Inspired by the thread in Music...
I've listened to a lot of acts over the years who describe themselves as alt-country, Americana, country-influenced and so on. Frequently they sound nothing like country music to my ears even when they take great pains to use the 'right' instruments and sing in the right style. And I think this comes down to songwriting.
Let's take Hank Williams' hits as being the archetypal country songs. Of course he himself followed in the footsteps of other songwriters, but I think it's fair to suggest that those songs represent the crystallizing of all his influences into a fully formed musical genre. What do they have in common that makes them distinctive? I can think of a few things:
* They pretty much exclusively use the I, IV and V chords. The only other chord that gets much action is the II as a secondary dominant -- Hank only does this occasionally but later country uses it a lot. I can't think of a well-known Hank song that uses a minor chord, let alone a minor key. Chords are almost invariably in root position with the bass instrument emphasising root and fifth.
* Song structures are very simple, typically ABABAB or AABAAB, occasionally just AAAA, but there is often at least the suggestion of modulation, with one section being in the tonic key and the other in the dominant or subdominant. If the modulation is prepared at all it's done either by adding the seventh note in anticipation of the chord change (I - I7 - V), or through the use of the secondary dominant (I - II7 - V).
* While some songs have conventional choruses, it's very characteristic to use what I think is called a 'burden' -- a repeated line that occurs at the end of each A or B section, sometimes both. Examples include Mansion On The Hill, Cold Cold Heart, I Heard You Crying In Your Sleep, I Heard That Lonesome Whistle, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, A House Without Love, etc. Occasionally the repeated line is at the start of a section rather than the end, or both.
* Although 4/4 is the most common time signature, 3/4 is also widely used (though perhaps more by later country songwriters than by Hank himself). However, compound time signatures are unusual, unless you count shuffle/swung rhythms as being 6/8.
Obviously this vocabulary was later extended as country music developed, but I think all of the above are true for most classic country from the 50s to at least the 70s. But I am not a musicologist, so quite possibly I am talking out of my arse.
Anyway: am I right in thinking that country music does have a distinctive compositional basis, and that you can't make things sound 'country' simply by copying the instrumentation, vocal mannerisms, lyrical themes and so on? And if so, what other aspects of it have I missed?
Comments
I IV I I / IV IV I I / I IV I I / II II V V /
I IV I I / IV IV I I / I vi ii V / I IV I I.
There is a bit of minor but it’s almost always dorian - ie minor i chord, major IV chord. Like Apache and lots of cowboy music (theme tune of the good, bad, ugly etc)
So instead of a 251 you get a b7 5 1.
Another feature is that at the end of the turnaround when you’re expecting the V to resolve to the I, they do a burden, extend the bar with an added IV chord, and then do a plagal cadence to the I.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
In the last 15 years or so though modern country has moved to typical pop chord sequences like m6, 4, 1, 5 ... still with a lyrical message but less weighty issues. I know people have issues with this but I still like it
EDIT: combine that with traditional american instrumentation & sounds - strummed acoustic guitars, pedal steels and Telecasters mimicking pedal steels into cleanish amps, maybe a little violin around the edges etc etc
- Limited harmonic range
- Topic & lyrical content
- Vocal delivery
- Instrumentation
- Production
- Rhythm (particularly of the bass)
- Intention & target audience
Obviously my description carves out the shiny modern rubbish (partly intentional...) but if you want to include that then the main criteria becomes "anything with a twangy accent recorded in Nashville"
Emmylou Harris's Ten Commandments of Country
There's probably more pedal steel than slide guitar across the broad genre of country.
And the twangy Tele thing only really took off with the rise of the Bakersfield sound (Buck Owens etc).
If you ever get chance, visit the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Loads of history and legendary instruments from the likes of Hank Williams and Bill Monroe. As a place to visit it kicked Graceland into a cocked hat IMO.
I like both so I won't dissect and discriminate but I don't call Taylor Swift any form of Country.
Of course the obvious Major 1,4,5 and substitutions and the story lyric are critical as are the slightly humorous song Titles such as All my Exes Live in Texas , or Alan Jackson's It's 5 0'clock Somewhere to Garth Brookes' I ain't going down til the Sun comes up '.......I love this stuff and the Folky/Country of Jimmy Buffet .
I have heard some very non-country songs done in a Country style and concluded that it is the sound ,instrumentation and phrasing.
As soon as you get a Tele twang , few double stops, B string compound bends ,the pedal steel sound and a fiddle or Mandolin going in the background you have the Country flavour.
Redd Volkaert plays a lot of popular 1940s / 50s songbook standards in his regular set and yet it sounds so country .
Country music singers tend to have a certain common style, and country bands feature instruments that you rarely see in rock/blues bands - pedal steel, mandolin, violin, (takes deep breath), banjo. If you remove these elements the genre becomes much harder to identify.
It's a crude example but contrast Hank Williams original recording of "Move it on Over" with George Thorogood's version.