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From: Tom Bingham
Date: December 16, 2002
First off, thanks to Steve and Robert whose comments I agree with. My question, though, was intended to have more to do with origins and "what happened?" than to the actual categorization, although I may not have stated it that precisely, and I'm still digesting what Buddy had to say (a BIG thank-you for that long, well-thought-out reply). I think part of the problem is in nomenclature. What was country music in the 1920's is nothing at all like what we think of when we say "country music" now. (For that matter, current country music isn't what we think of as "country music", either, which is neither a positive or negative comment, just an observation.) When I say "country" in a *historical* context, I sometimes use the term in something approaching the way a folklorist might (though I'm not a folklorist), more or less meaning "rural." But then, say, Vernon Dalhart was hardly a rural singer, but a trained singer trying to *sound* rural, and historians refer to "The Prisoner's Song" and "Wreck of the Old 97" as early "country" hits. Country music as performed by Jimmie Rodgers is hardly the same thing as country music performed by the Carter Family. There were all sorts of things going on that have become lumped together by historians and lay people alike, simply because we feel the need to fall back on a comfortable categorization.
But to me, a Texas fiddle breakdown is "country", just not in the Nashville sense of the term. I tend to lapse into using the term "hillbilly", not so much because I perceive an Appalachian influence in someone such as the East Texas Serenaders, but because the music industry imposed the term "hillbilly" on such music. I don't doubt that when it was time to market "New San Antonio Rose", in the eyes of the recording industry it was a hillbilly record, as preposterous as that may seem today. Indeed, I've seen it referred to as a "hillbilly" or "country" record, which anyone should be able to hear is patently absurd. I think another problem I'm having is that aside from the East Texas Serenaders and a cut or two by Prince Albert Hall I don't really know what early Texas fiddle bands sounded like (though I seem to recall that Eck Robertson was from Texas; he always struck me as a maverick, but it's possible he was typical). This is a fault more of the recording industry, which simply didn't document many types of rural American musics until they all but disappeared. As for Harry Choates being king of the Cajun fiddlers, I've always been torn between him and Dennis McGee, but their styles were *so* different (McGee the archaic traditional style, Choates the upbeat swing style). Both were musical geniuses in their own ways, but the music is so different that it's well-nigh impossible to compare them. Once again, the rhythm is the distinguishing factor. But in Cajun music, there was a clear-cut break between the western swing-influenced style of the 30's and 40's (Hackberry Ramblers, Leo Soileau, Alley Boys of Abbeville) and the Cajun music which followed, because the accordion suddenly returned in 1948 with Iry LeJeune, Austin Pete, Nathan Abshire, et. al.
The problem with Texas swing is that there *is* no clear line of demarcation between western swing and honky-tonk. You call Ted Daffan honky-tonk (and I don't intend to argue that), but I've seen him listed as a western swing artist on several occasions (most obviously, his inclusion on the Old Timey _Western Swing_ reissue LP series.
As for bluegrass not being affected by black music, it's interesting to note that many people in Nashville rejected it from the start because it was too black-sounding. The improvised breaks, the flatted notes in the vocals, etc. are what set bluegrass apart from the string bands of the 30's. Bill Monroe used blues and jazz influences throughout his music, but partly because of instrumentation, partly because of geographical music influences, (as well as other factors) his music wound up sounding nothing at all like western swing. If you trace the roots of Appalachian music, you'll find black musical influence everywhere. To *our* ears, used to hearing this music coming out of white mouths, we think it sounds very white. As you say this isn't the forum for a discussion of race and music, I just wanted to point out that it's not simply the matter of black influence on western swing that made it what it was, but the particular types of black music absorbed and the way these influences were used. (I'm reminded of the late black folksinger/songster from Virginia, John Jackson, who was shocked to find out that Uncle Dave Macon was a white man.
Your comments on Spade Cooley are right-on. Despite his accomplishments in the early days of his career, in later years he became the Lawrence Welk of western swing. (I'm not talking about the polka side of Lawrence Welk, but the pablum which made up the bulk of his t.v. show.) I'd never thought about him being a contributor to the death of western swing, but that makes a lot of sense.
Question -- how was Spade's later, heavily orchestrated music regarded by other western swing musicians, if indeed they regarded it at all?