Female Performers in Country Music Essay -- Women Gender Papers

Fe male Performers in Country MusicDuring the early twentieth century, southern music began to be cognise by a somewhat more than precise and diverse set of classificatory designations such as country, blues, and jazz, through and through the phenomenal development of the radio and recording technology, the music of the south apace became known throughout the nation. The contributions of early performers such as the great Jimmie Rodgers, Vernon Dalhart, go after Wills, Milton Browne, the singing cowboys and many others are salubrious documented. But where are the female person musicians during the early development of country music, specifically during the 1920s and 1930s? In the blues field, the names of the legendary Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith and Ma Rainey are well known along with male performers such as Blind rat Jefferson, Peg Leg Howell, and many others. In the opera, women had long held important places in the music and the same may be said of vaudeville . In anterior country music, female performers were much less prominent and their roles more muted. Furthermore, until recently, at that place has been a woeful lack of scholarly attention to the early roles of women in the formation of the music in its modern commercial form. A neighborhood of the problem lies in the fact that recorded country music from the pre-1940 termination is difficult to find, but it is also likely that women performers were far less many during this period. Coltman (1978161) reports of that of the 377 pieces of recorded country music from the period 1922-1931 he had heard, only 12 (3%) were female soloists or all female groups, only 5% of the records were male groups who would feature a female soloist, and only about 5% were known to feature women as instrumentalists.... ...liche, Youve come a long way, baby.1Jill McWhorter is a 1990 alumnus of Middle Tennessee State University and is currently a reporter and staff author for the Review Appeal in Fr anklin, Tennessee.2There is some evidence that Billie Maxwell, The Cow female child Singer, may establish been the first to record in this genre. (Cf Coltman, 1978164).3In the Summer of 1990, mugful visited Murfreesboro and appeared as a surprise guest in my Elderhostel class on country music. She delighted us with a rendition of I Wanna Be a Cowboys Sweetheart and graciously consented to an interview. Some of the material in this theatrical role is drawn from that interview. BSA4Female performers are only beginning to compete in the songwriting ambit and lag woefully behind in the music publishing business. They have made great strides, however, in the area of artist management.