Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity by Richard A. Peterson

Author:Richard A. Peterson [Peterson, Richard A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Figure 10.1 Milton Brown (center), one of the architects of western swing, and his Brownies in their usual dance-band outfits, c. 1936

Roadhouses Fostered Hard-Core Honky-Tonk Music

The patchwork of “wet” and “dry” jurisdictions created in the wake of the repeal of Prohibition fostered the development of a different kind of music. The clubs were called roadhouses because they were usually located on highways near city or county lines, where they tended to enjoy less police surveillance than clubs in the towns proper. Generally smaller than the dance halls, these roadhouses were primarily drinking establishments that provided live music to attract customers. Because patrons were loud and boisterous, and fights were frequent, the clubs were often called honky-tonks.3

Working in cramped conditions, the string-band musicians could not afford to increase the number of players, so they adapted by experimenting with every new development in the electronic amplification of instruments. It proved easier to amplify guitars than violins, and the electric guitar replaced the fiddle as the leading solo instrument. Acoustic guitar players, including Aaron (T Bone) Walker and Charlie Christian, began to tinker with electronic amplification by attaching “pick-ups” directly to their instruments (Malone 1985: 127), and by the fall of 1934, Bob Dunn, an accomplished guitarist and jazz trombonist, began playing a guitar whose sound was heard directly through a portable PA system (Malone 1985: 157; Ginell 1994: 108–9). Within months many Texas guitarists, African American and white, were experimenting with playing “electric” guitars (Malone 1985: 157–58), and before long, electricians were tinkering with hard-bodied fully electric models (White 1991).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.