SYLLABUS: AMERICAN STUDIES 105

 

THE CULTURAL ROOTS OF ROCK 'N' ROLL

 

Dr. Jerry Zolten

Phone (Voice Mail):  949-5113                        E-Mail:  JJZ1@PSU.EDU

Office:  134 Arts                  Also By Appointment

 

TEXTS:         The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock 'n' Roll  Jim Miller, ed.

           

POLICIES:    No more than two unexcused absences to still qualify for an "A."  Each exam counts as 30% of final grade.  Remaining 10% of grade based on my assessment of your commitment to class work, including taking part in discussions, attendance, initiating meetings, etc.

 

READINGS:  From Rolling Stone History:  Intro-79, 85-106, 121-157, 163-190, 199-222, 238-291, 299-308, 332-347, 407-418, 510-520. 

 

USEFUL WEB SITES:         http://www.allmusic.com/    http://www.bluesworld.com/        http://www.rockhall.com/

 

 

WEEK ONE

 

General explanations.  Review syllabus.

 

Rock 'n' roll, 1956.  CONTRASTS: Stylistic differences between  black and non-black musical tastes.  4 Aces, McGuire Sisters, Drifters "Ruby Baby," Dominoes "60 Minute Man," Lawrence Welk, Willie Nix "Baker Shop Boogie,"  Patty Page,  Memphis Ma Rainey  "Baby No, No,"  Perry Como, Swan Silvertones "Trouble in My Way," "Sinking Sand,"   Tennessee Ernie "16 Tons,"  Jimmy Liggins "Drunk," Eddy Arnold, Elvis Presley "That's Alright"

VIDEO:  Rock and Roll, The Early Days

 

WEEK TWO

 

Anglo Music of the rural South and Appalachians.

Ballad Songs:  "Barbara Allen,"  etc.

VIDEO:  TBS This is Country Music  First 30 minutes covering ballads, fiddles, banjos, Uncle Dave Macon, Roy Acuff, the Bristol sessions with Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers. Bob Wills  On the life and music of Bob Wills.  Hank Williams  Live Performance of "Hey Good Lookin'"

DEMONSTRATE nose flute, jews harp.  DISPLAY photos and song books.

RECORDS:   Mullaney & Stack Maid in a Cherry Tree Dalhart Barbara Allen, Lucky                     Lindy Ernest Stoneman Titanic Dalhart Freight Wreck at Altoona Eck Robertson

            Ragtime Annie Gid Tanner & Skillet Lickers Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around,

            Chaw Yer Rosin Stoneman Family Cripple Creek Dr. Humphrey Bate & His        Possum Tamers My Wife Died Saturday Night Uncle Dave Macon Cumberland Mt.        Deer Chase Allen Bros. Salty Dog Blues Delmore Bros. Brown's Ferry Blues

            Monroe Bros. Darlin' Corey Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys Blue Moon of      Kentucky  The Carter Family Keep on the Sunny Side, Worried Man Blues

            Jimmy Rodgers Blue Yodel, Frankie & Johnny  Carters & Rodgers  Meet in Texas

            Milton Brown Talkin' About You Bob Wills San Antonio Rose, Drunkard Blues,       Oozlin' Daddy, Keep a Knockin', Dog House Blues, Ida Red Likes to Boogie Johnny   Lee Wills Rag Mop Acuff Roy Freight Train Blues Hank Williams I Can't Help It,    Your Cheatin' Heart, Hey Good Lookin', Long Gone Lonesome Blues, Honky Tonkin',          I Saw the Light, Jambalaya Woody Guthrie Do Re Mi

 

Points made:  American country music evolves from ballad songs brought from British Isles. Ballads are story songs. Words are changed to suit location and time. Popular instruments are fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, later bass.  Rock draws on guitar as central instrument, strings, etc.  Also down home attitude,  i.e., Opera/Grand Ole Opera, polished singers/spun singers.  People's aesthetic. Songs that follow a simple pattern, repetition, easy to learn, formulaic lines like "parsley, Sage/be bop a lula, etc."   Showmanship.  "Dance-ability".  Performer as songwriter.

 

WEEK THREE

 

African American music in the South:  The Blues   Turn of century-1930s

 

VIDEO:  The Gandydancers,  The Search For Robert Johnson  (excerpt), Down Home Blues Fest  (Lonnie Pitchford)

Demonstrate: Guitar Styles

Records:  Charlie Patton Stone Pony Blues, Frankie & Albert Robert Johnson Sweet Home      Chicago Blind Boy Fuller Rag, Mama, Rag,  Mama Let Me Lay It On You, Sonny Terry  Whoopin' the Blues Blind Blake Diddy Wa Diddy Bukka White Shake "em On     Down  John Hurt Stagger Lee Kokomo Arnold Milk Cow Blues Blind Lemon

            Jefferson Matchbox Blues Mississippi Fred McDowell Modern recording

 

Points:  Delta or Country Blues. Memphis on down to New Orleans. Primary male. Dance music, not called the "blues" by performers.  AABA form. Celebratory as well as plaintive. Opportunity to make money away from farm work. A meld of African tradition and white ballad and religious tradition. Legacy to rock in down home lyrics, emphasis on rhythm and guitar improv and proficiency, blue notes.  Male posturing, "getting the girls," dance beat/party music. Raw vocals.

 

 

WEEK FOUR 

 

African American Music in the South: From Jug Bands to Jazz

 

VIDEO: American Music: Scott Joplin and Ragtime

            Stormy Weather (Beale Street Excerpts with Fats Waller/Cab Calloway & Nicholas

            Brothers dance duo)

RECORDS:  Mississippi Jook Band Skippy Whippy Eddie Kelly's Washboard Band

            Shim Shamming Memphis Jug Band Stealin' Gus Cannon Walk Right In

            Alabama Washboard Stompers Pigmeat Stomp Scott Joplin Maple Leaf Rag

            Jelly Roll Morton Maple Leaf Rag/Whinin' Boy Blues King Oliver St. James Infirmary       Louis Armstrong S.O.L. Blues Pete Johnson & Big Joe Turner Roll "em Pete Joe             Turner Shake Rattle & Roll James P. Johnson Carolina Shout

           

POINTS MADE:  Blues is a form (AABA), jazz a philosophy of playing. Ragtime out of St. Louis influenced blues and jazz. Rural bluesmen in Delta put together ensembles with home made instruments to play a kind of pre-jazz. Jug Bands and Jook Joints. New Orleans jazz first to break out of region and define the style. Regional jazz like Kansas City with its stomps important to rock & roll beat and piano styles. First great rock vocalist comes out of KC jazz.

 

WEEK FIVE  

 

From Spirituals to Gospel: White and Black Religious Music in the South

 

VIDEOS: Fairfield Four: Carry It On      Fairfield Four: TNN special with Leroy Parnell (1997)

            TV GOSPEL TIME with the Mighty Clouds of Joy

            Chicago on the Good Foot (first ten minutes with R.H. Harris/Thomas Dorsey)

RECORDS:  (White Religious Music) Maskat Shrine Qt. (Texas) O Holy Father      Hendersonville Qt. That Beautiful Land  The Atco Quartet Don't Be Knocking             Flatcreek Sacred Singers Tell It   Everywhere You Go  Buffalo Ragged Five

            All of My Sins Are Taken Away Gentry Family You Can't Make a Monkey Out of Me

            Delmore Brothers  Hillbilly Boogie/Rockin' On the Waves Stanley Brothers

            The White Dove

            (Af Am Traditions) The Spiritual Singers Swing Low Southern Plantation Singers

            This Train Willie Johnson God Don't Never Change Gary Davis Twelve Gates to the         City Rev. J.M. Gates These Hard Times Famous Blue Jay Singers Didn't It Rain            Fairfield Four Don't You Let Nobody Turn You Round  Golden Gate Quartet  Bones,             Bones/Jezebel/Atom & Evil Dixie Hummingbirds Amazing Grace/Christian             Automobile Sam Cooke You Send Me Soul Stirrers Peace in the Valley Rolling         Stones The Last Time Five Blind Boys May Be The Last Time

            Sister O. M. Terrell  Bible's Right Rosetta Tharpe That's All/This Train Dorothy    Love Coates That's Enough Mahalia Jackson Dig a Little Deeper Georgia Tom

            Tight Like That

 

POINTS MADE: While blues may provide the beat, gospel provides the heart and soul. Religious singing in church is training ground for black and white vocalists and musicians alike. Spirituals are staid early Af Am religious songs. Unaccompanied. Authors unknown.

Often rich in metaphor and symbolic meaning. Jubilees invented by Golden Gates are upbeat stories from Bible. Gospel is religious music with a beat. Thomas Dorsey primary inventor, great composer. Quartet tradition in and around Birmingham, 1920s, becomes pattern for quartets through 50s. Black religious music is involving. Everyone participates.

 

WEEK SIX

 

First Blues Recordings: The Pioneering Women of the classic blues

 

Videos:  Passion and Memory: Women in the Blues (Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith,

            Koko Taylor and more), St Louis Blues (Bessie Smith short film), Long Night of Lady          Day (Excerpt of Billy Holiday on NBC TV special, 1950s)

Records:  Mamie Smith That Thing Called Love Ma Rainey Louisiana Hoo Doo Blues       Bessie Smith Gimme a Pigfoot  Sippie   Wallace Going Up the Country  Canned      Heat same Merline "The Yas Yas Girl"  Johnson Get Em From the Peanut Man   Blue Lou Barker Don't You Make Me High Alberta Hunter Take Your Big Hands Off     It Billy Holiday God Bless the Child Big Mama Willie Mae Thornton Hound Dog

 

Points Made:  Called "Classic: blues because these were first blues by black artists on

            records. Mamie Smith with Perry Bradford does first in 1920 for Okeh records.

            Ma Rainey is the trailblazer. Bessie Smith takes it to great heights.  Classic blues

            part of vaudeville/TOBY (T.O.B.A.) circuit. Classic blues introduces the genre to         nation as a whole. 

 

WEEK SEVEN    MID-TERM EXAM

 

WEEK EIGHT  

 

Southern Rural Blues Migrate to the Big Cities in the North/Chicago--the Blues Mecca

(with connections to Texas, Kansas City, and Louisiana)

 

Videos: American Masters: Count Basie         Black Jazz and Blues: Louis Jordan

T-Bone Walker: London, 1969

 

Records:  Cab Calloway Minnie the Moocher Charlie Christian Solo Flight  Lionel           Hampton Rag Mop Lucky Millinder Big Fat Mama, The Grape Vine Erskine    Hawkins Rock and Rollers Jubilee Bumble Bee Slim Fast Life Blues, Strange Angel        Peetie Wheatstraw A Man Ain't Nothin' But a      Fool Big Bill Broonzy Mistreatin'             Mama/Trucking Little Woman Jay McShann Confessin' the Blues Sam Price The    Dirty Dozens Bob Howard If You're a Viper The Cats and the Fiddle  Public          Jitterbug Cousin Joe Boxcar Shorty's Confession Champion Jack Dupree Junkers             Blues, Drunk Again Roosevelt Sykes The Honeydripper  Washboard Sam Back   Door, My Bucket's Got a Hole In It  Dr. Clayton Angels in Harlem Big Joe Williams            Baby Please Don't Go Big Maceo Chicago Breakdown Jazz Gillum Look On Yonder            Wall  Yank Rachell Tappin' That  Thing Sonny Boy Williamson  Shake The Boogie             Tampa Red  Let Me Play With Your Poodle Arthur Crudup That's All Right, Mama

            Big Three Trio with Willie Dixon Hard Notch Boogie Beat, Signifying Monkey

            Louis Jordan Salt Pork, West Virginia, Choo Choo Ch'Boogie Aaron T-Bone Walker

            Stormy Monday, Papa Ain't Salty

 

Points Made:  Massive African American migration during Depression years from South to points north. Chicago because of available work draws largest numbers. Rural blues travel with them and becomes urbanized.  Big bands got the way of dinosaurs. Small combos with a beat and electrified instruments begin to take hold. Sax emerges as a prominent instrument. Horns lay down the "licks" that become the basis for guitar solos in rock.

Melrose and Williams become the first "producers," i.e., maintaining a pool of musicians and regularly turning out records for sale to ARC labels. Chicago based. The Bluebird sound with 

piano, harmonica, guitar, drums behind featured vocalist takes form. Willie Dixon prepares himself for 1950s role as songwriter/session man (bass)/producer for early Chicago blues.

Louis Jordan sets the pattern for small combo R & B. First Charlie Christian, then T-Bone Walker define electric lead guitar style.

 

WEEK NINE

 

Post-War Chicago Blues

 

Videos:  PBS History of Rock 'n' Roll:  Part 1&2 (Chess Family on recording blues)             Excerpts from "History of Rock" (Muddy Waters at Newport in '60s)

            Muddy Waters Concert:"Manish Boy"      The Blues Brothers  (John Lee

            Hooker on Maxwell Street) PBS History of Rock 'n' Roll: Part 5 (30 minute

            excerpt on Chicago blues and English rockers in 60s)

 

Records:  Baby Face Leroy with Little Walter Bo Weevil (1950) Willie Dixon Walkin' the

            Blues Howlin' Wolf Sitting on Top of the World, Forty Four, Smoke Stack Lightnin'

            Muddy Waters with Baby Face Leroy and Little Walter Rollin' and Tumblin' (1950),

            Rolling Stone (1950), Hoochie Coochie Man, Got My Mojo Workin', Mannish Boy

            Little Walter Juke, My Babe Sonny Boy Williamson Fattening Frogs For Snakes

            Junior Wells  Hodo Man John Lee Hooker Boogie Now J.B.Lenoir Talk to Your

            Daughter Elmore James  Dust My Broom Willy Mabon I Don't Know Lowell Fulson

            Reconsider Baby Otis Rush  Groanin' the Blues Jimmy Reed What You Want Me To         Do, Ain't That Lovin' You Baby Koko Taylor  Wang Dang Doodle Etta James I'd           Rather Go Blind

 

Points Made:  Chicago remains a center of blues talent after WWII. Willie Dixon, bass player, singer, songwriter, producer, responsible for many classic sessions. Chicago a Mecca for independent labels. Independents would also be vital to birth of rock 'n' roll. Phil and Leonard Chess record some of the most important urban blues on their Chess and Checker

labels. Maxwell Street market becomes a training ground for blues acts. Electrification of instruments part of the Chicago blues sound. Standard instrumentation includes guitar, bass,

drums, harp, with a vocal lead up front.  Male dominated with some exceptions.  Country blues slide style finds its way into Chicago electric blues. Chicago blues main source of inspiration for British rockers like Clapton, Mayall, Rolling Stones, etc.

 

WEEK TEN

 

Honkers and Shouters; Chuck Berry & Bo Diddley; Vocal Groups: All under the umbrella of

Rock 'n' Roll in the mid 1950s

 

Videos:  PBS History of Rock Vol. 1 & 2:Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley

            Rock, Rock, Rock (performance by Chuck Berry and Frankie Lymon and the             Teenagers)

 

Records:  Joe Turner Blues Jumped a Rabbit,  Shake, Rattle, & Roll Bull Moose Jackson          Bowl Legged Woman, Big Ten Inch  Wynonie Harris Bloodshot Eyes, Lovin' Machine           Roy Brown Cadillac Baby, Good Rockin' Tonight

            Bo Diddley I'm a Man, Bring It To Jerome, Diddley Daddy, Bo Diddley Chuck Berry

            Maybelline, Wee Wee Hours, Sweet Little Sixteen, Reeling and Rockin', School Day,

            Roll Over Beethoven, Johnny B. Goode

            The Ink Spots Java Jive Ravens  Midnight Blues, White Christmas, Don't Have to             Ride No More, Rock Me All Night Long The Orioles Deacon Jones, Tell Me So,           Crying in the Chapel The Crows Gee The Du Droppers Can't Do 60 No More The             Cadillacs  Speedoo The Chords Sh Boom Heartbeats A 1000 Miles Away The 5            Satins  In the Still of the Night Silhouettes  Get a Job Chantels Maybe Bobbettes    Mr. Lee [not on tape:Teen Queens Eddie My Love Shirelles Dedicated to the One I           Love]            Drifters Such a Night, Ruby baby, Drip Drop, Up On the Roof Clovers Blue   Velvet, Devil or Angel, Love Potion #9 Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers Why Do          Fools Fall in Love The Isley Brothers  Shout

            Penguins  Earth Angel Robins Smokey Joe's Cafe Coasters Searchin', Poison Ivy,

            Charlie Brown Big Mama Thornton  Hound Dog  Richard Berry Louie Louie Charles      Brown Black Night Bobby Day Rockin' Robin Thurston Harris Little Bitty Pretty One

            Johnny Otis  Hand Jive

 

Points Made:  By early 1950s, a number of black musical styles would evolve into what became known as rock 'n' roll.  Big Voiced male singers, blues shouters, like Joe Turner were role models to Elvis.  Shouters straddled blues and big band. Vocal lead with large instrumental unit, big beat, "honking" saxophone and horn sections. Roy Brown covered by Presley.  Then Chess released records by Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. Mississippi born Diddley drew on folk themes for his lyrics, used repetitive (no chord changes) licks against "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm. Played the guitar like drums. Berry, from St. Louis, grew up on hillbilly and blues, incorporated the two and wrote lyrics with teenagers in mind. Catchy guitar work, a sense of humor, and stage antics put him over big with the rock 'n' roll crowd. In urban areas along East Coast and in Chicago and LA, the vocal group tradition thrived. Draws heavily on a cappella gospel quartet tradition. Oriole out of Baltimore and Ravens out of New York set the trend. Bring a rawer, more youthful, "blues-ier" sound to what the Mills Brothers and Ink Spots had been doing in the 40s. Spawn the doo wop "bird" groups of 50s rock 'n' roll.  Leiber & Stoller, white teenagers, write a string of r & b hits for black artists. Humor in the lyrics, simplicity in the songs, but made great by performances.

 

WEEK ELEVEN

 

Regional Rhythm & Blues and Renegades (Early to mid 1950s)

 

Videos: Go, Johnny, Go (The Flamingos)  The V.J. Story  (The Impressions)

            The Ray Charles Story                    That Was Rock 'N' Roll  (James Brown)

            PBS History of Rock 'N' Roll, Pts. 3-4  (Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson)

 

Records:  Flamingos I Only Have Eyes For You Moonglows (Harvey Fuqua) Sincerely

            Spaniels Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight Dells Oh What a Night  Impressions

            People Get Ready Hank Ballard Work with Me Annie, Annie Had a Baby, Finger Poppin' Time, Teardrops on Your Letter, The Twist  The Maxin Trio (Ray Charles)

            Confession Blues Nat Cole Route 66 Pilgrim Travelers I've Got a New Home

            Ray Charles Lonely Avenue, What'd I Say James Brown Please, Please, Please,

            Think, Papa's Got a Brand New Bag Jackie Wilson Lonely Teardrops, Doggin'

            Around Sam Cooke You Send Me, Chain Gang, Wonderful World, Change Is Gonna Come, Bring It On Home B.B.King 3 O'Clock Blues, Everyday I Have the Blues, You

            Upset Me Baby, The Thrill Is Gone Robert "Bobby" Bland Good Lovin', Farther On Up the Road, Turn On Your Love Light, Jackie Brenston (Ike Turner) Rocket "88"

 

Points Made: Midwest group sound includes Chicago's Flamingos, Louisville's Moonglows,

VeeJay's Dells and Spaniels.  Live shows highlight dance moves. Curtis Mayfield and Jerry

Butler of the Impressions move r & b closer to gospel and soul and lyrics dealing with

growing civil rights movement. This trend fueled by Georgia born performers like Ray

Charles and James Brown. Charles melds gospel and blues=soul. Brown plays up the

rhythm and political lyrics. Godfather of funk and soul. Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke both

come into rock from gospel backgrounds. Wilson,  former boxer, brings his "steps" and

incredible vocal range into the act. "White" sounding backdrops at odds with his vocal style.

Wilson's management uses and abuses him. Cooke, on the other hand, controls his own

career.  Memphis and Beale Street, with DJs like Rufus Thomas, produce BB King

and Bobby Bland. King moves electric guitar up from Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker

into r & b. Models singing after gospel greats like Sam McCrary and Ira Tucker. Sam Phillips,

meanwhile, records black artists like Howlin' Wolf in his Sun studio. Ike Turner with Jackie

Brenston singing lead record "Rocket 88."

 

 

WEEK TWELVE

           

Regional Rhythm & Blues Continued; Elvis Presley and Rock-a-Billy

 

Videos:  PBS History of Rock n' Roll Vols 1 & 2  (Radio, R & B, and New Orleans,

            Fats Domino, Little Richard, Sam Phillips and Sun Records, Elvis

            Presley)   Don't Knock the Rock (Little Richard)   Clifton Chenier/The

            King of Zydeco      New Orleans Now:Mardi Gras Indians

 

Records:  Fats Domino The Fat Man, Blueberry Hill  Lloyd Price Lawdy Miss Clawdy,       Stagger Lee,  Roy Byrd Hey Little Girl, Bald Head Clarence Henry

            Ain't Got No Home Huey Smith Don't You Just Know It, Rockin' Pneumonia

            Frankie Ford Sea Cruise Sugarboy Crawford Jock a Mo Dixiecups Iko

            Iko Neville Brothers

 

Points Made: New Orleans with a mix of cultures produces a mix of pre-rock 'n' roll.

            Due to influence of performers like Roy "Professor Longhair" Byrd, N.O. R & B

            tended to be piano based with a horn section and pumping mambo-ish

            rhythms.  Cajun music includes both a white and black tradition. Black cajun music is            called "zydeco."  Features accordion, rub board, and French r & b lyrics.

            Little Richard finds his sound in New Orleans after years of playing blues in

            clubs and dance halls.

 

WEEK THIRTEEN

 

The Rise of Rock-a-Billy Continued

 

Videos:  Elvis '56                  Rock, Rock, Rock (Johnny Burnette Trio)

 

Records:  Arthur Crudup/Presley That's Alright Mama Kokomo Arnold/Presley Milk Cow

            Blues Bill Monroe/Presley Blue Moon of Kentucky Arthur Gunter/Presley Let's Play        House Jr. Parker/Presley Mystery Train Big Mama Thornton/Presley Hound Dog

            Bill Haley Crazy, Man, Crazy, Rock Around the Clock,  Skinnie Minnie Carl Perkins

            Blue Suede Shoes, Honey Don't, Matchbox Johnny Cash Get Rhythm Roy Orbison

            oby Dooby, Pretty Woman Jerry Lee Lewis Great Balls of Fire, Whole Lotta             Shakin'  Big Maybelle Whole Lotta Shakin' Billy Lee Riley Red Hot

            Johnny Burnette Trio/Sticks McGee Wine Spo De O Dee Buddy Holly Peggy Sue,

            Its So Easy, That'll Be the Day Eddie Cochran Summertime Blues Gene Vincent Be        Bop a Lula Ritchie Valens Donna, La Bamba Rickie Nelson Hello Mary Lou The

            Everly Brothers Wake Up Little Susie

 

Points Made: Memphis was a center for the rise of regional rock-a-billy. Rock-a-billy             combined hillbilly and blues. The rock-a-billys were the first white rock 'n' roll

            performers. In a sense rock 'n' roll is what happened when white country artists

            attempted to imitate black musicians. In essence, rock-a-billy was the first true

            rock 'n' roll. The phenomenon was short lived and not popular to as great an

            extent in the urban north.

 

WEEK FOURTEEN   SECOND EXAM

 

Southern Soul and Northern Motown

 

Videos: PBS History of Rock 'n' Roll, Pts. 3-4 (Motown and Stax) Remembering Otis

(Booker T & the MGs, Sam & Dave) The Blues Brothers (Aretha Franklin "Think")

Excerpts from "History of Rock 'n' Roll (OPTIONAL: Soul and Civil Rights)

ABC TV Newcast: R & B Royalties

 

Records: Booker T & the MGs Green Onions Markeys Soul Finger Rufus Thomas Walkin'

            the Dog The Falcons I Found a Love Wilson Pickett Mustang Sally, Midnight Hour

            Percy Sledge  When a Man Loves a Woman Sam & Dave Soul Man, Hold On Otis

            Redding Shout Bamalama, Dock of the Bay, Respect Aretha Franklin Rock-a-bye            Your  Baby, Respect O.V.Wright Nickel and a Nail

            Barrett Strong Money Mary Wells Bye Bye Baby Miracles Got a Job, Shop Around,

            You Really Got a Hold On Me Marvelettes Please Mr. Postman  Marvin Gaye How             Sweet It Is, Heard It Through the Grapevine Martha & the Vandellas Heat Wave

            Four Tops Its the Same Old Song Temptations My Girl Supremes Where Did Our           Love Go, You Keep Me Hangin' On

 

Points Made: African Americans in the early 60s generally walked away from blues.             Performers like Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and James Brown paved the way

            for black entrepreneurs and soul and civil rights. Stax in Memphis had

            the unusual combination of primarily white musicians backing soulful black

            vocalists. Muscle Shoals in Alabama provided a similar deep soul back-up

            Stax sound featured strong funk rhythms with cutting lead guitar, organ,

            and a horn section behind vocals. New York-based Atlantic began sending soul        artists like Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to Memphis to get them a "sound."

            In Detroit, Berry Gordy founded Motown. Used a stable of black Detroit jazz

            musicians as his house band. With in-house songwriters and producers like

            Smokey Robinson, he crafted an accessible black music that carried rock 'n' roll

            into the 60s. Motown artists were schooled in stage technique and poise. Great        appeal to teenagers across the board, white or black, north or south. Stax, on

            the other hand, was more limited in its appeal.

 

WEEK FIFTEEN  T,TH 

 

This week will be used to tie up loose ends and catch-up if I cannot cover all the material in the normal course of the semester—which is very likely.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTES

 

AMERICAN STUDIES 105

 

 

EUROPEAN TRADITIONS IN THE RURAL SOUTH,  1920s-40s

 

·        Music of British Isles finds way through migration to rural American South.

          -Ballads,  ancient story songs,  fitted to American experience...

Sung solo,  a cappella,  stock phrases,  melodies,  make them easy to remember...Tell stories about memorable people and events.  Subject to "folk process"...Become the primary root of contemporary "country music."