This week we reviewed “Where Dead Voices Gather.” To preface the discussion of the minstrel show, we stated that the act of thinking is the act of placing things in categories. This comes into play because we place both people and music into categories. Specifically, racial categories. There is an expectation and stereotype based upon what white and african american people listen to. The Minstrel Show began to blur those lines throughout the 20s and 30s. Nick Tosches analyzes the Minstrel Man throughout his book, “Where Dead Voices Gather.” Men would dress up in blackface and use a “trick voice” to perform in shows and sing songs, all the while portraying themselves as African American men. Minstrel shows displayed African Americans as dim-witted, lazy, happy-go-lucky people throughout the post civil war era. It was heavily criticized by racial injustice groups for portraying slaves as “happy” people. I believe the minstrel show began to blur the lines between “racially appropriate” music. White rappers or blues musicians thrive on performing and working with music that used to be solely for African Americans. Plenty of white people who do not like African americans themselves, love these types of music. They haven’t even realized that these white musicians are imitating African Americans. The minstrel show began as a parody to pass judgment and make light of the situation that African Americans were in throughout the 20s and 30s, but served a much more important purpose.

I chose to do a digital scavenger hunt regarding the history of country music. I chose this phrase/genre because I grew up listening to country music, going to Nashville to see all of the historical places, as well as attending countless concerts. I thought I knew about country music, but it turns out I only knew a lot about modern country music.

I ran a quick search on ngram and found that the phrase “country music” was used minimally throughout the 1800 and 1900s, but really took off in 1962. It is possible that the continuation of the Cold War or the beginning of the US involvement in the Vietnam War played a part in this,   specifically the latter of the two. I believe the foundation and root of country music is American pride, something that would have been very important at the time of war. Another possibility would be the development and popularity of the radio, something that country music relied on. “Country music, like all great American art forms, has its roots in commerce: that is to say, it took commercial recording companies and radio stations to nurture the country style,” says Richard Carlin author of Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary. I believe this does a nice job of summing up the history of country music; development. As our nation grew, so did the genre. Now that our country has reached the height of social media, technology, and urban development, I believe country music will have to work hard to keep up.

The use of the phrase “country music” peaked in the 1990s and had a stead rise throughout the 2000s. However, since 2002, there has been a slight decline that has continued even into 2015. I believe this is due to the fact that more and more people are becoming less interested in the genre as a whole, due to the many new genres popping up all over the world. Also, globalization has played a huge role in the types of music we listen to in America. Today’s generation has the ability to listen to music from all over the world at the push of a button, something that was not possible in the 1960s.

I took my search to google books and found around a million results regarding the first use of the term “country music.” However, most of these results were either Country Music Greats or the Encyclopedia of Country Music. I was not able to find the exact year the term began being used, but with all of the books written about it I would have to assume that it has a fairly rich history. I also searched country music roots on pro-quest and discovered there was a Back-to-roots movement in the 1920s in which country musicians felt as though the genre was falling away from its home-grown roots. I think this could have something to do with the roaring twenties and the fast paced life many people began living. Additionally, the fact that country music did not really become very popular until the 1960s could also have something to do with that.