Appalachian Musicians And Singers And The Songs They Write :: essays research papers

Appalachian Musicians And Singers and The Songs They WriteGrowing up in Appalachia and around its practice of medicine has made a great impingement onmy life. I can remember, as if it were yesterday sitting on grandpas frontporch with my family singing along with Hillbilly songs on the radio. Alongwith entertaining the music eased the tensions of living a meager existence inAppalachia. By relating with these song writers and the stories in there songswe somehow find our life less sluggish and more bearable. Most country andgospel Appalachian song writers find the words to there songs in the day to dayexperiences of there lives.One of the or so prominent and universal types of music to come out of theAppalachian region is gospel music. Writing about the religious experiences onefelt at the transfigure or the hope of seeing a lost family member in the here afterhas been the subject of many Appalachian gospel song. Singers and song writers like Tennessee Ernie Ford and Ernest Tub have left us with joy in our harts andtears in our eyes. Singing and listening to songs like The Old Rugged get through hascarried over from generation to generation in Appalachia.Another branch of Appalachian music that encircle around religion isblue pasturage. One of the best known blue grass artists (Bill Monroe)Known also asthe father of bluegrass music, dedicated a portion of every performance to agospel bluegrass harmony number. Bluegrass became popular in the region for anumber of reasons. Not the least of which was the inexpensiveness of home madeinstruments.(Ergood and Kuhre 189) The relatively small size made theinstruments easily transported from home to home.The naval division of topics in Appalachian music can not be numbered. Thesubject of a song can be anything from the pine trees on the highest mountain tothe modify water in the stream at the bottom of the lowest holler or any thing inbetween. Anything seen heard or felt talent have a song written about it.Anot her brand of Appalachian music honky tonk music was made popular by a mannamed Hiram (Hank) Williams. Songs about cheating harts and Honky Tonkin mightno have been popular with the churches, but they were with the Appalachianworkers in the city bars that couldnt be waste home with there loved ones. HankWilliams, although not mentioned in our text had a high pitched pining soundthat was common among Appalachian singers. Blue grass instruments carried overinto this style of Appalachian music. Hillbilly as it is referred to in slang