Country Music Wrap Analysis

Throughout the history of country music there were times it was a bigger part of popular culture more than other times.  One of its first major exposures into popular culture was when radio started broadcasting “barn dance” music shows such as the Grand Ole Opry during the Great Depression. 

 

 

Currently, country music may be in the midst of its greatest exposure and acceptance among popular culture due to musicians such as Blake Shelton and Keith Urban.  They have shown a new light on country music as a judge and coach on two of American’s most popular reality shows, The Voice and American Idol.  Not to mention that some of the most successful artists to come out of American Idol have been country music artists such as Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler and Scotty McCreery.  These shows have shown that country music isn’t just the stereotypical songs of great loss and drunkenness, but it is also of happiness and can be just as rockin’ as other popular music genres.

There have been many celebrities throughout the history that have made major contributions to the growth and changing sound of country music.  There were Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family in the 1920s.  There were Gene Autry and Roy Rogers during the western era in the 1930s.  Then there’s Patsy Cline from the early 1960s who is still influencing female artists to this day.

In my research of country music, I came to realize that country music has experienced more times a part of popular culture throughout its history than I realized.  In learning about stereotypes and paying more attention to what’s being played on the radio, I discovered there are a lot more songs with drinking in it that I had ever noticed before.  I’m not sure if it’s just because I’ve been paying more attention to it or if there really are an insane number of country songs about drinking.  I certainly hope that this heightened awareness fades with time once I have completed my popular cultures studies.