Glossary of Country Music

The accordion (image, left) is a reed instrument with finger boards, or manuals, for both hands, connected by a bellows. The left-hand manual usually consists of single or multiple rows of buttons which provide single bass tones or harmonies at the press of a single button. The right-hand manual is typically a chromatic piano-like keyboard. Rectangular in shape, accordions are worn like a vest, and held and played parallel to the body. They are used extensively in Tejano, Zydeco, and Western Swing music.

The term acoustic refers to or pertains to music produced by instruments not amplified electronically. The term also refers to music that can be amplified electrically so that the resulting sound is altered. For example, in performance practice bluegrass is generally acoustic, but it is also usually amplified.

The Appalachian dulcimer (image, left) is derived from the German zither-like instrument, the Scheitholt. Appalachian dulcimers consist of a narrow fingerboard lying above a larger soundbox. The instrument is usually eight to twelve inches long with widths varying according to the shape of the soundboxes, which are commonly in the shape of a figure eight or a teardrop. The dulcimer typically has three or four metal strings and is normally placed horizontally across a table or held on the player’s lap. The strings are played by plucking with the fingers of the right hand or with a plectrum, or occasionally by bowing. The left hand plays melodic lines by pressing the string closest to the body against the fretboard with the fingers, or by using a wooden rod, called a noter, as a slide.

Autoharps (image, left) are members of the zither family and are played by strumming the strings with the right hand while the left controls a set of bars that dampen only those strings not used in the desired chord. Each bar produces a different chord. A popular folk instrument of the 19th century, designed specifically to provide chordal accompaniments with minimal effort, the autoharp was popularized within the country music genre by Sara Carter of The Carter Family.

Banjos (image, left) are plucked stringed instruments whose distinctive metallic timbres are the product of strings run over a bridge that rests on a tightly stretched membrane of skin, plastic, or parchment. The traditional banjo has five strings. The fifth string, or "thumb string" is situated above the other strings and runs only about two-thirds of the way up the fingerboard. The precursors to the early banjos were brought to America by African slaves. The penetrating tones of the banjo are among the most recognizable qualities associated with country and bluegrass music.

Bluegrass music emphasizes the Appalachian roots of country music. It developed in the 1930s and 1940s primarily from the music of Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass combines elements of dance, home entertainment, and religious folk music of the rural South. A bluegrass band typically consists of four to seven individuals who sing while accompanying themselves on acoustic string instruments--generally two rhythm instruments (e.g., guitar and double bass) and several melodic instruments (e.g., fiddle, five-string banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, and a second guitar). Lead instrumentalists take solo breaks between song verses and during the verses provide harmonic and rhythmic background, often in a call-and-response relationship, to the vocal part. Alternating solos occur frequently as they do in jazz. Besides pioneer Bill Monroe, other notable artists are Flatt and Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, and the Del McCourey Band. Bill Monroe once described bluegrass music: "It's got a hard drive to it. It's Scotch bagpipes and old time fiddlin'. It's Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It's blues and jazz and it has a high lonesome sound. It's plain music that tells a good story. It's played from my heart to your heart, and it will touch you."

Country Rock is a style of popular music in which the sound and typical subject matter of country music are combined with the rhythm and instrumentation of rock music. It was foreshadowed in the 1950s and 1960s by singers such as the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, and Robbie Gentry. In the late 1960s a number of folk-rock performers, notably Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, began to turn away from the protest songs of the urban folk-music revival and incorporate references to the traditional concerns of country music (i.e., the simple life, the charm of the South, nostalgia for the rural past, etc.) into their lyrics. Such themes, and the country-style melodies to which they were set, were developed in different ways by the Eagles, the Byrds, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and Linda Ronstadt. Other performers whose works include songs in the Country Rock style are Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks and k.d. lang.

The Dobro (image, left), also known as the resonator guitar, is a precursor to the steel guitar and was developed in the late 1920s. It has one or more resonator discs - usually metal - mounted inside the body and connected to the bridge. It was developed in America by John Dopyera, son of a Czech violin maker, and first manufactured in 1927 by the National String Instrument Corporation. The Dobro was originally developed in response to a growing demand for a guitar that could produce a greater volume of sound than the conventional instrument. The Dobro is played face up with a series of finger picks and a metal bar to fret the strings.

One of the primary melodic instruments in traditional country music, the fiddle (image, left) is, in its construction, essentially the same as the violin. However, the fiddle typically lacks the standard tuning of the violin. Fiddlers, many of whom make their own instruments, decide on the tuning and pitch according to the music they play. The manner of holding the instrument depends, as well, on the music played, and to some extent, local custom. Some fiddlers hold the instrument at the shoulder as classical violinists do, while others play with the instrument pointed upwards or downwards at various angles.

Honky Tonk is a style of popular music first played by country music bands in and around Texas during the 1930s and 1940s. Honky Tonk bands often used electric instruments and produced a louder sound and heavier beat than traditional country music produced. Honky Tonk music is associated with uprooted rural people, and its lyrics deal chiefly with the social problems associated with their migration. The music of Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, and Ernest Tubb is perhaps most representative of the Honky Tonk style.

The mandolin (image, left) is a small fretted string instrument plucked with the fingers, a plectrum, or a quill. Mandolins are short-necked instruments with eight paired strings. Within the typical string band instrumentation (various combinations of guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and double bass), the mandolin is used primarily for harmonic support.

The "Nashville Sound" is a style of music created in the late 1950s that includes piano, strings, and background vocals along with the more traditional sounds of banjo and solo fiddle. The two record producers thought to be responsible for "the sound" are Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley. Representative of this style are Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Ray Price, and Eddy Arnold.

New Country, known alternatively as Country Pop, Hot Country, or Poptry, is contemporary, highly produced, pop-oriented country music, commonly played on commercial country-music radio and cable TV stations. Some of the more popular artists in the genre are Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw.

Usually accompanied by a guitar, drums, and an upright bass, Rockabilly music was pioneered by stars like Carl Perkins, but popularized by Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Sun Records producer Sam Phillips. The earliest recognized style of rock and roll by white performers, Rockabilly has been strongly influenced both harmonically and melodically by African-American rhythm and blues, and Gospel music.

The steel guitar (image, left) , also known as the Hawaiian guitar, is a variant of the acoustic guitar. Held flat on the player's lap, or resting on a table or stand, its steel strings are plucked with the right hand while pressing a sliding steel bar against the strings along the guitar's neck with the left hand, producing a glissando effect popular in Hawaiian music and in country music of the 1940s and 1950s.

Tejano is a musical style based on traditional Mexican music and heavily influenced by Honky Tonk. It is distinguished by rhythmic, very danceable melodies, and lyrics more upbeat than those of the more melancholy Honky Tonk.

Western Swing incorporates Big Band orchestrations and other elements of popular 1930s music, such as show tunes, into a traditional string band sound. Unlike some other forms of country music, which may or may not be danced to, Western Swing was conceived of as dance music. Strongly representative of this style of music are Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Milton Brown, and Tex Williams.

Zydeco is a highly rhythmic music that emerged from Cajun and Creole cultures in Louisiana. The music is often sung in French and is influenced by the Blues and by West African music. Common instrumentation includes accordion, electric bass, acoustic guitar, and, frequently, brass instruments and metal or wooden washboards.

Captions for images:

1. Detail - Portrait photograph of an unidentified man / Arnold Genthe, photographer, between 1911 and 1942. Prints and Photographs Division Digital ID: agc 7a12135

2. Detail - [Richard Chase, of the Blue Ridge Mountain School in Virginia, singing British folk ballad to the music of his dulcimer at the American National Folk Festival, Philadelphia] / 1944 May. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b31186

3. Detail - [Doc Davis of Bog Trotters Band, with autoharp, and unidentified woman, Galax, Virginia] / 1937. Prints and Photographs Division Digital ID: ppmsc 00405

4. Detail - Happy Mose / c1911. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b23486

5. Detail - Franklin Adkins playing dobro. [Photo] / 1995/10/26. American Memory Digital ID: afccmns lec05219

6. Detail - [Crockett Ward (with fiddle)] / 1937. Prints and Photographs Division Digital ID: ppmsc 00403

7. Detail - [Dorothy Martin playing a mandolin and looking toward the camera, reclining on a sofa]. / Chicago Daily News, Inc., photographer. 1928. American Memory Digital ID: DN-0085405

8. Detail - Cajun Hawaiian guitar player, National Rice Festival, Crowley, Louisiana / Lee, Russell, 1903- photographer. 1938 Oct. Prints and Photographs Division Digital ID: fsa 8a24088