Country music originated from blacks?

[Ezekiel 25:17]

I can't find anything on this, y'all mind posting sources.

Read a comment how country music was taken over by whites and the same thing is happening to hip hop. Has me wondering will hip hop suffer the same fate.

 

[HoloGraphic]

 

[BmoreGorilla]

We created everything you hear except for that classical and opera bullshyt

 

[DaKidFromNoWhere]

 

[daemonova]

Charley Pride - Wikipedia

 

[AyBrehHam Linkin]

i remember a country music star from the 50s said Country was created when a black man snuck into a whites only juke joint or some shyt like that

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

@IllmaticDelta

 

[UncleTomFord15]

Country branched off from the Blues I believe

 

[Samori Toure]

The Banjo and the Roots of Blues
If asked to identify the instrument most commonly used for playing blues, most music-savvy people today would name the blues-guitar, but guitars were not popularly played until the late 1920s. Even then they were most often used as simple rhythm instruments. The banjo was the precursor of the guitar as the principal blues instrument. Dock Boggs, a white musician from West Norton, Virginia, played a banjo style and repertoire influenced by African American banjoists he met while working in the coal mines. The banjo-picking in his recording "Down South Blues" is similar to the guitar-picking that would later characterize country and Piedmont blues. The alternating-thumb base pattern and distinctive finger-picking style of blues are reminiscent of West African koraplaying and earlier banjo styles, reflecting an African American musical tradition that preceded the blues style from the Mississippi Delta. John Jackson was an internationally known blues musician from Rappahannock County, Virginia, known for playing banjo in a strumming style similar to his graceful blues guitar playing heard here on "Railroad Bill." "John Henry" is a traditional African American ballad played here with a blues-guitar and harmonica by Piedmont blues duo John Cephas and Phil Wiggins.

The Roots and Branches of Virginia Music: The past is present | Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Classic Piedmont Blues from Smithsonian Folkways | Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Piedmont blues - Wikipedia
In Search of Lesley Riddle - Birthplace of Country Music
Biography - Traditional Voices Group
Hank Williams and Rufus Payne
https://go.skimresources.com/?id=41...?page=3&xtz=300&jv=13.13.9-stackpath&bv=2.5.1
Arnold Shultz: Black fiddling and bluegrass music - Pete's Place
https://www.bgamplifier.com/music/arnold-shultz/article_e4849a9b-f6b9-5d19-a62f-e3993018bf6d.html
https://biggeekdad.com/2016/01/sister-rosetta-tharpe/




The Banjo: From Africa to America and Beyond
January 14, 2006–April 30, 2006

Assumed by many to be predominantly associated with Appalachian “hillbilly” culture and the folk revival in the Northeastern United States, it may come as a surprise to find that the banjo— the proverbial “white-man” mountain instrument—was developed centuries ago by enslaved Africans in the North American and Caribbean colonies.

The earliest banjos were played exclusively by the enslaved at least two hundred years before whites ever considered laying hands on what was, to the slaveholding culture, a “primitive” instrument. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, this negative perception began to change, and by mid-century white musicians had adopted the banjo in minstrel shows, catapulting it into mass production in the last half of the century. The banjo is now mostly known for its role in bluegrass music, overshadowing its historical origin and its place of prominence as an African American contribution to American music. It is this origin and early history of the banjo that is the focus of this exhibition.


https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/exhibits/the-banjo-from-africa-to-america-and-beyond/

 

[Knowledge]

I'm not a fan of country. I don't know who created that shyt but some of y'all be sounding like those reddit posters who be saying cacs invented rap music then proceed to post this video

 

[Samori Toure]

The Banjo

If the fiddle was the primary contribution to American music from northern Europe, the banjo was the primary contribution from Africa. The banjo has been called "the outstanding American contribution to the music of folklore," and can be traced back in some form to sub-Saharan cultures of the 13th century. It was almost certainly brought to the New World by slaves, and as early as 1781 Thomas Jefferson, writing about slaves on his own plantation, said, "the instrument proper to them is the Banjar, which they brought hither from Africa." Many of these early "banjars" were made from gourds and played with a fretless neck. We have no idea how these sounded, but surviving illustrations suggest they used heavy strings and probably had a deep, mellow sound. By 1847 we have eyewitness accounts of the fiddle and banjo being played together in the South - the origin of the modern string band or bluegrass band.

This early black folk tradition eventually transferred the banjo to whites, especially in the Appalachians. Here, musicians made banjo heads out of groundhog skins and adapted their songs to the instrument's harmonics. A parallel tradition began to develop in the 1840's, with the popularity of minstrel shows, in which professional entertainers performed songs and dances derived from what they interpreted to be black culture. The banjo became the central instrument of these "plantation melodies" and songs like "Old Dan Tucker" entered the pantheon of vernacular music. Early on in the minstrel show era, a Virginian named Joel Sweeny popularized a type of banjo with a fifth, short string and used it to develop a more complex picking style. Billed as "The Banjo King," Sweeny toured widely in the years before the Civil War, and even did a command performance before Queen Victoria.

Long after the minstrel show lost popularity, the 5-string banjo retained popularity with southern whites. An amazing number of regional styles emerged by the 1920s, from the frailing or downstroking style to more ornate 2-and 3-finger up-picking. Some masters, like Uncle Dave Macon, the first star of The Grand Ole Opry and one of the first country musicians top record, could play in as many as 17 styles when he was in his prime. The "banjo entertainer" emerged in the days of vaudeville and early radio, in which the banjo was used by singers who told jokes, did comic songs, and generally "cut up."

In 1945, though, a young man from North Carolina named Earl Scruggs took the banjo in a different direction. He perfected a three-finger "roll" which allowed him to play a rapid-fire cascade of notes that allowed the banjo to hold its own in the driving tempos of the new bluegrass music. Scruggs, who was as much a structural engineer as musical genius, also experimented with ways to improve the instrument's sound, and devices like the "Scruggs tuner" which allowed the player to bend notes by tightening and loosening the strings. Scruggs became probably the single most influential instrumentalist in American roots music, as generations of younger musicians took his style and built on it. By the end of the century, young devotees like Bela Fleck had moved the banjo well into the arena of jazz and even formal music.

Back to Instruments & Innovations

PBS - American Roots Music : Instruments and Innovations - The Banjo

 

[Doobie Doo]

Country music, also known as country and western (or simply country), and hillbilly music, is a genre of popular music that originated in the southern United States in the early 1920s.[1] It takes its roots from genres such as folk music (especially Appalachian folk and Western music) and blues.


Blues and Country Music: How Similar Are They?

• The Team
• - January 4, 2014

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Blues and country music are two uniquely American musical genres that, while completely different in style and tonality, share a wealth of similarities.



Just how similar are country and blues music styles? As any die-hard fan—or musician—will tell you, the two genres share common themes of love and loss, betrayal and vindication, while the differences primarily have to do with musical rhythms, harmonics and instrumentation. Here’s a breakdown of some of the similarities—and differences—between blues and country music.



Lyrical Similarities
Many country songs and blues songs could virtually have interchangeable lyrics because, thematically, they share a common ground. Winning and losing in life and love are reoccurring themes, as are paying for wrongs committed, regretting roads not taken and admitting that, while life can be beautiful, it can also be profoundly unfair. Country and blues lyrics also reflect the universal plight of the working man; these aren’t the ballads of the wealthy and entitled, but rather of the wage-earner—and ultimately, the victim. A good country or blues song feels lived in.



In spite of this raw-edged, stark realism, many blues and country songs impart a vein of cautious optimism of the “tomorrow is another day” sort, because, going by the song lyrics, they certainly can’t get much worse.



Musical Differences
The main differences between country and blues have to do with the music itself, rather than the lyrics. Most blues songs follow traditional musical rhythms and patterns, with time-honored chord progressions and a distinctive syncopation on certain beats. Likewise, blues songs have a certain instrumentation that can include a harmonica, an upright or electric bass, an electric guitar, a piano or electric keyboard and drums.



Country music, on the other hand, is less rhythm-driven and is often played with a heavier reliance on strings, such as guitars, fiddles, banjos, mandolins and other string instruments.



See? They are different.
Blues and Country Music: How Similar Are They?

 

[Samori Toure]

Lesley Riddle: Country music’s long-lost forefather

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Jeff Messer

HELLO STRANGER: African-American musician and Burnsville native Lesley "Esley" Riddle helped to shape the sound of legendary country artists The Carter Family. After being discovered by folklorist Mike Seeger, he appeared at the Smithsonian and Mariposa folk festivals.


Lesley “Esley” Riddle was born in 1905 in Burnsville and lived in Kingsport, Tenn., as a young man. It was there, in 1928, that he met budding musician A.P. Carter. It was not only the beginning of The Carter Family’s career as recording artists — they’d go on to become country music royalty — it was the beginning of the recording and broadcast industries. Riddle helped Carter gain access to rural musicians and storytellers who shared their songs. Riddle would work out the music on guitar, and Carter would write down the words.

Still, no one knew much about Riddle either before or after the Carter family became a household name. Riddle was a black man traveling with a white man in the Jim Crow-era South. Once, in a small cafe in Georgia, when the owners refused to serve Riddle, Carter declared that they would not be serving him as well. That story and others were uncovered by folk musician and folklorist Mike Seeger in the mid-’60s.

“Mother” Maybelle Carter told Seeger in an interview that she learned much of her legendary guitar style from Riddle. Her admission made sense: Riddle had lost two fingers on his picking hand in a gun accident in his youth (he was also missing his right leg from the knee down). The missing fingers caused him to adjust his playing style, and Maybelle adopted that technique as Riddle taught her songs.

Seeger sought Riddle out, and together they made a number of recordings over several years, documenting Riddle’s life with the Carter Family, as well as the origins of many of the songs for which the country artists were famous. The songs Riddle played for Seeger were familiar, but more raw, more bluesy and less refined than the versions the Carters recorded.

Desegregation allowed Riddle’s place in music to come to light. Among the discoveries was how Riddle lived with the Carters over periods of time, even helping to raise their children when A.P. and his wife, Sarah, divorced. The children credited Riddle with their very survival as their father became distant and despondent.

When Riddle died in Asheville, in 1980, he had finally achieved some degree of recognition for his contributions to the origins of country music. Efforts are ongoing to give him formal recognition within the Country Music Hall of Fame and official circles. His legacy lives on in Burnsville, where he still has family and a loyal base of fans. In 2009, this writer penned Esley, a stage play based on Riddle’s life, which premiered at Parkway Playhouse and was reprised in 2015.

ARTSMUSICBURNSVILLECOUNTRY MUSICLESLEY RIDDLE

Lesley Riddle: Country music’s long-lost forefather

 

[K.O.N.Y]

I'm not a fan of country. I don't know who created that shyt but some of y'all be sounding like those reddit posters who be saying cacs invented rap music then proceed to post this video

yeah but than you could just post this

A song that extends further than the 1930s


Also country is an offshoot of the blues

 

[Samori Toure]

I'm not a fan of country. I don't know who created that shyt but some of y'all be sounding like those reddit posters who be saying cacs invented rap music then proceed to post this video

Rapping comes from in West Africa. The griots have been doing it hundreds if not thousands of years to remember historical events and family lineages among the Mande people. Griots are also referred to as djelis were historians, praise singers, story tellers, poets and musicians. They are who we get the kora from and later yet the banjo. That was literally an occupation, which was one of about 7 or so in the Empire of Mali:

Griot - Wikipedia

Here are modern griots.