July 29, 2025 • 23 mins
We dive into the 1930s and 1940s to explore what music historians call the second generation of country music, when the genre began to split into distinctive styles with their own culture, instrumentation, and emotional DNA.
• The second generation gave country its first real stars, transforming the genre from hillbilly music to commercial entertainment
• Radio was king during this era, allowing artists to be heard across America through powerful clear-channel stations
• Three primary sub-genres emerged during this period: bluegrass/gospel, cowboy music/western swing, and honky-tonk
• Bluegrass, pioneered by Bill Monroe, featured lightning-fast mandolin picking and tight harmonies with spiritual roots
• Western music split into cowboy music (romanticized by Hollywood) and western swing (dance music pioneered by Bob Wills)
• Honky-tonk originated in rowdy Texas dance halls and featured themes of heartache, drinking, and loneliness
• Roy Acuff's "Wabash Cannonball" helped establish Nashville's music scene and became a symbol of American spirit during the Depression
• Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" showed that country music could be art, not just entertainment
• These songs from the second generation created the foundation of emotional honesty that artists still draw from today
Please subscribe, share this podcast with your fellow country music fans, and head over to the 2nd Round Music YouTube channel to find Michael's performances of these two songs. If you have a favorite classic country song or artist that you want featured on the show, drop me a line in either the fan mail or comments.
Head over to Michael's YouTube channel to hear him perform these classic songs: https://youtu.be/sxOFgDafVTI
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michael Pezent (00:06):
Well, hey everybody, and welcome back to
another episode of the Two forTuesday podcast brought to you
by 2nd Round Music.
I'm your host, Michael Pezent,and today we're rewinding the
reel all the way back to the1930s and the 1940s to dive into
what music historians oftencall the second generation of
country music.
(00:26):
But before we drop the needleon today's two iconic tracks,
I'll talk about where countrymusic stood during this pivotal
time when the genre began tosplit into distinctive styles,
each with its own culture,instrumentation and emotional
DNA.
Let me take a moment to thankall you listeners for following
me and being a part of your day.
(00:48):
I really appreciate your timeand I truly hope that you're
enjoying this podcast and, ifyou are, please consider
dropping me a comment.
Your feedback is extremelyimportant to me.
Now, if you've been keeping upwith this series, we've been
tracing the roots and evolutionof country music through the
songs that defined each era andthis particular generation.
(01:11):
Well, it gave us the first realstars of country music, the men
and women who took this genrefrom dusty porches and barn
dances to radio towers andrecord stores.
This period, the so-calledsecond generation, saw country
music grow up both artisticallyand commercially.
(01:32):
What began as hillbilly music,recorded in makeshift studios
and heard over dusty radios, wasstarting to organize, evolve
and diversify.
Let me give you a mental imageof what this makeshift studio
may have looked like.
Go back to the scene in themovie oh Brother, where Art Thou
(01:54):
?
Where the guys go to the radiostation after picking up Tommy
Johnson at the crossroads andthey're going to record a song
to earn some traveling money.
Now, one of my favorite linesin this movie was when the guys
come out of the radio stationand they run into Governor Pappy
O' Daniel and Del Mar says hey,mister, I don't mean to be
(02:16):
telling tales out of school, butthere's a fella in there
that'll pay you $10 to sing inhis can.
Sorry, I got a littlesidetracked, but that would be
what recording was kind of likeduring that time period.
Now we're talking about anAmerica deep in the Great
Depression.
Just before the dawn of WorldWar II, radio was king 78 RPM
(02:40):
shellac records may have beenfragile, but they were in demand
and thanks to the rise ofpowerful, clear-channel radio
stations, artists could be heardfrom the Appalachian Mountains
to Arizona in a single broadcast.
From this era, three primarysub-genres began to blossom,
each in unique sound and spiritand I'll be talking about how
(03:03):
they came about.
Sound and spirit, and I'll betalking about how they came
about.
And stick around, because we'vegot the backstories on two
cornerstone tracks of thisperiod Wabash Cannonball by Roy
Acuff and I'm so Lonesome I CanCry by Hank Williams, songs that
not only define the time buthelp shape the future and the
sound of country music.
(03:23):
Now let's fire up thatcannonball and roll it on set
the scene.
(03:53):
By the 1930s, country music,then referred to by some as
hillbilly music, had alreadystarted to find an audience
through radio shows like theGrand Ole Opry, which began
broadcasting out of Nashville in1925.
Now the Opry was critical.
It transformed rural folktraditions into commercial
(04:14):
entertainment.
It took country music fromlocal to national.
The first generation youremember?
We talked about artists likePhil and John Carson and the
Carter family in part one ofthis series.
Now they're still active.
But in the 1930s it saw therise of a new kind of artist.
These were full-time performers, many with a background in
(04:37):
vaudeville or radio, who sawmusic not as just as a form of
cultural expression but as aprofession.
Now this second generation iswhere we meet names like Roy
Acuff, who is known as the kingof country music, or Ernest Tubb
, who brought the honky-tonksound into sharper focus?
(04:57):
Or how about Bill Monroe, thefather of bluegrass, and the
Sons of the Pioneers, whoseharmonies helped define the
Western in country and WesternNow?
This was also an era whenrecordings became more widely
distributed thanks to the growthof the 78 RPM format and, along
(05:18):
with radio, syndications, meantartists could reach listeners
far beyond their home states.
Now, after this sponsoredmessage, we'll take a deep dive
into these three sub-genres thatemerged during this time.
Hey, see you on the other side.
Are you ready to take control ofyour finances and build a
brighter future?
Are you sick and tired of beingsick and tired and feeling
(05:39):
broke all the time?
My name is Michael Pezent, acertified master coach, and I
created 2nd Round Financial toprovide personalized financial
coaching based on the provenprinciples of Dave Ramsey's
Seven Baby Steps.
Our services include, but arenot limited to, one-on-one
financial coaching through Zoom,conference or face-to-face
(06:00):
budgeting strategies, debtreduction plans, emergency fund
creation, retirement planningand investment guidance.
But why choose us?
Because we believe inempowering our clients with the
knowledge and tools they need toachieve financial peace.
With our guidance, you'll gainclarity over your financial
situation, develop a realisticand achievable plan, and
(06:22):
experience, hope and confidencein your financial future.
I have over 15 years'experience teaching and guiding
families in the RamseyPrinciples, along with a degree
in finance and work experiencein the banking and insurance
industries.
So let's get started today.
And work experience in thebanking and insurance industries
.
So let's get started today.
Go to 2ndroundfinancial.
com and click book now toschedule your free consultation
(06:43):
today.
Now let's head to the hills,because another strain of
country took roots during the1930s, and that was bluegrass.
It was heavily influenced byAppalachian string traditions
and gospel harmonies heavilyinfluenced by Appalachian string
traditions and gospel harmonies.
Now, while the bluegrass termwouldn't officially take hold
until Bill Monroe and hisbluegrass boys hit the Opry in
(07:05):
the 1940s, the seeds were beingsown in the 30s.
Monroe's style addedlightning-fast mandolin picking
and tight three-part harmonies,along with a spiritual urgency
that echoed back to Baptisthymnals and old Scottish ballads
.
Now Bill is called the fatherof bluegrass, and rightfully so.
(07:27):
He did create this music.
Now he self-described it asScottish bagpipes, old-time
fiddling, methodist Holiness,baptist blues and jazz with a
high, lonesome sound.
Now, bluegrass wouldn't reallytake off until Lester Flatt and
Earl Scruggs joined thebluegrass boys and they found
(07:49):
themselves being invited to takethe stage at the Grand Ole Opry
.
Now, the connection of gospelmusic can't be overstated.
Now, the connection of gospelmusic can't be overstated.
Songs like Angel Band or I'llFly Away were sung in both
churches and around familyradios.
But one of the biggest earlystars would actually be Red
Foley.
(08:09):
Red is credited with having oneof the first million-dollar
selling gospel records, peace inthe Valley.
Now, there's a nice storybehind Red and that song and
we'll talk about it in anotherepisode somewhere down the road.
Now, this dual life of spiritualand secular helped this
(08:30):
sub-genre maintain its deepemotional roots.
Bluegrass and gospel were theheart and soul of rural country
music, and this music was formorning, for Sunday mornings and
for storytelling.
Now, we could certainly crawldown this sub-genre's rabbit
hole for a long time, and weprobably will, but more than
(08:51):
likely we'll do that in anotherepisode.
So now let's saddle up ourhorses and take a ride out west.
Now, this sub-genre had twohalves also, now you've got
(09:12):
cowboy music and western swing.
Cowboy music, as romantic as itwas, methodologized, boomed in
popularity during the GreatDepression.
Now, hollywood and the bigscreen certainly did help this.
Singing cowboys like Gene Autryand Roy Rogers, portrayed noble
heroes with six shooters andperfect pitch, but behind the
(09:34):
scenes they were real musiciansinnovating the sound.
Even some cowgirls got involved.
Early pioneers like PatsyMontana would open up the door
for a future female artist withher history-making song I Wanna
Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart.
Now, western swing, on the otherhand, led by legends like Bob
(09:55):
Wills and his Texas Playboys,blended country fiddles, new
Orleans jazz, mexican rhythmsand swing-era big band stylings.
See, this wasn't music for thefront porch folks, this was
dance music.
You could hear a saxophone, asteel guitar, a trumpet and a
(10:16):
banjo, all in one band.
Bob Wills was often quotedsaying if you can't dance to it,
it ain't music.
And boy, you could dance tothis.
Bob's legacy and his influenceon modern music cannot be
understated.
Did you know that he and theTexas Playboys were inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall ofFame back in 1999?
(10:37):
Well, they were.
These Western styles capturedthe open range, the urban cowboy
and the idea that American Westwas something that was a little
bit larger than life.
Now let's wrap this segment upwith honky tonk, because it's
the subgenre that would reshapethe emotional tone of country
(10:59):
music and bring it to what weknow as country music today.
People, let's be clear on thisHonky-tonk was not born in a
studio.
It was born in rowdy Texasdance halls, roadside juke
joints and old-town beer halls,places where the air was smok,
smoky, floors were sticky andthe music had to fight to be
(11:20):
heard over clanking glasses andloud voices.
The term honky-tonk originallyreferred to the bars themselves,
but by the 1930s it described agritty, stripped-down sound
that revolved around theelectric lap steel guitar, which
is the precursor of one of myfavorite instruments, the pedal
steel guitar, fiddles, acousticrhythm guitars and a hard
(11:45):
charging, often sorrow-soakedlyrical style.
And I have to add also thatsometimes you might hear an old
guy banging out notes on an oldupright piano.
Now the themes Cheating,heartache, drinking and
loneliness.
This was music for peopleliving hard lives, roughneck
(12:06):
workers, displaced farm familiesor maybe blue-collar Americans
that were just trying to scrapeby.
Now, one of the early masterswas Ernest Tubb, who fused
honky-tonk's emotional honestywith the drive of Western swing
and the storytelling ofold-school folk music.
Now his 1941 recording ofWalking the Floor Over you is
(12:28):
often cited as ground zero forthe honky-tonk sound.
It had a backbeat, an electricguitar and none of the polish
you'd find on the Grand Ole Opry.
What honky-tonk really did wasgive country music a shot of
realism.
It was unvarnished andvulnerable and it allowed for
imperfection and it told thetruth even when it hurt.
(12:50):
An artist like Hank Williamswould later take the rawness and
turned it into poetry.
Now, if you're like me, whenyou think about traditional
early country music, this iswhat you think of.
And why would I not talk moreabout Hank?
Well, because old Hank's goingto get his own episode, maybe
even more than one.
(13:10):
Yeah, he was that influential.
So there you have it Threedistinct sub-genres of country
music.
You see, honky-tonk brought theraw emotion.
Bluegrass and gospel preservedthe spiritual roots, and cowboy
music and western swing addedthe flair and the fun.
And now let's see how the twoiconic songs from that era
(13:33):
reflect all of that diversity.
Hey, somebody crank up that oldturntable and let's drop the
needle.
Turntable.
Now, let's drop the needle.
Originally published as sheetmusic in 1882, the Great Rock
(13:55):
Island Route, the song that waspassed down from folk traditions
for over 50 years before RoyAcuff recorded it in 1936.
But Roy didn't record it, heredefined it.
And what song are we talkingabout?
The Wabash Cannonball.
Now his version stripped awaysome of the early vaudeville
style camp and replaced it witha majestic Appalachian feel,
(14:16):
filled with plain fiddle andgospel flavored vocals.
The sound became more than atrain ballad.
It became a symbol of pride,perseverance and travelist
freedom during the Depressionera.
Now Wabash Cannonball is a songabout a mythical train.
There was no real WabashCannonball, at least not when
(14:37):
this song was written.
It was an idea A steel horserolling through towns where
people dreamed of somethingbetter.
The name was likely inspired bythe Wabash Railroad that ran
through the Midwest.
But the cannonball was a symbolof freedom, romance and
wanderlust, a metaphor of theAmerican spirit during the
(14:59):
Depression era.
The song was so powerful theGrand Ole Opry practically
adopted it as its anthem and RoyAcuff played it so frequently
that it became his personalmusic signature and one of the
first country music recordingsto cross over into mainstream
pop culture.
And behind the music, acuff'srecording helped establish the
(15:21):
Nashville music scene, earninghim the nickname King of Country
Music.
He would go on to co-found withHall of Fame songwriter Fred
Rose Acuff Rose Publishing, oneof the most important music
publishing houses in countryhistory.
But it goes even further thanthat.
The song Wabash Cannonball ispart of the Rock and Roll Hall
(15:43):
of Fame's 500 songs that shapedrock and roll.
How about that?
It's the oldest song on thatlist also.
Now I have to stop here and giveyou another personal story.
When I was a kid, growing upwith my family, we would go on
summer vacations in a littlepop-up camper, and I remember
(16:04):
one summer it probably wouldhave been somewhere in the mid
to late 70s we went to Nashvilleand we stayed at a KOA
campground.
Now, this would have been nottoo many years after Opryland,
the theme park would have opened.
Now two things happened that Ilook back on now with amazement,
probably because I had no ideawhat was happening.
(16:26):
Now, first, I remember walkingaround downtown Nashville and
seeing the Ryman Auditorium.
Now, there was no one there andthere were no locked doors, so
we just walked right in, justlike we own the place.
I can remember walking aroundon the stage like it was no big
deal, having no idea the talentand the big name entertainers
(16:49):
that had also stepped on thatstage.
Oh, and it gets better.
Also, during that week, onenight at the campground, we
found out that there were goingto be some special guest
musicians coming to a small andI mean small amphitheater on the
campground.
Now there were three to be somespecial guest musicians coming
to a small and I mean smallamphitheater on the campground.
Now there were three guys thatshowed up and for the life of me
, I can't remember who the guywas that played the fiddle for
(17:10):
them.
But one of those guys was adobro player by the name of Pete
Kirby, or better known by hisstage name, Bashful Brother
Oswald, and, lastly, stage name,bashful Brother Oswald and,
lastly, was none other than RoyAcuff himself.
And again, I had no idea whothis was or how big this moment
was, because when they gotthrough playing, they just came
(17:35):
down and stood in front of thestage and talked with us just as
long as we wanted.
Now there were probably, atmost, maybe 30 people, as best I
recall.
Boy, if I could hit the rewindbutton and go back and do that
all again, oh well, now, on theother side of this short break,
we'll take a trip down to SweetHome, Alabama, and talk about
our next tune.
Hey guys, thank you forlistening today and I hope
(17:55):
you're enjoying this podcast.
If you are, please subscribe orfollow the podcast, click the
like button, share it with othermusic lovers and please
consider giving a five-starrating so we can reach a bigger
audience.
Now back to the show.
Now, if you're talking about therise of honky-tonk as an
emotional force in country music, you've got to talk about Hank
(18:16):
Williams .
And no song captures the beauty,loneliness and rawness of that
honky-tonk soul like I'm solonesome, I could cry.
Released in November of 1949,this was a B-side song to a song
called my Bucket's Got a Holein it.
This track wasn't supposed tobe a hit.
(18:37):
Supposed to be a hit, butlisteners and later historians
recognized it to be one of themost emotionally devastating
recordings in country musichistory.
So let's set the scene.
At this point.
Hank had already begun to shakeup Nashville scene with hits
like Moving On Over and LovesickBlues.
But with I'm so Lonesome, hedid something different.
(18:59):
He slowed it down, stripped itback and let the silence between
the words do just as much workas the melody.
And it wasn't just a sad song,it was literary.
Take this line the silence of afalling star lights up a purple
sky and as I wonder where youare, I'm so lonesome I could cry
(19:23):
.
Now, guys, that's poetry, plainspoken but devastating.
You can picture the stillness,the cold air, the ache behind
every syllable.
Hank once said that it was thesaddest thing he had ever wrote.
It's easy to believe, buthere's the kicker it's not showy
(19:45):
.
There's no vocal theatrics, nolush orchestrations, just Hank's
trembling voice, a weepingsteel guitar and mournful rhythm
section.
That's honky-tonk in its purestform Vulnerable, honest and
universal.
Behind the scenes, this songwas recorded at Herzog Studio in
(20:07):
Cincinnati, ohio, and that's amodest setup that nonetheless
captured lightning in a bottle.
The musicians backing Hank werepart of his band, the Drifting
Cowboys, and they brought injust the right amount of
restraint to the arrangement.
Now let's talk legacy.
Bob Dylan once called it thesaddest song ever recorded.
(20:27):
Elvis Presley covered it in theearly 1970s, johnny Cash
performed it live with atrembling reverence, and it was
also inducted into the Grammy'sHall of Fame in 1989.
But more than all the accolades,this song showed the world that
country music could be an art,not just entertainment, not just
(20:48):
storytelling, but an emotionalexperience that cut to the bone,
and that's why it had to bepart of today's episode.
So what have we learned today?
We look back at an era whencountry music split into
distinct branches honky tonk,bluegrass, cowboy ballads and
became a genre with depth,diversity and direction.
(21:10):
We explored Roy Acuff's WabashCannonball, which gave country
music a national voice and amythical railroad to take a ride
on, and we went deep into HankWilliams' I'm so Lonesome I
Could Cry, the song that helpedredefine honky-tonk as
literature with a steel guitar.
Now, this second generation setthe rules.
(21:32):
Then they broke them and gaveus the foundation of emotional
honesty that artists still drawfrom today.
Now, whether you're spinning a78, scrolling a playlist or
sitting at a bar nursing aheartbreak, these songs still
speak, and they speak loudly.
So thanks for joining me todayon the Two for Tuesday podcast.
(21:55):
I hope you learned somethingnew about the roots of country
music and how two timelesstracks shape the entire genre.
If you liked today's episode,be sure to subscribe, share it
with your fellow country musicfans and head over to the 2nd
Round Music YouTube channel,where you'll find my performance
of these two songs.
(22:15):
And hey, if you got a favoriteclassic country music song or an
artist that you want to featureon the show, drop me a line in
either the fan mail or thecomments.
This podcast is for y'all asmuch as it is me, so remember I
love you and I need you.
Until next time.
I'm Michael Pezent and this hasbeen the Two for Tuesday
podcast, where the past isalways present.
(22:38):
God bless you.
Well, hey everybody, and welcome back to
another episode of the Two forTuesday podcast brought to you
by 2nd Round Music.
I'm your host, Michael Pezent,and today we're rewinding the
reel all the way back to the1930s and the 1940s to dive into
what music historians oftencall the second generation of
country music.
(00:26):
But before we drop the needleon today's two iconic tracks,
I'll talk about where countrymusic stood during this pivotal
time when the genre began tosplit into distinctive styles,
each with its own culture,instrumentation and emotional
DNA.
Let me take a moment to thankall you listeners for following
me and being a part of your day.
(00:48):
I really appreciate your timeand I truly hope that you're
enjoying this podcast and, ifyou are, please consider
dropping me a comment.
Your feedback is extremelyimportant to me.
Now, if you've been keeping upwith this series, we've been
tracing the roots and evolutionof country music through the
songs that defined each era andthis particular generation.
(01:11):
Well, it gave us the first realstars of country music, the men
and women who took this genrefrom dusty porches and barn
dances to radio towers andrecord stores.
This period, the so-calledsecond generation, saw country
music grow up both artisticallyand commercially.
(01:32):
What began as hillbilly music,recorded in makeshift studios
and heard over dusty radios, wasstarting to organize, evolve
and diversify.
Let me give you a mental imageof what this makeshift studio
may have looked like.
Go back to the scene in themovie oh Brother, where Art Thou
(01:54):
?
Where the guys go to the radiostation after picking up Tommy
Johnson at the crossroads andthey're going to record a song
to earn some traveling money.
Now, one of my favorite linesin this movie was when the guys
come out of the radio stationand they run into Governor Pappy
O' Daniel and Del Mar says hey,mister, I don't mean to be
(02:16):
telling tales out of school, butthere's a fella in there
that'll pay you $10 to sing inhis can.
Sorry, I got a littlesidetracked, but that would be
what recording was kind of likeduring that time period.
Now we're talking about anAmerica deep in the Great
Depression.
Just before the dawn of WorldWar II, radio was king 78 RPM
(02:40):
shellac records may have beenfragile, but they were in demand
and thanks to the rise ofpowerful, clear-channel radio
stations, artists could be heardfrom the Appalachian Mountains
to Arizona in a single broadcast.
From this era, three primarysub-genres began to blossom,
each in unique sound and spiritand I'll be talking about how
(03:03):
they came about.
Sound and spirit, and I'll betalking about how they came
about.
And stick around, because we'vegot the backstories on two
cornerstone tracks of thisperiod Wabash Cannonball by Roy
Acuff and I'm so Lonesome I CanCry by Hank Williams, songs that
not only define the time buthelp shape the future and the
sound of country music.
(03:23):
Now let's fire up thatcannonball and roll it on set
the scene.
(03:53):
By the 1930s, country music,then referred to by some as
hillbilly music, had alreadystarted to find an audience
through radio shows like theGrand Ole Opry, which began
broadcasting out of Nashville in1925.
Now the Opry was critical.
It transformed rural folktraditions into commercial
(04:14):
entertainment.
It took country music fromlocal to national.
The first generation youremember?
We talked about artists likePhil and John Carson and the
Carter family in part one ofthis series.
Now they're still active.
But in the 1930s it saw therise of a new kind of artist.
These were full-time performers, many with a background in
(04:37):
vaudeville or radio, who sawmusic not as just as a form of
cultural expression but as aprofession.
Now this second generation iswhere we meet names like Roy
Acuff, who is known as the kingof country music, or Ernest Tubb
, who brought the honky-tonksound into sharper focus?
(04:57):
Or how about Bill Monroe, thefather of bluegrass, and the
Sons of the Pioneers, whoseharmonies helped define the
Western in country and WesternNow?
This was also an era whenrecordings became more widely
distributed thanks to the growthof the 78 RPM format and, along
(05:18):
with radio, syndications, meantartists could reach listeners
far beyond their home states.
Now, after this sponsoredmessage, we'll take a deep dive
into these three sub-genres thatemerged during this time.
Hey, see you on the other side.
Are you ready to take control ofyour finances and build a
brighter future?
Are you sick and tired of beingsick and tired and feeling
(05:39):
broke all the time?
My name is Michael Pezent, acertified master coach, and I
created 2nd Round Financial toprovide personalized financial
coaching based on the provenprinciples of Dave Ramsey's
Seven Baby Steps.
Our services include, but arenot limited to, one-on-one
financial coaching through Zoom,conference or face-to-face
(06:00):
budgeting strategies, debtreduction plans, emergency fund
creation, retirement planningand investment guidance.
But why choose us?
Because we believe inempowering our clients with the
knowledge and tools they need toachieve financial peace.
With our guidance, you'll gainclarity over your financial
situation, develop a realisticand achievable plan, and
(06:22):
experience, hope and confidencein your financial future.
I have over 15 years'experience teaching and guiding
families in the RamseyPrinciples, along with a degree
in finance and work experiencein the banking and insurance
industries.
So let's get started today.
And work experience in thebanking and insurance industries
.
So let's get started today.
Go to 2ndroundfinancial.
com and click book now toschedule your free consultation
(06:43):
today.
Now let's head to the hills,because another strain of
country took roots during the1930s, and that was bluegrass.
It was heavily influenced byAppalachian string traditions
and gospel harmonies heavilyinfluenced by Appalachian string
traditions and gospel harmonies.
Now, while the bluegrass termwouldn't officially take hold
until Bill Monroe and hisbluegrass boys hit the Opry in
(07:05):
the 1940s, the seeds were beingsown in the 30s.
Monroe's style addedlightning-fast mandolin picking
and tight three-part harmonies,along with a spiritual urgency
that echoed back to Baptisthymnals and old Scottish ballads
.
Now Bill is called the fatherof bluegrass, and rightfully so.
(07:27):
He did create this music.
Now he self-described it asScottish bagpipes, old-time
fiddling, methodist Holiness,baptist blues and jazz with a
high, lonesome sound.
Now, bluegrass wouldn't reallytake off until Lester Flatt and
Earl Scruggs joined thebluegrass boys and they found
(07:49):
themselves being invited to takethe stage at the Grand Ole Opry
.
Now, the connection of gospelmusic can't be overstated.
Now, the connection of gospelmusic can't be overstated.
Songs like Angel Band or I'llFly Away were sung in both
churches and around familyradios.
But one of the biggest earlystars would actually be Red
Foley.
(08:09):
Red is credited with having oneof the first million-dollar
selling gospel records, peace inthe Valley.
Now, there's a nice storybehind Red and that song and
we'll talk about it in anotherepisode somewhere down the road.
Now, this dual life of spiritualand secular helped this
(08:30):
sub-genre maintain its deepemotional roots.
Bluegrass and gospel were theheart and soul of rural country
music, and this music was formorning, for Sunday mornings and
for storytelling.
Now, we could certainly crawldown this sub-genre's rabbit
hole for a long time, and weprobably will, but more than
(08:51):
likely we'll do that in anotherepisode.
So now let's saddle up ourhorses and take a ride out west.
Now, this sub-genre had twohalves also, now you've got
(09:12):
cowboy music and western swing.
Cowboy music, as romantic as itwas, methodologized, boomed in
popularity during the GreatDepression.
Now, hollywood and the bigscreen certainly did help this.
Singing cowboys like Gene Autryand Roy Rogers, portrayed noble
heroes with six shooters andperfect pitch, but behind the
(09:34):
scenes they were real musiciansinnovating the sound.
Even some cowgirls got involved.
Early pioneers like PatsyMontana would open up the door
for a future female artist withher history-making song I Wanna
Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart.
Now, western swing, on the otherhand, led by legends like Bob
(09:55):
Wills and his Texas Playboys,blended country fiddles, new
Orleans jazz, mexican rhythmsand swing-era big band stylings.
See, this wasn't music for thefront porch folks, this was
dance music.
You could hear a saxophone, asteel guitar, a trumpet and a
(10:16):
banjo, all in one band.
Bob Wills was often quotedsaying if you can't dance to it,
it ain't music.
And boy, you could dance tothis.
Bob's legacy and his influenceon modern music cannot be
understated.
Did you know that he and theTexas Playboys were inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall ofFame back in 1999?
(10:37):
Well, they were.
These Western styles capturedthe open range, the urban cowboy
and the idea that American Westwas something that was a little
bit larger than life.
Now let's wrap this segment upwith honky tonk, because it's
the subgenre that would reshapethe emotional tone of country
(10:59):
music and bring it to what weknow as country music today.
People, let's be clear on thisHonky-tonk was not born in a
studio.
It was born in rowdy Texasdance halls, roadside juke
joints and old-town beer halls,places where the air was smok,
smoky, floors were sticky andthe music had to fight to be
(11:20):
heard over clanking glasses andloud voices.
The term honky-tonk originallyreferred to the bars themselves,
but by the 1930s it described agritty, stripped-down sound
that revolved around theelectric lap steel guitar, which
is the precursor of one of myfavorite instruments, the pedal
steel guitar, fiddles, acousticrhythm guitars and a hard
(11:45):
charging, often sorrow-soakedlyrical style.
And I have to add also thatsometimes you might hear an old
guy banging out notes on an oldupright piano.
Now the themes Cheating,heartache, drinking and
loneliness.
This was music for peopleliving hard lives, roughneck
(12:06):
workers, displaced farm familiesor maybe blue-collar Americans
that were just trying to scrapeby.
Now, one of the early masterswas Ernest Tubb, who fused
honky-tonk's emotional honestywith the drive of Western swing
and the storytelling ofold-school folk music.
Now his 1941 recording ofWalking the Floor Over you is
(12:28):
often cited as ground zero forthe honky-tonk sound.
It had a backbeat, an electricguitar and none of the polish
you'd find on the Grand Ole Opry.
What honky-tonk really did wasgive country music a shot of
realism.
It was unvarnished andvulnerable and it allowed for
imperfection and it told thetruth even when it hurt.
(12:50):
An artist like Hank Williamswould later take the rawness and
turned it into poetry.
Now, if you're like me, whenyou think about traditional
early country music, this iswhat you think of.
And why would I not talk moreabout Hank?
Well, because old Hank's goingto get his own episode, maybe
even more than one.
(13:10):
Yeah, he was that influential.
So there you have it Threedistinct sub-genres of country
music.
You see, honky-tonk brought theraw emotion.
Bluegrass and gospel preservedthe spiritual roots, and cowboy
music and western swing addedthe flair and the fun.
And now let's see how the twoiconic songs from that era
(13:33):
reflect all of that diversity.
Hey, somebody crank up that oldturntable and let's drop the
needle.
Turntable.
Now, let's drop the needle.
Originally published as sheetmusic in 1882, the Great Rock
(13:55):
Island Route, the song that waspassed down from folk traditions
for over 50 years before RoyAcuff recorded it in 1936.
But Roy didn't record it, heredefined it.
And what song are we talkingabout?
The Wabash Cannonball.
Now his version stripped awaysome of the early vaudeville
style camp and replaced it witha majestic Appalachian feel,
(14:16):
filled with plain fiddle andgospel flavored vocals.
The sound became more than atrain ballad.
It became a symbol of pride,perseverance and travelist
freedom during the Depressionera.
Now Wabash Cannonball is a songabout a mythical train.
There was no real WabashCannonball, at least not when
(14:37):
this song was written.
It was an idea A steel horserolling through towns where
people dreamed of somethingbetter.
The name was likely inspired bythe Wabash Railroad that ran
through the Midwest.
But the cannonball was a symbolof freedom, romance and
wanderlust, a metaphor of theAmerican spirit during the
(14:59):
Depression era.
The song was so powerful theGrand Ole Opry practically
adopted it as its anthem and RoyAcuff played it so frequently
that it became his personalmusic signature and one of the
first country music recordingsto cross over into mainstream
pop culture.
And behind the music, acuff'srecording helped establish the
(15:21):
Nashville music scene, earninghim the nickname King of Country
Music.
He would go on to co-found withHall of Fame songwriter Fred
Rose Acuff Rose Publishing, oneof the most important music
publishing houses in countryhistory.
But it goes even further thanthat.
The song Wabash Cannonball ispart of the Rock and Roll Hall
(15:43):
of Fame's 500 songs that shapedrock and roll.
How about that?
It's the oldest song on thatlist also.
Now I have to stop here and giveyou another personal story.
When I was a kid, growing upwith my family, we would go on
summer vacations in a littlepop-up camper, and I remember
(16:04):
one summer it probably wouldhave been somewhere in the mid
to late 70s we went to Nashvilleand we stayed at a KOA
campground.
Now, this would have been nottoo many years after Opryland,
the theme park would have opened.
Now two things happened that Ilook back on now with amazement,
probably because I had no ideawhat was happening.
(16:26):
Now, first, I remember walkingaround downtown Nashville and
seeing the Ryman Auditorium.
Now, there was no one there andthere were no locked doors, so
we just walked right in, justlike we own the place.
I can remember walking aroundon the stage like it was no big
deal, having no idea the talentand the big name entertainers
(16:49):
that had also stepped on thatstage.
Oh, and it gets better.
Also, during that week, onenight at the campground, we
found out that there were goingto be some special guest
musicians coming to a small andI mean small amphitheater on the
campground.
Now there were three to be somespecial guest musicians coming
to a small and I mean smallamphitheater on the campground.
Now there were three guys thatshowed up and for the life of me
, I can't remember who the guywas that played the fiddle for
(17:10):
them.
But one of those guys was adobro player by the name of Pete
Kirby, or better known by hisstage name, Bashful Brother
Oswald, and, lastly, stage name,bashful Brother Oswald and,
lastly, was none other than RoyAcuff himself.
And again, I had no idea whothis was or how big this moment
was, because when they gotthrough playing, they just came
(17:35):
down and stood in front of thestage and talked with us just as
long as we wanted.
Now there were probably, atmost, maybe 30 people, as best I
recall.
Boy, if I could hit the rewindbutton and go back and do that
all again, oh well, now, on theother side of this short break,
we'll take a trip down to SweetHome, Alabama, and talk about
our next tune.
Hey guys, thank you forlistening today and I hope
(17:55):
you're enjoying this podcast.
If you are, please subscribe orfollow the podcast, click the
like button, share it with othermusic lovers and please
consider giving a five-starrating so we can reach a bigger
audience.
Now back to the show.
Now, if you're talking about therise of honky-tonk as an
emotional force in country music, you've got to talk about Hank
(18:16):
Williams .
And no song captures the beauty,loneliness and rawness of that
honky-tonk soul like I'm solonesome, I could cry.
Released in November of 1949,this was a B-side song to a song
called my Bucket's Got a Holein it.
This track wasn't supposed tobe a hit.
(18:37):
Supposed to be a hit, butlisteners and later historians
recognized it to be one of themost emotionally devastating
recordings in country musichistory.
So let's set the scene.
At this point.
Hank had already begun to shakeup Nashville scene with hits
like Moving On Over and LovesickBlues.
But with I'm so Lonesome, hedid something different.
(18:59):
He slowed it down, stripped itback and let the silence between
the words do just as much workas the melody.
And it wasn't just a sad song,it was literary.
Take this line the silence of afalling star lights up a purple
sky and as I wonder where youare, I'm so lonesome I could cry
(19:23):
.
Now, guys, that's poetry, plainspoken but devastating.
You can picture the stillness,the cold air, the ache behind
every syllable.
Hank once said that it was thesaddest thing he had ever wrote.
It's easy to believe, buthere's the kicker it's not showy
(19:45):
.
There's no vocal theatrics, nolush orchestrations, just Hank's
trembling voice, a weepingsteel guitar and mournful rhythm
section.
That's honky-tonk in its purestform Vulnerable, honest and
universal.
Behind the scenes, this songwas recorded at Herzog Studio in
(20:07):
Cincinnati, ohio, and that's amodest setup that nonetheless
captured lightning in a bottle.
The musicians backing Hank werepart of his band, the Drifting
Cowboys, and they brought injust the right amount of
restraint to the arrangement.
Now let's talk legacy.
Bob Dylan once called it thesaddest song ever recorded.
(20:27):
Elvis Presley covered it in theearly 1970s, johnny Cash
performed it live with atrembling reverence, and it was
also inducted into the Grammy'sHall of Fame in 1989.
But more than all the accolades,this song showed the world that
country music could be an art,not just entertainment, not just
(20:48):
storytelling, but an emotionalexperience that cut to the bone,
and that's why it had to bepart of today's episode.
So what have we learned today?
We look back at an era whencountry music split into
distinct branches honky tonk,bluegrass, cowboy ballads and
became a genre with depth,diversity and direction.
(21:10):
We explored Roy Acuff's WabashCannonball, which gave country
music a national voice and amythical railroad to take a ride
on, and we went deep into HankWilliams' I'm so Lonesome I
Could Cry, the song that helpedredefine honky-tonk as
literature with a steel guitar.
Now, this second generation setthe rules.
(21:32):
Then they broke them and gaveus the foundation of emotional
honesty that artists still drawfrom today.
Now, whether you're spinning a78, scrolling a playlist or
sitting at a bar nursing aheartbreak, these songs still
speak, and they speak loudly.
So thanks for joining me todayon the Two for Tuesday podcast.
(21:55):
I hope you learned somethingnew about the roots of country
music and how two timelesstracks shape the entire genre.
If you liked today's episode,be sure to subscribe, share it
with your fellow country musicfans and head over to the 2nd
Round Music YouTube channel,where you'll find my performance
of these two songs.
(22:15):
And hey, if you got a favoriteclassic country music song or an
artist that you want to featureon the show, drop me a line in
either the fan mail or thecomments.
This podcast is for y'all asmuch as it is me, so remember I
love you and I need you.
Until next time.
I'm Michael Pezent and this hasbeen the Two for Tuesday
podcast, where the past isalways present.
(22:38):
God bless you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.