Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest update-Feb.20, 2024
This is an update of a 2022 pancocojams post that presented an excerpt from a 2019 article published by Trigger (Saving Country Music). That article is entitled "African American Influence on Country Music Can’t Be Understated, or Overstated".
*That 2022 pancocojams post https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/09/2019-article-excerpt-african-american.html "2019 Article Excerpt -"African American Influence on Country Music Can’t Be Understated, or Overstated" (with selected comments)". That post features 10 of the 58 comments that were published with that article.
This 2024 pancocojams posts presents the same excerpt and features 18 comments of the 59 comments that are now (as of Feb.19, 2024) published with that article.
That 2022 pancocojams post has five comments in its discussion thread. Two of those comments are given as an Addendum to this 2024 pancocojams post.
I encourage everyone to read the entire article and all of the comments in that article's discussion thread. I also encourage everyone to read that Mudcat discussion forum thread.
The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Trigger and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
This pancocojams post is part of an ongoing series on Black influence on (American) Country music. This music is also called "Old Time music, Hillbilly music, fiddle music, Country & Western music, etc..
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/02/did-black-people-create-american_19.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "Did Black Americans Create The Country Music Genre? Comments From YouTube Discussion Threads About Beyonce's Songs "Texas Hold 'Em" & "16 Carriages".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/black-influences-minstrel-influences-on.html
for a 2020 pancocojams post in this series that is entitled "Black Influences & Minstrel Influences On The Songs That Old Time Music Performer Uncle Dave Macon Sung & Played".
Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/02/african-americans-originated-and-were.html for the related pancocojams post entitled "African Americans Originated And Were The First To Perform Line Dances".
And click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/02/tennessee-brandos-feb-20-2024-youtube.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "Tennessee Brando's Feb. 20, 2024 YouTube Video Entitled "Bo Duke Compares Beyoncé To a Dog" (video & complete transcript)".
Click the tags that are found below for more pancocojams post on the subject of African Americans and Country Music.
****
ARTICLE EXCERPT
From https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/african-american-influence-on-country-music-cant-be-understated-or-overstated/ "African American Influence on Country Music Can’t Be Understated, or Overstated", January 15, 2019; Trigger, Saving Country Music
..."there has been a recent trend by media and even some artists to overstate the influence of African Americans in country music in an effort to systematically downgrade the influence of white performers in the ever-present politicization of culture that often derides “whiteness” as implicitly unsavory, inherently exploitative, if not outright evil. This effort appears to want to revise history to state that country music was primarily, or solely an African American art form, and it’s an aberration to characterize country music as an expression of agrarian whites beyond a few minor contributions. This revisionist endeavor has been emboldened even more lately due to the metastasizing of political vitriol throughout society, and the presence of two new African American performers at the very top of popular country: Kane Brown and Jimmie Allen. Hungry for political narratives around their ascent, the impact of African Americans in country music is becoming more commonly discussed, and often inaccurately embellished.
[…]
In an era when nuance is often drained from discussion, and people feel the need to settle on binary conclusions that often misrepresent the wide array of facts, country music must be considered to some as either black or white, when it truth its origins and history fall well within shades of grey. However if one was forced to settle upon one predominant racial influence on the genre, then country music would have to be considered a distinctly Caucasian art form, with its most potent and lasting influences coming from the folk and fiddle traditions of Irish, Scottish, and English settlers in America’s Appalachian and Southern regions, then mixed with the Western influences of the Singing Cowboys of Hollywood’s early silver screen era, and folk musicians such as Woody Guthrie.
The primary Anglo influence on American country music goes undisputed by the consensus of historians insulated from identity trends or equity arguments. While it’s true that some of country music’s most defining historical accounts potentially could have spent more time exploring the African American influences in the music, over-emphasizing these influences in retrospect as either the major generation point or sole origin of country music does not help to set the record straight, it only see-saws the misnomers in a different direction.
[…]
Except for country music, every major popular American genre has its roots primarily in African American origins, from hip-hop and R&B, to blues, to rock and roll which is primarily blues-based, to jazz, and Gospel, even though African Americans make up a minority of the American population. Country music is the only American genre where Caucasians played a predominant role in genre’s formation. That doesn’t mean African Americans didn’t contribute either, because they did, and that’s been a truth that was de-emphasized or overlooked too often in country music’s historical narrative. But to attempt to strip Caucasians of their country music influence is not only in contradiction to historical consensus, it can be counter-productive to the effort to make sure all country music artists are dealt with equitably regardless of color moving forward, whether they are current artists, or previous contributors who deserve to be framed in a proper historical context.”…
© 2022 Saving Country Music
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS ARTICLE'S DISCUSSION THREAD
As of September 16, 2022 11:44 AM ET, there are 58 comments in that article's discussion thread.
I've added numbers for these comments that I selected from that discussion thread. These numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
1. Cackalack
JANUARY 15, 2019 @ 10:09 AM
"Trig, I’m gonna try and be as clear as possible with this comment. I’m not taking issue with the article as a whole, this is an attempt to expand on the concept of the “folk and fiddle traditions of Irish, Scottish, and English settlers in America’s Appalachian and Southern region,” which is a murky sort of area with a lot of misconceptions. To try and give myself some credibility, I come from a family that plays that sort of music (hillbilly, mountain, old-time, whatever you want to call it), and I have a degree from a well-respected Southern university specializing in that history.
From about 1750 till the early 1900s, the most common musical configuration in the South was the fiddle-banjo duo, occasionally with a third instrument added, most commonly bones. These bands would travel about a day away at the most to play dances. There were many more amateur musicians would would only play at their local dance, party, or jam. There is a smaller data set as to the pure amateurs, but for the dance bands, it is clear that a great deal of them, perhaps more than half, were black. All these musicians influenced each other, picked together, swapped tunes and techniques and stories. The waters were mixed right there, as early as 1745, when a British traveller saw a “Negro band” playing Gaelic tunes for a dance, and I’d argue that it wasn’t until the Bristol Sessions when you can begin to separate the streams again.
The music of the South in that century and a half is impossible to extricate from black influence. The melodies are primarily Celtic, yes, but I think it is intellectually dishonest to describe that music as anything but “American.” Perhaps “Southern.” The best example of this might actually be “Dixie,” which is a patchwork of Scottish and Irish melodies, with words taken from Creole and New York lyrical threads, and, despite it’s current connotations, was most likely written not by the most overrated man in American musical history, Dan Emmett, but by a black fiddler named Thomas Snowden.
On a musicological note, I’d also argue that the biggest black contribution to country music is not the banjo, or the blues progression, but rather tonality and rhythm. Any “bent” or “blue” note in country music, or any shuffle or swinging beat, would not be there without the contributions of black folks.
This is all meant to further knowledge of our music, not to make any sort of attack or political statement. Thanks."
**
2. Trigger
JANUARY 15, 2019 @ 10:47 AM
"Hey Cackalack,
Thanks for the insight, this is good stuff. I took a long time to consider how to broach this subject in a way that would be both understood by the wide public, and by both sides of the racial divide. I agree that boiling down to origin story of country music as “folk and fiddle traditions of Irish, Scottish, and English settlers in America’s Appalachian and Southern region,” is definitely the Cliff Notes version. I also feel like I did a fair job to explain the intertwined origins of country music when it comes to race. In previous drafts of this article, I delved much deeper into the musicology of this all, and decided to scrap it, because I didn’t want to get into the weeds and make this too esoteric. Ultimately I wanted to point out that anyone assigning country music as only black, or only white is incorrect, and why, and not to gain advantage over anyone in an intellectual argument, but to foster understanding about the origins of country music, and give people tools to dispel these incorrect theories if they come up in conversation.
You mentioned The Bristol Sessions, and I had a whole paragraph on this that I decided to nix because it was more of a theory than a fact. Ralph Peer, before the Bristol Sessions in 1927, went to places in the early 20’s like Atlanta and New Orleans specifically to record African Americans for the African American consumer market. Race was very much top of mind when he made these recordings. When he showed up to Bristol, potentially his goal was specifically to record rural Appalachian whites. If this is true, and if the Bristol Sessions is truly the “Birthplace of Country Music” as it sells itself, then this would lend further evidence to country music being predominately of white influence.
However, if Peer was specifically excluding black performers from the region from the sessions, which he very well may have been, then this isn’t a fair portrayal of the music and its varying influences at the time. I also agree that this marketing of music by Peer and others is truly where the race in American music got untwined, when before everyone appreciated that most modes of music in America were multicultural."
**
3. Cackalack
JANUARY 15, 2019 @ 12:50 PM
"Hah yes my whole post is something of a hike in the weed patch, I just get an insufferable urge to pontificate sometimes. Overall I think it’s a good article. As far as Bristol etc. goes, here’s my take: There was already a racial split between blues and hillbilly music by the time of Bristol, but much more so in terms of the audience, rather than the performer. Jimmie hisself did a bunch of blues songs, and there were a plethora of bands in the Piedmont (including, amusingly, an integrated band from Greensboro NC that named itself after either its white banjo player or black fiddler depending on the gig) that played square dances on Friday nights and blues dances on Saturday nights.
I reckon thinking of Bristol as “The Birthplace of the Term ‘Country Music'” is a helpful way to look at it. Post Bristol, folks had the option to call themselves country musicians, and given the marketing, almost all of those who did were white.
I do think that you can draw a much clearer (and whiter, if you care about that) throughline for folk balladry specifically, though. “Knoxville Girl,” for instance, you can trace pretty directly from England, to Ireland, to Pineville Missouri, and finally to Knoxville with minimal outside influence."
**
4. OlaR
JANUARY 16, 2019 @ 9:21 AM
"Thank you Trigger. Great article!
...We call the music -what started what we know as country music now- “old time music”.
Influenced by english & irish immigrants, the folk music
of the Appalachian & the music of the former wild west. Later the blues
& first signs of more early urban sounds with the instruments we all love
& miss in modern country music like steel guitar, fiddles, banjo,
harmonicas…
Country music was & is influenced by black artists,
black music & black heritage. It’s an important part but not the integral
part.
Billboard called the early charts for black music “race
records charts” & the early country charts “country & western”.
Different formats & genres.
First recordings of “hillbilly” instrumental music became small hits in 1922 & one year later the first record with vocals (Fiddlin’ John Carson) was the first “official” country song.
Commercial country music started in 1924 with the
million-seller “The Wreck Of The Old 97” (b-side “The Prisoner”) by so-so opera
singer Vernon Dalhart. Record companies & talent scouts like Ralph Peer
went to the south & the mountains. The rest is history: the Bristol
Sessions & the start for Jimmie Rogers & the Carter Family. Well…all
white & Bristol was named the “birthplace of country music” by the
congress.
(It’s the very-very short version of what i know about the
start of american country music…there is so much more to say & worth to be
preserved since Nashville cut all ties to it’s own history.)"
**
Reply
5.altaltcountry
JANUARY 16, 2019 @ 12:16 PM
This doesn’t mean that elements of what might be called whiteness or blackness don’t exist among the varied sounds of country music–nobody would confuse Minnie Pearl with Memphis Minnie. But if you listen just to the audio, with no knowledge of the performer’s identity, a number of early and later white singers / instrumentalists could be mistaken for black (country blues) musicians (Dock Boggs, Frank Hutchinson, the Dixon Brothers). White gospel singers The Swanee River Boys would frequently be invited to perform at back churches based on their radio performances. But white doesn’t define country music, any more than black defines jazz. Both forms have evolved far beyond their earliest roots.
Listening quiz: what is the race of Mary Morgan, heard here on Hank Penny’s “I’m Waiting Just for You”?
Trivia quiz for the old timers here: What name did Mary
Morgan use for her later performances?"
**
Reply
6. altaltcountry
JANUARY 16, 2019 @ 1:20 PM
"While I disagree with the Jimmie Allen quote that “Country
music came from black people – it all started with the blues and bluegrass….”
both because country music didn’t start with the blues and because blues and
bluegrass are not at all the same genre / subgenre, I think the influence the
blues and ragtime on what country music must have been like before the first
recordings was substantial.
If you could filter out the black influence (the way karaoke filters out the vocal from a track), what you have left wouldn’t sound much like recorded country music. For example, the bluegrass favorite “Shoot the Turkey Buzzard” was apparently based on a 19th century Civil War tune “Waiting for the Federals” (which may have derived from an earlier song).
Here’s a modern performance of Waiting for the Federals” (or
“Kelton’s Reel):
https://youtu.be/bzhAVRTQn4A
This early recording of “Shoot the Turkey Buzzard” sticks
fairly close to the 19th century “original” in tune and harmony:
https://youtu.be/hzdOkbREptQ
Here’s a 1978 Smithsonian recording of a black string band playing what was probably a traditional version for them: https://youtu.be/945kRkOVc00 This is much closer to the various bluegrass versions by white musicians.
Unfortunately, the 1949 recording by J. E. Mainer isn’t available on YouTube (it’s on streaming, though–avoid the more recent recording by Mainer on Rural Rhythms), but it’s not too different from this 1990’s performance by older white bluegrass musicians, except that Mainer’s take is even wilder and more frenetic: https://youtu.be/MlIs-2cXtd8
**
Reply
7. Cackalack
JANUARY 16, 2019 @ 9:09 PM
"If you want to filter out the black influence on that
particular tune, an easy way to do it would be to look at the branch of that
tune family that stayed in Ireland. It’s most popular variant is known as “What
Would You Do With a Drunken Sailor.” 😉"
**
8. altaltcountry
JANUARY 16, 2019 @ 12:27 PM
"My father, who was born in southern Alabama in 1922, used to listen to Jimmie Rodgers and the Grand Ole Opry on his uncle’s radio (my grandparents had neither electricity nor running water until the 1960’s). Once when I was home from college, I was playing a record of various blues artists like Lightnin’ Hopkins, and my father commented, “Why that’s like what the black men I used to pick cotton with on our farm sounded like.” So even though in formal settings audiences were generally integrated through the 1950’s, rural whites would have been familiar with blues, field hollers, etc.
**
9.. Cackalack
JANUARY 15, 2019 @ 3:48 PM
"Also, I’ve never come across any evidence of Peer actively excluding black musicians from the Bristol Sessions. My theory is that there just weren’t many black folks in East Tennessee, so all or most of the pickers available there were white. Would have been a different result if he had come hunting for music that sounded more or less the same in the Piedmont."
**
10. altaltcountry
JANUARY 15, 2019 @ 8:14 PM
"What’s not so well documented (as far as I’m aware) is the influence of “white” (country and gospel) music on “black” music. White country musicians like the Delmore Brothers and Wayne Raney recorded a number of boogie tunes starting in the 1930’s, but I don’t think many musicologists / historians have focused on whether or not these songs influenced black musicians. Here’s a 1946 Albert Ammons boogie woogie classic. Notice how much the guitar solo (starts around 0:26) sounds like something by Merle Travis or other white country musicians from that era:
https://youtu.be/hyUBUUbuXrw " [This link is no longer active.]
11.
JANUARY 16, 2019 @ 9:05 PM
"Yes, absolutely. If you’re gonna say country music has a significant black component, you also gotta say blues has a significant white component. Honky-tonk as a term, funnily enough, predates country music as a term by some thirty-odd years, and honky-tonk piano playing (unaccompanied ragtime-ish piano in a dive bar or whorehouse) is the direct precursor to boogie-woogie.
There’s a whole nother rabbit hole you can dive down featuring Travis picking, Arnold Schultz (black guitarist that played with Bill Monroe’s Uncle Pen), Spanish guitar technique and clawhammer banjo."
**
12. altaltcountry
JANUARY 16, 2019 @ 12:16 PM
"I believe that the heritage of exclusively black music IS an integral part of country music, but not the DEFINING part. But I don’t think the earliest ancestors of country, which happen to be predominantly white (19th century parlor music and British / Celtic music filtered through Appalachia) are the DEFINING part either. By the 1920’s, traditionally white and black music had merged into the earliest recorded forms of what we now call country. It makes no sense to call country music as a whole by any race-based label–black, white, or (as Trigger points out) Hawaiian. Traditional country music is essentially integrative, even if performers and audiences were not racially integrated. Musically, it’s the most open-minded of all American genres–maybe of all genres internationally.
This doesn’t mean that elements of what might be called whiteness or blackness don’t exist among the varied sounds of country music–nobody would confuse Minnie Pearl with Memphis Minnie. But if you listen just to the audio, with no knowledge of the performer’s identity, a number of early and later white singers / instrumentalists could be mistaken for black (country blues) musicians (Dock Boggs, Frank Hutchinson, the Dixon Brothers). White gospel singers The Swanee River Boys would frequently be invited to perform at back churches based on their radio performances. But white doesn’t define country music, any more than black defines jazz. Both forms have evolved far beyond their earliest roots.”…
**
13. altaltcountry
JANUARY 16, 2019 @ 1:20 PM
"While I disagree with the Jimmie Allen quote that “Country music came from black people – it all started with the blues and bluegrass….” both because country music didn’t start with the blues and because blues and bluegrass are not at all the same genre / subgenre, I think the influence the blues and ragtime on what country music must have been like before the first recordings was substantial.
If you could filter out the black influence (the way karaoke filters out the vocal from a track), what you have left wouldn’t sound much like recorded country music. For example, the bluegrass favorite “Shoot the Turkey Buzzard” was apparently based on a 19th century Civil War tune “Waiting for the Federals” (which may have derived from an earlier song).
Here’s a modern performance of Waiting for the Federals” (or “Kelton’s Reel):
This early recording of “Shoot the Turkey Buzzard” sticks fairly close to the 19th century “original” in tune and harmony: https://youtu.be/hzdOkbREptQ
Here’s a 1978 Smithsonian recording of a black string band playing what was probably a traditional version for them: This is much closer to the various bluegrass versions by white musicians.https://youtu.be/945kRkOVc00
Unfortunately, the 1949 recording by J. E. Mainer isn’t available on YouTube (it’s on streaming, though–avoid the more recent recording by Mainer on Rural Rhythms), but it’s not too different from this 1990’s performance by older white bluegrass musicians, except that Mainer’s take is even wilder and more frenetic https://youtu.be/MlIs-2cXtd8 "
**
14. Who you didn't want to read this bullsh-t*
MAY 9, 2019 @ 8:54 PM
"1. You filled this bullsh-t* artical with white racial bias.
I would have enjoyed this, if you had refrained from interjecting your own
personal bias.
2. It is very much possible to understate the influence of
African Americans in country music, white people have been doing so for
centuries.
3. Culture appropriation isn’t a scheme of the media. Black
people would honestly like to stop having their ideas and traditions stolen and
gentrified. But that’s a whole nother lesson.
4. Don’t bring up racial bias and respectability politics.
The go on to spew bull about how white people who literally run American are
under attack.
5. As a scholar, to write an article like this ( in the way
you claim to want to present it) unbiasedly, you do the piece and readers a
major disservice not to discuss America’s very long racist history. You made
sure to mention multiple times how White people were perceived. You go on to
mention how you as a white person think black people view white people. You
mention multiple times the narrative you feel black people want to or
unknowingly push with claiming country music. But you mentioned not one thing
from the opposite side of this discussion.
6. White people enslaved black people, and natives. Blacks
and whites lived on plantations together. Do you truly think that Africans who
are by nature a musical people from a variety of vastly different cultures
wouldn’t sing, dance, bring/make instuments, and tools? Do you believe that
none of these tunes were learned, stolen and presented as entertainment? Do you
honestly think that you can sit on your high horse and overlook that African
Americans had millions of ideas stolen from them? We are an intrical part of
country music. That should NEVER be understated. We have been discredited
enough, and you claiming to be a big country music fan should never be ok with
discrediting us or allowing anyone else to. Now if someone is over
exaggerating, I see nothing wrong with educating and correcting them.
7. White people did not have to credit African Americans,
and even if the black people spoke up nothing would be done about it. There is
major gatekeeping in country music and alot of racism in this country still. Is
it really hard to believe that black people may have been keep out of recording
sessions in favor of white musicians? America has a history of stealing from
black artists. The Betty Boop case, ( a fictional character, I know) is a great
example of this. And Google will provide you with many more."
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.
**
Reply
15. Trigger
MAY 9, 2019 @ 9:10 PM
" “White people enslaved black people, and natives. Blacks and
whites lived on plantations together. Do you truly think that Africans who are
by nature a musical people from a variety of vastly different cultures wouldn’t
sing, dance, bring/make instuments, and tools? Do you believe that none of
these tunes were learned, stolen and presented as entertainment?”
No, I definitely think this happened, and resulted in significant contributions by African Americans in country music, as this article expresses.
???
“you do the piece and readers a major disservice not to discuss America’s very long racist history.”
Isn’t America’s very long racist history a given to any discussion on race? So I must retread over common knowledge in some treatise of redundancies about slavery in America simply to open up the discussion about country music’s influences?
You seem very passionate about this subject and I would love
to have a discussion with you. But it appears you didn’t read anything, but are
simply using this article as a steam value for anger and arrogance applied to
opinions you assume were shared here as opposed to the ones that were."
**
Reply
16. Erick Parker
MAY 22, 2019 @ 7:16 AM
" “2. It is very much possible to understate the influence of
African Americans in country music, white people have been doing so for
centuries.”
But it hasn’t been understated by the official institutions.
In popular culture there is definitely an association, but…the first dude to
play The Grand Ol Opry was black and has been in the hall of fame for 70 years.
“Do you honestly think that you can sit on your high horse
and overlook that African Americans had millions of ideas stolen from them? We
are an intrical part of country music”
The writer specifically makes a point to not overlook what
has been stolen, and specifically states that the article is a response to
people who think country music is entirely a black invention. I’ve seen people
online make this argument, arguing that, if black people were ever involved at
all, it’s therefore an entirely black invention that was stolen. There’s a
trend within scholarship lately of trying to reverse the old racist line that
black folks were just standing around doing nothing before whites came along,
using the same formula but just switching the variables. That logic is stupid
when racist whites use it, and also stupid when done by whatever we can call
this new type of scholar."
**
17. Lenworth
JULY 4, 2019 @ 11:20 PM
"I think this article is being a little disingenuous on the topic of race and country music and why this genre has been under the scrutiny of people of color. You insinuate that their is this entitled ideology from some that black people have always been prolific in this genre and I don’t think anyone is trying to make that argument. The issue is that many Southerners who were proud to listen to country music for many years were also proudly racist. And that is why many black people who considered themselves country singers were cut out of those spaces and radio waves. Chuck Berry, Big Al Downing, Arthur Alexander, just to name a few. Tina Turner released a country album but it was nominated for an RB Grammy. Now this may be the part where you say, “Well maybe she didn’t sing with enough twang, or with too much verbrato. Maybe her voice wasn’t soft enough…”. And there enlies the problem. When the gate keepers of a musical genre that has VERY REAL AND TANGIBLE RACIST PRACTICES doesn’t acknowledge it’s own problematic history, you’re gonna get the side eye from the rest of the world. The country music complex has no issue embracing artists like Elvis, but artists like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley are relegated to rock or the blues and aren’t really allowed any crossover appeal. So no, black artists contributions to country shouldn’t be overstated, but whether y’all can admit or not, we’re still being understated, even in this article."
**
18.Joshua Perkins
FEBRUARY 13, 2023 @ 6:45 PM
"I really appreciate this article it really hits the nail on
the head on how while discovering unsung heroes in country music history some
are attempting erase significant impact from certain cultures.
If you look at population movements and their culture you’ll notice similarities as well as unique traits. For example, just about ever culture has a tradition of rhythmic soulful pentatonic based music, including the groups that emigrated to North America in the previous centuries, not to mention Native Americans. The British and Irish brought with it a number of phrases, ballads, jigs and reels and wualking songs for example. Improvised line out (call and response) church singing can be traced back five to six hundred years in both England and Scotland. Forms of scat and backbeats are also a part of those traditions.
Then you have continental European stylus in Bavarian music
Klezmer, classical, etc that had an impact on Ragtime and jazz. Of course
Spanish and West African music as well. American music including country has
more then one source. So for example if Jimmy Rodgers was in part influenced by
some African American work songs those work songs would have been influenced in
part by the above mentioned British and Irish stylus.
Thank you for the article"
****
ADDENDUM - COMMENT FROM A MUDCAT (FOLK MUSIC) DISCUSSION THREAD
Here's one reply to a 2007 request on Mudcat's folk music forum for information about White influence on Black music in the United States
Goose Gander, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=106146, 10 Nov 07 - 11:12 PM
..."The hillbilly and race recordings of the early twentieth century reflect over 200 years of hybridization and cross-fertization between blacks and whites in North America (and the Caribbean, as well). Bill Malone in the introductory chapter of Southern Music, American Music discusses the difficulty in determing the 'racial' origin of many American folk songs. Secular and religious music demonstrate this interaction, as do folk and popular forms. A single song may weave its way back and forth across the color line, from the stage to the work-camp and back, and may parody a hymn or recast a secular theme in religious terms.
Lyrics and melodies common to both black and white tradition found their way onto race and hillbilly records. You will need to look for demonstrably 'white' material that has been translated into the African-American idiom (as clumsy as that sounds, I don't know how else to say it). "St. James Infirmary" (mentioned previously) is a good example of this. "Cotton-Eyed Joe" is an example of a song that, while likely of African-American origin, is melodically related to British-Irish music.
You may want to get a hold of the article "The Blues Ballad and the Genesis of Style in Traditional Narrative Song," by D.K. Wilgus and Eleanor Long (Narrative Folksong: New Directions. Boulder Colorado: Westview Press, 1985). Wilgus and Long sketch the outlines of the American Blues Ballad, which "does not so much narrates the events of a story as it celebrates them." Assuming a degree of familiarity on the part of the listener with the basic events of a story, the blues ballad uses allusion and poetic affect, and plays loose with chronology. Noting that the blues ballad is found both in white and black tradition and that its form coalesced in the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century, the authors argue that songs with these characteristics are found in Irish tradition, and that these forms can be traced to the early Middle Ages. While they don't quite make a direct connection between Irish forms and the American blues ballad, they suggest the possibility of a connection (without discounting possible African antecedents).
Also, for reference, you will want to obtain a copy of G. Malcolm Laws' Native American Balladry (way overdue for a reprint)."
****
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