given name - fathers family name - mothers family name is used in Spanish-speaking countries to acknowledge the families of both parents. Today the order can also be changed legally in Spain using given name - mothers family name - fathers family name, under the common Western naming convention, people may have one or more forenames. If more than one, there is usually a main forename for everyday use, sometimes however two or more forenames may carry equal weight. There is no particular ordering rule for forenames – often the main forename is at the beginning, a childs given name or names are usually chosen by the parents soon after birth. If a name is not assigned at birth, one may be given at a ceremony, with family. In most jurisdictions, a name at birth is a matter of public record, inscribed on a birth certificate. In western cultures, people normally retain the same name throughout their lives. However, in some cases names may be changed by petitioning a court of law. People may also change their names when immigrating from one country to another with different naming conventions, in France, the agency can refer the case to a local judge. Some jurisdictions, like in Sweden, restrict the spelling of names, parents may choose a name because of its meaning
35.
Blacksmith
–
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut. Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils and weapons. The black in blacksmith refers to the black fire scale, a layer of oxides that forms on the surface of the metal during heating. The origin of smith is debated, it may come from the old English word smythe meaning to strike or it may have originated from the Proto-German smithaz meaning skilled worker. Blacksmiths work by heating pieces of iron or steel until the metal becomes soft enough for shaping with hand tools, such as a hammer, anvil. Heating generally takes place in a forge fueled by propane, natural gas, coal, charcoal, some modern blacksmiths may also employ an oxyacetylene or similar blowtorch for more localized heating. Induction heating methods are gaining popularity among modern blacksmiths, color is important for indicating the temperature and workability of the metal. As iron heats to higher temperatures, it first glows red, then orange, yellow, the ideal heat for most forging is the bright yellow-orange color that indicates forging heat. Because they must be able to see the color of the metal, some blacksmiths work in dim, low-light conditions. The key is to have consistent lighting, but not too bright, the techniques of smithing can be roughly divided into forging, welding, heat-treating, and finishing. Forging—the process smiths use to shape metal by hammering—differs from machining in that forging does not remove material, instead, the smith hammers the iron into shape. Even punching and cutting operations by smiths usually re-arrange metal around the hole, drawing lengthens the metal by reducing one or both of the other two dimensions. As the depth is reduced, or the width narrowed, the piece is lengthened or drawn out, as an example of drawing, a smith making a chisel might flatten a square bar of steel, lengthening the metal, reducing its depth but keeping its width consistent. Drawing does not have to be uniform, a taper can result as in making a wedge or a woodworking chisel blade. If tapered in two dimensions, a point results, drawing can be accomplished with a variety of tools and methods. Two typical methods using only hammer and anvil would be hammering on the anvil horn, another method for drawing is to use a tool called a fuller, or the peen of the hammer, to hasten the drawing out of a thick piece of metal. Fullering consists of hammering a series of indentations with corresponding ridges, the resulting effect looks somewhat like waves along the top of the piece. Then the smith turns the hammer over to use the face to hammer the tops of the ridges down level with the bottoms of the indentations
36.
Patsy Cline House
–
The Patsy Cline House at 608 S. Kent St. in a neighborhood of Winchester, Virginia was the home from 1948 to 1953 of Virginia Patterson Hensley. She moved out of the house when she got married at the age of 21 to Gerald Cline, the house was placed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and a Virginia State Historical Marker was placed there about the same time. Patsys mother, Hilda Hensley, moved into the house with her three children after separating from her husband and worked as a seamstress. At first she rented the house, but later bought it, in order to help support the family, Patsy left school at age 16 working as a waitress, soda jerk and in similar jobs and later began singing. She first sang on Joltin Jim McCoys Sunday morning show on radio station WINC in Winchester and her mother sewed her first stage costumes in the house. Gospel singer Wally Fowler, who led the Oak Ridge Quartet, was impressed by her singing, the house is a simple two-story, three-bay building with a front porch and a tin roof and about 1,000 square feet of space. The sole bedroom is on the story and all four members of Patsys family slept there. The house is a log cabin built in the early-19th century, almost all the logs are covered by walls, however, except for a small area covered by Plexiglas by the front door. Charlie Dick, who was Patsys second husband and had lived in Winchester, remarked in the early 2000s that the house, the house is now owned by a non-profit organization, Celebrating Patsy Cline, Inc. which spent about $100,000 to renovate it into a museum. The renovations included adding central heating and air conditioning, Patsy Cline is buried a few miles south of the house in Shenandoah Memorial Park
37.
Kay Starr
–
Katherine Laverne Starks, known as Kay Starr, was an American pop and jazz singer who enjoyed considerable success in the 1940s and 1950s. She is best remembered for introducing two songs that became #1 hits in the 1950s, Wheel of Fortune and The Rock And Roll Waltz, Starr was successful in every field of music she tried, jazz, pop and country. But her roots were in jazz, billie Holiday, considered by many the greatest jazz singer of all time, called Starr the only white woman who could sing the blues. Kay Starr was born Katherine Laverne Starks on a reservation in Dougherty and her father, Harry, was a full-blooded Iroquois Indian, her mother, Annie, was of mixed Irish and American Indian heritage. When her father got a job installing water systems for the Automatic Sprinkler Company. There, her mother raised chickens, whom Kay serenaded in the coop, Kays aunt Nora was impressed by her 7-year-old nieces singing and arranged for her to sing on a Dallas radio station, WRR. First she took a talent competition by storm, finishing 3rd one week, eventually she had her own 15-minute show. She sang pop and hillbilly songs with a piano accompaniment, by age 10 she was making $3 a night, which was quite a salary during the Great Depression. When Starrs father changed jobs, the moved to Memphis, Tennessee. She sang Western swing music, still mostly a mix of country, during this time at Memphis radio station WMPS, misspellings in her fan mail inspired her and her parents to change her name to Kay Starr. At 15, she was chosen to sing with the Joe Venuti orchestra, Venuti had a contract to play in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis which called for his band to feature a girl singer, a performer he did not have at the time. Venutis road manager heard Starr on the radio and recommended her to his boss although she was still in high school. Though she had stints in 1939 with Bob Crosby and Glenn Miller. It was, however, with Miller that she cut her first two recordings, Baby Me and Love with a Capital You. They were not a success, in part because the band played in a key that, while appropriate for Marion Hutton. In 1946 Starr became a soloist, and in 1947 signed a contract with Capitol Records. The label had a number of female singers signed up including Peggy Lee, Ella Mae Morse, Jo Stafford and Margaret Whiting, so it was hard to find her a niche of her own. In 1948 when the American Federation of Musicians was threatening a strike, being junior to all these other artists meant that every song Starr wanted to sing was taken by her rivals on the label, leaving her a list of old songs which nobody else wanted to record
38.
Jo Stafford
–
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American traditional pop music singer and occasional actress, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Her 1952 song You Belong to Me topped the charts in the United States and United Kingdom, born in Coalinga, California, Stafford made her first musical appearance at age twelve. While still at school she joined her two older sisters to form a vocal trio named The Stafford Sisters, who found moderate success on radio. In 1938, while the sisters were part of the cast of Twentieth Century Foxs production of Alexanders Ragtime Band, Stafford met the members of The Pied Pipers. Bandleader Tommy Dorsey hired them in 1939 to perform vocals for his orchestra. In addition to her recordings with the Pied Pipers, Stafford featured in performances for Dorsey. After leaving the group in 1944, she recorded a series of pop standards for Capitol Records, many of her recordings were backed by the orchestra of Paul Weston. She also performed duets with Gordon MacRae and Frankie Laine and her work with the United Service Organizations giving concerts for soldiers during World War II earned her the nickname G. I. Jo. S. and in 1961 in the U. K. Stafford married twice, first in 1937 to musician John Huddleston, then in 1952 to Paul Weston, with whom she had two children. She and Weston developed a routine in which they assumed the identity of an incompetent lounge act named Jonathan and Darlene Edwards. The act proved popular at parties and among the public when the couple released an album as the Edwardses in 1957. In 1961, the album Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris won Stafford her only Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, Stafford largely retired as a performer in the mid-1960s, but continued in the music business. She had a resurgence in popularity in the late 1970s when she recorded a cover of the Bee Gees hit. In the 1990s, she began re-releasing some of her material through Corinthian Records and she died in 2008 in Century City, Los Angeles, and is interred with Weston at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. Her work in radio, television and music is recognized by three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Jo Elizabeth Stafford was born in Coalinga, California, in 1917, to Grover Cleveland Stafford and Anna Stafford —a second cousin of World War I hero Sergeant Alvin York. She was the third of four children, both her parents enjoyed singing and sharing music with their family. Staffords father hoped for success in the California oil fields when he moved his family from Gainesboro, Tennessee and her mother was an accomplished banjo player, playing and singing many of the folk songs which influenced Staffords later career. Anna insisted that her children should take lessons, but Jo was the only one among her sisters who took a keen interest in it
39.
Hank Williams
–
Hiram King Hank Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Mount Olive, Butler County, Alabama, Williams moved to Georgiana, where he met Rufus Payne, Payne had a major influence on Williams later musical style, along with Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb. During this time, Williams informally changed his name to Hank and he moved to Montgomery, where he began his music career in 1937, when producers at radio station WSFA hired him to perform and host a 15-minute program. He formed as backup the Drifting Cowboys band, which was managed by his mother, Williams eventually married Audrey Sheppard, who was his manager for nearly a decade. After recording Never Again and Honky Tonkin with Sterling Records, he signed a contract with MGM Records, in 1947 he released Move It on Over, which became a hit, and also joined the Louisiana Hayride radio program. One year later, he released a cover of Lovesick Blues, after an initial rejection, Williams joined the Grand Ole Opry. He was unable to read or notate music to any significant degree, among the hits he wrote were Your Cheatin Heart, Hey, Good Lookin, and Im So Lonesome I Could Cry. Several years of pain, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse severely damaged Williams health. He divorced Sheppard and was dismissed by the Grand Ole Opry because of his unreliability, Williams died on New Years Day of 1953 at the age of 29, from heart failure exacerbated by pills and alcohol. Despite his short life, Williams had a influence on 20th-century popular music. The songs he wrote and recorded have been covered by artists and have been hits in various genres. He has been inducted into multiple halls of fame, such as the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Williams was born in Butler County, Alabama, the son of Jessie Lillybelle Lillie and his parents married on November 12,1916. Hank Williams was of English ancestry, Elonzo Williams worked as an engineer for the railroads of the W. T. Smith lumber company. He was drafted during World War I, serving from July 1918 until June 1919 and he was severely injured after falling from a truck, breaking his collarbone and suffering a severe blow to the head. After his return, the familys first child, Irene, was born on August 8,1922, another son of theirs died shortly after birth. Their third child, Hiram, was born on September 17,1923, in Mount Olive. Since Elonzo Williams was a Mason, and his wife was a member of Order of the Eastern Star the child was named after Hiram I of Tyre, as a child, he was nicknamed Harm by his family and Herky or Poots by his friends
40.
Judy Garland
–
Judy Garland was an American singer, actress, and vaudevillian. Garland began performing in vaudeville with her two sisters and was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. She made more than two films with MGM, including nine with Mickey Rooney. Garlands most famous role was as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and her other roles at MGM included Meet Me in St. Louis, The Harvey Girls and Easter Parade. After 15 years, she was released from the studio and made record-breaking concert appearances, a recording career. Film appearances became fewer in her years, but included two Academy Award nominated performances in A Star Is Born and Judgment at Nuremberg. Garland received a Golden Globe Award, a Juvenile Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award, deMille Award for lifetime achievement in the film industry. She was the first woman to win a Grammy for Album of the Year for her recording of Judy at Carnegie Hall. In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the 10 greatest female stars of classic American cinema, from an early age, Garland struggled in her personal life. The pressures of adolescent stardom sent her to a psychiatrist at age 18 and her self-image was influenced by film executives who said she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. She was plagued by instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce and she also had a long battle with drugs and alcohol, which ultimately led to her death from a barbiturate overdose at the age of 47. Garland was born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10,1922, in Grand Rapids and she was the youngest child of Ethel Marion and Francis Avent Frank Gumm. Her parents were vaudevillians who settled in Grand Rapids to run a theater that featured vaudeville acts. She was of English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, named after both of her parents and baptized at a local Episcopal church, baby shared her familys flair for song and dance. The Gumm Sisters performed there for the few years, accompanied by their mother on piano. The family relocated to Lancaster, California, in June 1926, Frank purchased and operated another theater in Lancaster, and Ethel began managing her daughters and working to get them into motion pictures
41.
Shirley Temple
–
Shirley Temple Black was an American actress, singer, dancer, businesswoman and diplomat who was most notable as Hollywoods number one box-office star from 1935 to 1938. As an adult, she was named United States ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia, Shirley Temple began her film career in 1932 at age 3. In 1934, she found fame in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her image included dolls, dishes. Her box-office popularity waned as she reached adolescence and she appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid-to-late teens, and retired from films in 1950 at the age of 22. Temple returned to business in 1958 with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations. She made guest appearances on shows in the early 1960s. She sat on the boards of corporations and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, in 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. Temple was the recipient of awards and honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors. She is 18th on the American Film Institutes list of the greatest female American screen legends of Classic Hollywood cinema, Shirley Temple was born on April 23,1928, in Santa Monica, California. She was the child of Gertrude Amelia Temple, a homemaker, and George Francis Temple. The family was of English, German, and Dutch ancestry and she had two brothers, George Francis, Jr. and John Stanley. The family moved to Brentwood, Los Angeles and her mother supported her young daughters singing, dancing, and acting talents, and in September 1931, enrolled her in Meglins Dance School in Los Angeles. About this time, her mother began styling her daughters hair in ringlets, while at Meglins, she was spotted by Charles Lamont, a casting director for Educational Pictures. Although Shirley hid behind the piano while in the studio, Lamont took a shine to her, invited her to audition, Educational Pictures were about to launch their Baby Burlesks, multiple short films satirizing recent film and political events, using preschool children in every role. Baby Burlesks was a series of one-reelers, another series of two-reelers called Frolics of Youth followed, with Shirley playing Mary Lou Rogers, to underwrite production costs at Educational, she and her child co-stars modeled for breakfast cereals and other products. She was lent to Tower Productions for a role in her first feature film in 1932 and, in 1933, to Universal, Paramount. After Educational Pictures declared bankruptcy in 1933, her father purchased her contract for $25, while walking out of the viewing of her last Frolics of Youth picture, Fox Film songwriter Jay Gorney saw the little girl dancing in the movie theater lobby
42.
Kate Smith
–
Kathryn Elizabeth Smith, known professionally as Kate Smith and The First Lady of Radio, was an American singer, a contralto, best known for her rendition of Irving Berlins God Bless America. She had a radio, television, and recording career spanning five decades, Smith became known as The Songbird of the South after her enduring popularity during World War II and contribution to American culture and patriotism. Kathryn Elizabeth Smith was born May 1,1907 in Greenville, Virginia to Charlotte Lottie Yarnell and William Herman Smith, growing up in Washington and her father owned the Capitol News Company, distributing newspapers and magazines in the greater D. C. area. She was the youngest of three daughters, the middle child dying in infancy, as a baby, she failed to talk until she was four years old, but a year later she was singing in church socials. Her earliest performances were during amateur nights at vaudeville theaters in D. C and her earliest musical influences were her parents, her father sang choir at the Roman Catholic church, her mother played piano at the Presbyterian church. She attended Business High School in D. C. —which would later become Roosevelt Senior High School—likely graduating in 1924 and she got herself on the bill at Keiths Theater in Boston as a singer. Heading the bill was the actor and producer Eddie Dowling, who signed up the singer for a revue he was preparing. It was called Honeymoon Lane, and it opened in Atlantic City on August 29,1926, a month later, it moved to Broadway. Kate Smith is the newcomers not uncommon name and she was actually only 17 at the time. From Honeymoon Lane, Smith went into the company of Vincent Youmans Hit the Deck. Back in New York, she took the lead in George Whites Flying High, which opened at the Apollo Theater on March 3,1930. As Pansy Sparks, Miss Smiths role was to be the butt of Bert Lahrs often cruel jibes about her girth and she said later that she often wept with humiliation in her dressing room after the show. Her professional musical career began in 1930, when she was discovered by Columbia Records artists-and-repertoire executive Ted Collins, who became her longtime manager in 50–50 partnership. She later credited Collins with helping her overcome her self-consciousness, writing, Ted Collins was the first man who regarded me as a singer and she noted, Im big, and I sing, and boy, when I sing, I sing all over. Collins put Smith on radio in 1931 and that year, she performed the controversial top-20 song of 1931, Thats Why Darkies Were Born and Dream a Little Dream of Me. Rose ODay sold over one million copies, her first to achieve this feat and her theme song was When the Moon Comes over the Mountain, she had helped write the lyrics. Smith greeted her audience with Hello, everybody, and signed off with Thanks for listenin. In 1932, Smith appeared in Hello, Everybody, with co-stars Randolph Scott and Sally Blane, and in the 1943 wartime film This is the Army she sang God Bless America
43.
Soda jerk
–
A soda jerk is a person—typically a youth—who operates the soda fountain in a drugstore, often for the purpose of preparing and serving flavored soda water or an ice cream soda. This was made by putting flavored syrup into a specially designed tall glass, adding carbonated water and, finally, the result was served with a long-handled spoon, most commonly known as a soda spoon, and drinking straws. The unflavored carbonated water was used to all of the drinks. Consequently, the tap handle was large, as a busy shop would have the soda jerker using it frequently. This made the mixing of drinks a center of activity at the soda fountain counter, the practice of operating a soda fountain in a drugstore reached its peak popularity in the 1940s. The position was highly coveted, and was only awarded after several months or years of menial labor in the store. Michael Karl Witzel describes the archetypal soda jerk as being consummate showman, innovator, the pop culture star of the Gilded Age. The proliferation of ice cream parlors declined, however, as drive-ins and walk-up fast food stands grew in popularity, some modern theme diners are styled after establishments from the 1950s, however, and include an actual soda jerk, along with retro jukeboxes and booth seating. Longtime soda jerk closes up shop, The Topeka Capital-Journal, July 9,2000
