Blue yodeling

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As Blue Yodeling ( English , mutatis mutandis, moody Jodeln ') is a style of music called, consisting essentially of a compound of elements of the blues and old-time music is associated with characteristic yodels is enriched. Initially sometimes referred to as the Yodeling Blues, it reached its greatest popularity during the 1920s and 1930s in the United States , Canada and Australia .

The name goes back to the song title Blue Yodel , under which the American singer Jimmie Rodgers published a total of twelve numbered songs that were groundbreaking for the development of early country music . In addition to Rodgers, the later “ singing cowboy ” Gene Autry and the honky-tonk musicians Ernest Tubb and Hank Snow were outstanding representatives of the genre. Goebel Reeves (The Hobo's Lullaby, The Yodelin 'Teacher) claimed to have taught Rodgers to yodel.

history

The beginnings

Yodelling in the USA

The yodeling seems to be an alpine tradition in Europe. In large cities like Vienna , however, it has become popular as an entertainment feature in suburban theaters and musical halls since around 1830 and was only brought to the country by guest artists afterwards. Various immigrant groups brought it to the USA as a seemingly traditional identification feature. A first encounter with Anglo-American musicians is said to have taken place as early as the early 19th century when British and Irish settlers met German-speaking immigrants in the foothills of the Appalachians . In Emma Bell Miles' (1879-1919) essay collection The Spirit of the Mountains , published in 1905 , in which she describes life in the southern Appalachians, yodelling is mentioned in several places, for example when describing the difference between men and women : “ His first songs are yodels. Then he learns dance tunes, and songs of hunting and fighting and drinking, ... "

Triggered by successful guest performances by Austrian and Swiss artists who called themselves “Tyrolese Minstrels” or “Alpine Minstrels”, a steady increase in popularity can be demonstrated since the 1830s. Appearances by yodellers were often advertised as a special curiosity. Tom Christian known as "Yodeling Minstrel" first appeared in public around 1847; LW Lipp made the first sound recordings of a yodel in 1892. In 1905 the Swiss tenor Arnold Inauen made his first commercial recordings for Columbia Records , albeit still in the alpine style.

At the same time, in the context of wandering minstrel and vaudeville shows, a yodelling style, particularly worn by African-Americans, developed, which was strongly influenced by elements of the blues , especially the so-called delta blues and the jazz forerunner ragtime . Outstanding representatives were Monroe Tabor ("The Yodeling Bell Boy"), Beulah Henderson ("America's Only Colored Lady Yodeler") and Charles Anderson ("The Yodeler Blues Singer"). Historians Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff have conducted fundamental research to demonstrate the influence of African American artists and traditions in the field. This influence is said to lie among other things in typical inarticulate calls with simultaneous breaking of the voice, the Field Hollers, from which the so-called "Black Falsetto" developed. The term falsetto describes the falsetto voice . The Texan country traditionalist and passionate yodeler Don Walser later paid homage to this legacy with his Dixie Blues .

The "Blue-Yodel-Syntax", the combination of blues and yodelling, appeared for the first time in 1923 in the song of the same name composed by Clarence Williams , which was first recorded by Williams' wife Eva Taylor together with Sara Martin , and later in the same year by Bessie Smith . The text says, among other things, “ I'm gonna yodel my blues away ”, but the yodelling is only hinted at in both recordings.

George P. Watson : Sleep, Baby, Sleep (1911)

Well-known interpreters of this newly developing style were the white vaudeville artist George P. Watson and his colleague Emmett Miller . The latter was one of the most famous blackface artists of his time, i. that is, he appeared as a colored man with make-up. In 1925 he recorded one of the first versions of the Lovesick Blues and successfully toured the country with minstrel shows, advertised as a "famous yodeling blues singer". He was known for breaking the voice within words and pulling out individual sounds, which was then also called trick singing. Watson recorded yodelling songs on wax cylinders for the first time in 1895. The Sleep, Baby, Sleep , which he made popular , recorded in German and English in 1911, became a classic of American yodelling music, not least because Jimmie Rodgers, who was revered as the "father" of country music, made his first recording in August 1927. Session used. This song can be seen as the linchpin of American yodelling: Composed in 1896 by SA Emery, it was recorded more than a dozen times before 1927, including by various old-time bands.

Milton Brown , one of the pioneers of western swing , formed his first band with two friends in 1927: The Three Yodeliers. The repertoire consisted mostly of barbershop and contemporary pop songs, but also some yodelling songs, including Emmett Miller's I Ain't Got Nobody . The more Brown's personal style shifted towards jazz, the less he devoted himself to yodelling.

With regard to the 1920s and early 1930s, music journalist Nick Tosches differentiates between different styles of yodelling, including the “archaic yodel of the 19th century”, the minstrel show Yodel, which he calls “Fake Blue Yodel” and “Swiss yodel with black content “And the pop-country Yodel, as used by Jimmy Long in Yodel Your Troubles Away (1929).

The “awakening experience” by Wilf Carter can be seen as an example of the development of yodelling . Around 1915, when he was about ten years old, he saw a Swiss yodeler on a cattle drive, which appeared as an additional attraction at a performance by Uncle Tom's Hut and was called "The Yodeling Fool". Here the character of the yodel performance was still clearly recognizable as a novelty and a curiosity, which did not really fit with the theme of the actual performance. At the same time, however, the beginning transformation that it would experience in the wandering shows was indicated.

"White Country Blues"

At the same time, there was also a tendency among white artists from the field of old-time music to pick up on African-American influences such as blues or jazz. The young Bob Wills developed western swing under these influences, while others concentrated more on the blues element and thus coined a style that is now known as white country blues. Most of the time, the influence of vaudeville was also clearly visible here. Outstanding representatives are the Allen Brothers , Frank Hutchison , Dock Boggs and Tom Darby . Their music can be seen as a link between blues and hillbilly or old-time music, but it also shows how closely related both styles were back then.

In this context, some authors have raised the fundamental question of the motives that led white musicians to take up elements of Afro-American music at all, especially in the racist climate that prevailed in the southern states at the beginning of the 20th century . It initially played a role that it was something new. More important, however, were the opportunities it opened up. On the one hand, stylistically, it was possible to break out of well-trodden paths, which in many cases were still based on 19th-century schemes, such as the narrative ballad. The incorporation of the blues into their music was also a “liberation” for many white musicians from the clichés and constraints of the “country” music of the time; it allowed them to penetrate into areas that had previously been taboo, “apart from whitewashed” Huts and gray-haired mothers ”. It can also be assumed that they simply liked this type of music and held their original performers in high regard.

Jimmie Rodgers: America's "Blue Yodeler"

In the area of ​​what was then known as hillbilly or old-time music , yodelling was first noticed in 1924 when Riley Puckett , who later helped shape the young genre as a member of the Skillet Lickers , presented the title Rock All Our Babies to Sleep with a yodel. Insert. In September 1925 Puckett also took on Sleep, Baby, Sleep , but in the following period he stopped yodelling again.

The turning point: "T For Texas"

Jimmie Rodgers, T For Texas (Blue Yodel) ( Info ):

The final breakthrough did not come until February 1928, when the former railroader Jimmie Rodgers triggered a real yodel boom with his first big hit T For Texas (Blue Yodel) and numerous artists began to copy his style down to the smallest detail.

Rodgers grew up in Mississippi , the cradle of the blues. Even as a teenager he wanted to become a professional singer, but his father persuaded him to take a "decent" job at the railroad, where he also worked. After Rodgers had to quit his job with the railroad due to his tuberculosis disease, he fulfilled his dream of a career as a musician, played in string bands , toured the southern states with vaudeville shows and also appeared as a blackface artist. During this time he became aware of the producer Ralph Peer , who was looking for music in the traditional mountain or old-time style and was doing test recordings in Bristol, Tennessee.

Rodgers made his first recordings for Peer on August 4, 1927, after falling out with his backing band, the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers, the night before. In addition to Sleep, Baby, Sleep , he also recorded the ballad The Soldier's Sweetheart , which does not contain yodels. What is particularly interesting here is that his yodel style for Sleep, Baby, Sleep is still more based on George P. Watson and is fundamentally different from the later Blue Yodel. Both titles sold with only moderate success, but that was to change with T For Texas .

At first, T For Texas was little more than an embarrassing solution. Since Rodgers had not prepared enough of the "backwoods" pieces desired by Peer for his second recording session on November 30, 1927, he reluctantly decided to use one of Rodgers' "blues songs" as a filler. Rodgers himself had called the song T For Texas , but it was released under the title Blue Yodel . It turned out to be an overwhelming success and sold over a million copies. It also attracted eleven more Blue Yodels, as well as Jimmie Rodger's Last Blue Yodel , which was only released after his death in 1933.

In the following years Rodgers developed into the first "superstar" of country music, his records reached unimagined sales figures. He recorded a total of 113 songs by the time he died, only a handful of them without a yodel. A total of 13 (including Last Blue Yodel ) bear the title Blue Yodel No. x , another 25 can be called "blues". Rodgers didn't just record such blues numbers, however. In addition to sentimental ballads such as Daddy and Home or My Old Pal , both from 1928, his repertoire also included some cowboy titles. He was the first to combine this topic with yodelling.

Overall, the Bristol Sessions are seen as a turning point in the development of country music, they moved away from the traditional string bands of the Appalachian tradition to a more blues-inspired style.

Influences

Jimmie Rodgers stands as a "father figure" at the beginning of the blue yodeling as a mass phenomenon. All the great representatives of the genre rely on him. Therefore, there has been much speculation about Rodgers' own influences. There had been successful yodelers before him. Even before him, white artists from the field that would later be called “Country” had played blues titles. However, Rodgers was the first to succeed in combining both elements in a hitherto unique way: " He was the first singer clearly to establish the yodel as an echo and comment on the blues."

It is mostly assumed that he came into contact with African Americans and their music in the course of his work on the railroad or that he was influenced to this effect during his childhood in Mississippi. It is reported that he was responsible for the water rations for the Gandy Dancers, mostly black track workers who got their name from their typical tool, the "Gandy", with which they lifted the rails onto the track bed. The line "Hey, little waterboy, bring that water round" from Muleskinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8) can be understood as an homage to this time. Since the Gandy Dancers often had to work synchronously, they developed typical four-bar chants, which in turn were influenced by Afro-American traditions. Rodgers is said to have learned their songs and their typical slang from these workers, and they are said to have taught him to play the banjo .

In addition, on his travels on the train, he must have met wandering musicians from whom he learned new songs in exchange for a ride. In the literature reference is made in this context to The Davis Limited (1931), one of Jimmie Davis ' songs in which he describes such an incident. After his retirement from the railroad, Rodgers is also said to have learned to play the guitar and the blues from black musicians on Tenth Street by Meridian. In summary, it can be said that Jimmie Rodgers combined the blues songs of the black track workers, the Swiss yodels and the syncopation of the "pop" music of the 1920s in his style.

On the other hand, based on statements made by his wife Carrie, it is likely that he was also heavily influenced by vaudeville, which he is said to have been obsessed with. In particular, the Black Falsetto, the breaking of the voice used by colored artists while singing, obviously influenced his style.

In some cases, the theory has also been put forward that Rodgers learned his style from Emmett Miller. However, there is no verifiable evidence for this. Miller's biographer Nick Tosches explicitly leaves the question open. Miller's supposed partner at the time, Turk McBee, claimed that Miller and Rodgers met in Asheville, North Carolina in 1925 . However, this has since been refuted, there are even doubts as to whether McBee really worked with Miller. An encounter in June 1927, when the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers appeared for some time at WWNC in Asheville and Miller was guesting there at the same time, cannot be proven with certainty.

It is undisputed, however, that long before Rodgers' first recordings both had been touring extensively with various shows through the country, where they were exposed to a multitude of different influences. It even seems possible that both were influenced by the Afro-American singer and vaudeville star Bert Williams, whom they must have known based on their background. Williams and his partner George Walker had already made recordings in a similar style around the turn of the century, making yodel-like sounds. It remains to be seen whether Rodgers and Miller actually met personally and whether one of the two was influenced by the other. Apart from that, Miller uses some stylistic devices in his recordings that can be found in Rodgers and others, but it is difficult to identify independent yodels in them, as they were characteristic of Blue Yodeling. Unlike Rodgers, Miller's specialty was breaking the voice while singing, not yodelling between verses.

The triumphant advance of the Blue Yodeling

The success of Rodgers' first hit sparked a previously unimagined yodel boom. This was not least due to the fact that the simple yodelers could easily be imitated by a somewhat talented singer. African American musician Herb Quinn, who lived near Rodgers, Mississippi in the 1920s, coined the phrase that anyone who could play guitar suddenly began yodeling like Jimmie Rodgers. To put it bluntly, yodelling became a synonym for country music in the 1930s.

In addition, the various record companies tried, for financial reasons, to establish their own singers with "Yodeling Blues" titles on the market as quickly as possible or to get their artists to yodel. For example, Ralph Peer encouraged Sara Carter to yodel on some of the Carter Family recordings , and the Carters recorded several duets with Rodgers. In addition, in 1930 Peer arranged a joint recording of Blue Yodel No. 9 with Louis Armstrong on trumpet and his wife Lilian on piano.

Frankie Marvin's "Blue Yodel" (1928)

Many of the early Rodgers impersonators have remained little more than a footnote in the history of country music, such as the then 17-year-old messenger boy Bill Bruner, who stood in for the sick Jimmie Rodgers in February 1929 and then as "The Singing Messenger Boy “Moved around with tent shows. The same applies to Rodgers' cousin Jesse Rogers , who had little success as a yodeler. Others were luckier.

One of them was Gene Autry's longtime friend and later co-star Frankie Marvin, who had recently moved into show business on the advice of his brother Johnny Marvin. He actually wanted to audition for the Crown record label on his ukulele , but was asked by those responsible if he could yodel as well. Yodelling is his middle name, he replied. After a brief test, he recorded his version of T for Texas under the pseudonym Frankie Wallace and his Guitar for a total of four different record labels in June 1928 : Crown, Brunswick, Columbia and Edison.

Gene Autry

Gene Autry - Blue Yodel No. 5 (1929)

The Marvin brothers convinced the young Gene Autry to give this new style a try. Autry had previously tried unsuccessfully to gain a foothold as a crooner during an extended stay in New York City and sang songs by Gene Austin and Al Jolson with Victor . Since he had never yodeled before, he started practicing. First he returned to Tulsa , Oklahoma, where he appeared on the radio station TVOO as "The Original Oklahoma Yodeling Cowboy". After building a solid reputation and a wide fan base, he returned to New York and took up Rodgers' Blue Yodel No. for Columbia in October 1929 . 5 on.

Autry's first single was released just days before the big stock market crash . It had the advantage, however, that it was published by Columbia's cheap labels Velvet Tone, Diva and Harmony, so that its fans could buy three from Autry for the price of a Rodgers record (Victor), so-called "Dime Store Platters". Of all Rodgers impersonators, Autry was also the one who was able to come closest to his role model, on some recordings he can hardly be distinguished from Rodgers.

While Autry initially mainly imitated Rodgers and also covered pieces by other performers, he began to compose his own songs in late 1930 and find his own style. It turned out that he could not only imitate Rodgers' yodels, but also had a keen sense for the blues. Yodeling Hobo , Bear Cat Papa Blue or Jail-House Blues are just a few of his own compositions, which increasingly pushed Rodgers' titles back.

Autry's first track, which he did not record in this typical blues style, brought him the big breakthrough: the sentimental That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine , which he wrote in October 1931 together with Jimmy Long, his long-time companion from his telegraphic days and uncle of his wife, had recorded. If he continued to record blues numbers, however, since 1933 he concentrated almost exclusively on cowboy titles, with which he eventually rose to become the most popular and commercially successful singing cowboy alongside Roy Rogers . He did yodel there occasionally, but no longer in the original style.

During this time, Autry also appears to have made a complete break with his past as a minstrel and blues artist, particularly with the disreputable lyrics of some of his recordings. In his autobiography Back in the Saddle Again (1997) he did not mention Jimmie Rodgers once, and responded evasively to questions from journalists throughout his life and later even relativized Rodgers' influence on his early career.

Cliff Carlisle

Cliff Carlisle (ca.1934)

Cliff Carlisle , who was born in Kentucky in 1904 , was already enthusiastic about the music in Hawaii , which was very popular in the southern United States, during his childhood . He therefore began to play steel guitar and later went down in history as one of its great pioneers. In the 1920s he appeared together with his partner Wilbur Ball in vaudeville and tent shows, where they appeared in the south as Hillbillys and in the north as Hawaiians. In 1930 they had a permanent radio show on WHAS in Louisville. During this time Jimmie Rodgers had his first successes and Carlisle realized that he too was a gifted yodeler. He applied to Gennett Records , who enthusiastically seized the opportunity to place their own yodel on the market. Together with Ball, Carlisle recorded numerous cover versions of Rodgers' titles, one of the first was the Memphis Yodel , which on the one hand is stylistically based on the original, but on the other hand differs from it due to the Hawaiian influence and Carlisle's own way of singing. In 1931 Carlisle and Ball even made two joint recordings with Rodgers, including When the Cactus is in Bloom .

Over time, Carlisle found his own style. As "The Yodeling Hobo" he recorded a mix of traditional ballads and hobo numbers, but also numerous tracks that dealt with controversial topics that would shape country music for a long time. His Seven Years with the Wrong Woman from 1932 , for example, was one of the first country songs to deal with the subject of divorce, Pay Day Fight from 1937 describes a couple's physical argument over payday money. In retrospect, he described his music as "a cross between hillbilly and blues - even Hawaiian music has sort of blues to it."

Jimmie Davis

Another artist who was inspired by Rodgers early in his career was the later two-time Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis . In the late 1920s he worked as a teacher at Dodd College in Shreveport . As a part-time job, he recorded sentimental pop songs for the radio station KWKH in Shreveport and its record label, but also sang in the blue yodel style. During this time he recorded various Rodgers titles, as well as his own blues-style compositions, supported by blues guitarists Oscar Woods and Ed Schaffer. Some of these titles contained sexual innuendo, which was unusually clear for the time, which led to songs like Bed Bug Blues or Red Nightgown Blues being used against him in the election campaign, albeit without success. However, he had his greatest successes as an interpreter of gospel songs and pop ballads such as Nobody's Darlin 'But Mine (1934) and You Are My Sunshine (1940).

Elton Britt

Elton Britt (1913–1972) was also inspired by Jimmie Rodgers , who, however, should by far surpass his role model in terms of yodeling technique. Raised in a musical family, he emulated Rodgers as a teenager. In his enthusiasm he is said to have personally introduced himself to Rodgers at one of his appearances on the round-up show of Buffalo Bill's partner "Pawnee Bill" in Oklahoma , where he recommended he go to California . When the two later met again in Hollywood , Rodgers is said to have recommended Ralph Peer to sign Britt, but that didn't happen.

After various stations, Britt had his first major success as a solo artist in June 1934 with Chime Bells , accompanied on the piano by Bob Miller, who had composed the song. Chime Bells is exemplary of Britt's yodelling style and at the same time a certain break with the legacy of his role model Rodgers. Mountain lakes and bells thematizing and stylistically kept in 6/8 time, it has nothing to do with blues or even country, but creates a "peculiar European feeling". Mainly, however, it served as a vehicle for Britt to demonstrate his yodelling according to all the rules of the art, which is described as "pyrotechnic" and "the world's highest yodeler". In fact, Britt, alongside Roy Rogers, is considered to be the yodeler who brought the complex, fast-sung and overturning yodels to their best: "He set the gold standard." Both Britt and Roy Rogers have covered Jimmie Rodgers' My Little Lady , that had developed over time to a test for advanced yodelers. Rodgers himself had limited himself in his version from 1928 to pulling out the word endings in the refrain "Hady-ee, my little lady-ee". At the same time, Britt managed not to let the yodel performances "hang in the air" or to conflict with the content of the song, as did Rodgers, who had rejected the Alpine style for this reason.

Britt had his greatest successes as a singer of sentimental pop ballads after he had his final breakthrough in 1942 with the patriotic title There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere .

The next generation

While the aforementioned artists such as Autry, Carlisle and Davis, referred to by Bill C. Malone as "the three greatest 'imitators' of Jimmie Rodgers", had worked with Rodgers during his lifetime and in some cases in personal contact, Rodgers' legacy also brought about emerged some of the greatest stars in country music after his death in 1933.

Ernest Tubb

One of them was Ernest Tubb . Raised on a cotton farm in Texas, he learned the lyrics and tune of In the Jailhouse Now from his older sister in the summer of 1928 at the age of 14 . However, his sister could not yodel. It wasn't until a year later that he was able to hear recordings by Jimmie Rodgers for the first time and then began to collect his records and yodel himself.

In late 1933, Tubb had moved to San Antonio with friends Jim and Joe Castleman in search of work . The Castlemans formed the trio The Castleman Brothers with their friend Merwyn Buffington, later their brother Barney joined them. Their repertoire consisted mainly of western-oriented material, but following the zeitgeist they also played Rodgers-style songs. They finally got a broadcast on the radio station KMAC, and it was here that Ernest Tubb had his first radio appearance as a guest singer. He quickly became a regular companion of the Castlemans, and shortly afterwards he was able to get another broadcast for the band at competitor KONO, this time under his name.

Around the spring of 1936 (the exact date is controversial) Tubb contacted Rodger's widow Carrie to ask for an autograph. A long friendship developed from this encounter, through Carrie Tubb came into contact with her sister Elsie McWilliams, who had written songs for Jimmie Rodgers. She had written some songs about Rodgers that Tubb could now use, such as My Blue Bonnett Dream or Jimmie Rodger's Last Thoughts . The latter was renamed The Last Thoughts of Jimmie Rodgers by the RCA , based on The Passing of Jimmie Rodgers . Ultimately, Tubb got a record deal with RCA through Carrie's mediation, but his first recording was not as a singer, but as a guitarist on Carrie's recording of We Miss Him When the Evening Shadows Fall . He himself was not mentioned by name, unlike Rodger's guitar, on which he played.

An almond operation ended Tubb's yodelling career in 1939. However, since he could not imagine singing Jimmie Rodgers songs without a yodel, he increasingly began to develop his own style and write his own songs, with which he finally went down in history as an icon of honky tonk .

Hank Snow

The Canadian Hank Snow was regularly abused by his stepfather as a teenager. To escape him, Snow hired a fishing trawler off the coast of Nova Scotia . There he entertained the team with vocal performances, accompanied on the harmonica. His mother, who had encouraged him to sing in the church choir as a child, gave him a Victrola , a portable wind-up phonograph , and some Vernon Dalhart records , which particularly fascinated him to play the guitar. Around 1930 he got a few records from Jimmie Rodgers, whom he imitated enthusiastically from then on.

With this repertoire behind him, he applied to the radio station CHNS in Halifax in 1933 . There he got his own show as "The Yodeling Ranger", but initially had to keep himself afloat with various part-time jobs. Over time, he was able to build up a growing fan base in northeast Canada and in October 1936 he made his first recordings for the Canadian RCA subsidiary Bluebird, including the self-composed Lonesome Blue Yodel . In 1944 he switched to the station CKCW in New Brunswick , where he now appeared as "The Singing Ranger", since he had largely given up yodelling. In the United States, his records were not released until 1949. It was only appearances in the Grand Ole Opry and his hit I'm Moving On that gave him his breakthrough.

Further development

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys: Blue Yodel No. 1

By the end of the 1930s, public interest in hillbilly music had declined. However, yodelling did not completely disappear from public perception, but was also adopted by representatives of other styles, often in the form of cover versions of Rodgers' songs. The Blue Yodel No. 1 by Bob Wills with yodels by Tommy Duncan or the recordings of Mule Skinner Blues by Bill Monroe . In 1950, Monroe recorded the faster-played New Mule Skinner Blues , a text modified by George Vaughn Horton (the brother of Ralph Peer's former partner and CMA chairman Roy Horton) under the pseudonym George Vaughan to add sexual innuendos and references to the Alcohol consumption was adjusted. In his live performances, however, Monroe mostly used the original version.

In 1946 Bill Haley started his career as "The Ramblin 'Yodeler". Slim Whitman's yodelling was taken to new heights and was also successful in the pop charts. And Jerry Lee Lewis has since his days at Sun Records regularly yodelling, are among his best recordings related Lovesick Blues (1958) and Waiting for a Train (1962).

The last interpreter of the "White Country Blues" is Hank Williams , who did not yodel explicitly, but started breaking his voice, for example in one of his most famous recordings, the Lovesick Blues (1949). His son Hank Williams Jr. is certain that Hank Sr. learned the Lovesick Blues from Emmett Miller. Williams bought the rights to the modified Rex Griffin song , but had previously heard Miller's version, although it is unclear whether this was in person or on record. His long you-ooo on I'd Still Want You is also clearly reminiscent of Miller. Another example of Williams' forays into this style is the Long Gone Lonesome Blues .

However, yodelling has repeatedly been picked up by well-known country stars, often as an homage to Jimmie Rodgers. They include Lefty Frizzell and Dolly Parton , who had her first top 10 hit in 1970 with Mule Skinner Blues .

present

Yodelling is practically irrelevant in modern country music. Those in charge attach great importance to progressiveness and avoid any echoes of their former "hillbilly image". There are exceptions, however. In 1998 the band The Wilkinsons reached number 45 on the US country charts with The Yodelin 'Blues . The Blue Yodeling came to the attention of a wider public again in 2000 when it was featured on the soundtrack to the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? a remake of Jimmie Rodgers' In the Jailhouse Now was released. In 2006, child star Taylor Ware caused a sensation when she made it into the top 5 of America's Got Talent with her yodelling songs . The breaking of the voice is also occasionally used as an effect, for example in LeAnn Rimes ' first hit Blue (1996) or Steve Holy's Blue Moon (2000). Even Dwight Yoakam tends to break the voice, so strong, however artful Kieksen that always carries the approach of a sad yodeling in itself. The situation is different in the area of ​​traditional and alternative country music. Artists like Don Walser , Ed Burleson, or Jason Eklund , who died in 2006, also used yodelling to clearly oppose the pop development in Nashville-style country music. As early as the mid-1990s, blue yodeling became an expression of clear protest against commercial structures: in the commercial, radio-oriented New Country , yodelling is practically unthinkable. Wylie Gustafson of Wylie & the Wild West even wrote a textbook, How to Yodel: Lessons to Tickle Your Tonsils . When the band performs, there are regular small yodelling courses, with Wylie providing the audience with basic knowledge and encouraging them to yodel.

There is also a constant interest in the old recordings, which is reflected in scientific publications and a large number of relevant samplers, the latter sometimes using the term "Country Yodel".

Western Music

Yodelling is still very widespread to this day in the field of western music , but the style there is very different from blue yodeling. Although many important representatives of the genre name Jimmie Rodgers as a role model, their yodelling interludes are far more sophisticated and extravagant. In addition, the blues elements are missing there.

The Canadian singer Wilf Carter , better known in the USA as "Montana Slim" , acted as the interface between these two worlds . Around 1915, as a child, he saw a Swiss artist who called himself "The Yodeling Fool" on a show during a cattle drive and was caught up in yodelling fever. During his long career, in addition to hillbilly and hobo songs, he mainly recorded cowboy material and developed his own yodeling style, the so-called "three-in-one" or "echo yodeling".

Australia

Yodelling was and is also very popular in Australian country music. According to one study, two-thirds of the titles representing the period between 1936 and 1960 were yodelling, and in 1994 yodelling competitions were still widespread in pubs. Like many others, Australia's country legend Slim Dusty cultivated the Jimmie Rodgers style in his early career after producer Arch Kerr told him in the early 1940s that he couldn't sell country music without a yodel. Even before Dusty, Tex Morton had greater success in the 1930s as "The Yodelling Boundary Rider". He was also heavily influenced by Rodgers, but also by Wilf Carter and Goebel Reeves . In doing so, he adapted US-American themes to Australian conditions, the “Hobo” became the “Bagman”, and the “Cowboy” became the “Boundary Rider”.

Characteristic

Immediately after T for Texas was released, it was not clear how this new style was to be classified. Victor had advertised it as a "popular song for comedian with guitar" and Rodgers' style as "grotesque". However, the reference to African-American traditions was unmistakable; one critic described him as a “white man gone black”. Indeed, Rodgers must have had a special feeling for this style, which, according to Cliff Carlisle , was reflected in his whole style: “Jimmie, he reminded me more of a colored person, or a negro… than anybody I ever saw, in a way. ”The lyrical self in Mule Skinner Blues , whose first sentences go back to a song by the blues musician Tom Dickson, is addressed as“ shine ”, a derogatory expression for black people derived from“ shoe shine ” becomes.

In the opposite direction, Rodgers' music was also valued by African Americans and used as inspiration, which, according to an assessment expressed in literature, could at least in part have made him an “honorary negro”. This association went so far that some historians unknown to Rodgers classified his songs as traditional folk songs and referred to Blue Yodel No. 5 made the following statement: "As we have it here it is clearly a Negro blues song."

In an essay published in 1957, the music journalist John Greenway used a situation-related and a prosodic , i.e. That is, the relationship between word and tone was worked out. Often the "rounder" appears, who brags about his skills as a lover, but at the same time is deeply insecure and constantly fears the "creeper" who wants to relax his partner. He reacts to this with threats or violence and / or the assurance that he can have any other woman anyway. In formal terms, this is achieved through the use of “negro maverick stanzas”, which - often in an ambiguous manner - address violence and promiscuity . In Blue Yodel No. 3 mistrust is followed by the threat: “Won't you tell me, mama, where you stayed last night, 'cause your hair's all tangled and your clothes don't fit you right (…) The day you quit me , woman, that's the day that you die. "

The individual stanzas are connected by the characteristic yodel refrains . Even if the processing of the mentioned topics contributed to the great emotionality of the music, it was the sometimes tortured yodelling choruses that evoked an atmosphere of loneliness and despair.

Compared to the Alpine models, the Blue Yodels were more simply structured and could be imitated without great effort. Assumptions that this could be attributed to Rodgers' inability to produce more sophisticated yodelling have turned out to be wrong: Rodgers preferred the simpler, melody and content-based yodels over their artistically higher quality, but often detached counterparts. In this way he formed a unity of content and performance. In a letter to Gene Autry in the spring of 1930, he complained that an organizer wanted to replace him with a "friek (sic!) Yodeler" after he had to cancel due to illness. What was meant was a Swiss yodeler. With regard to the peculiarity of the Blue Yodeling, Cliff Carlisle stated that it differs from a Swiss yodel, for example, in that it is produced with the tongue, while the Blue Yodel is "down in here", with both the larynx and the heart meant, a kind of sound "from the gut".

For the many young men who emulated Rodgers, the blue yodeling is said to have been a means of releasing pent-up sexual desire and aggression, a procedure that is ascribed almost cathartic effect: “a non-verbal statement of youthful bravado, a catharsis, Whitman's 'Barbaric yawp'. ”(The latter is an allusion to Walt Whitman's poem Song of Myself , where the last stanza says:“ I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable / I sound my barbaric yawps over the roofs of the world. ”) They may have taken this as a confirmation of their masculinity after many men had to feel socially and economically“ emasculated ”during the economic crisis.

Stylistically, Rodgers tied in with the rich musical tradition in the areas of blues and folk music. He often used the classic 12- bar blues scheme ("12 bar blues"), with the first line of each verse being repeated twice. He also resorted to common phrases, so-called floating lyrics or Maverick Stanzas (sometimes also Maverick Phrases). The term ' Maverick ' originally referred to an ownerless calf without a brand that the finder could incorporate into his herd. The Maverick Stanzas are therefore traditional lines or fragments of text that have been in circulation for a long time in a certain environment and are incorporated into their own texts with more or less major changes. The blues producer Robert Palmer later referred to it in connection with the plagiarism allegations against Led Zeppelin as the custom of the blues that a singer "borrows" verses from oral tradition or from foreign recordings, adapts them and then uses them as his composition. An example of this is the line “I can get more women than a passenger train can haul” from T for Texas . She appeared in Bessie Smiths' Ticket, Agent, Ease Your Window Down as early as 1924 , although she sang "men" instead of "women". In 1925 it was used by dad Charlie Jackson in The Faking Blues and in 1936 by Oscar “Buddy” Woods in Don't Sell It . In the opposite direction, fragments from Rodgers' songs also appeared in compositions by black blues musicians, for example Peg Leg Howell used parts from Waiting for a Train and Blue Yodel No. 4 (1928) in Broke and Hungry Blues , published six months later .

Particularly noticeable to contemporaries was the issue of sexuality and violence. Even T for Texas was had referred to by the same critic who Rodgers as "white man gone black", with the attribute marked as "bloodthirsty," Rodgers sings but how he shoots his unfaithful Thelma with a gun and her lover with a shotgun " I'm gonna shoot poor Thelma, just to see her jump and fall (...) I'm gonna shoot that rounder, that stole away my gal. " This description also made a reference to the blues, because during the 1920s Afro-American magazines specifically advertised jazzy blues numbers as “bloodthirsty” that dealt with the killing of unfaithful husbands. The criticism appeared in the literary magazine The Bookmann , which was aimed at educated whites, and was intended to suggest crossing the line between genres, across all racial boundaries.

In particular, the sexual issues were dealt with in detail. What is striking in this context is the consistent designation of women as "mom" and men as "daddy" or "papa". It is true that the texts did not achieve the explicit clarity of today, but rather hid behind increasingly daring ambiguities. Rodgers had already sung metaphorically in Pistol Packing Papa (1930): “If you don't wanna smell my smoke, don't monkey with my gun.” Cliff Carlisle went even further. In keeping with a custom at the time, “dirty” topics were often alluded to with allusions from the animal kingdom, such as in the Shanghai Rooster Yodel (1931) or Tom Cat Blues (1932). Henne and Hahn were particularly popular, and when Tom Cat Blues (1932) deals with "cock" and "pussy", it is left to the listener's imagination whether they are really animals. In That Nasty Swing from 1934, the gramophone serves as a reference point: “Place the needle in that hole and do that nasty swing.” A similarly suggestive title is Sugar Cane Mama (1934). Gene Autry also recorded some such titles in his early years, such as Wild Cat Mama , She's a Low-Down Mama or Do Right Daddy Blues (1931), in which it says “You can feel of my legs, you can feel of my thighs, but if you feel my legs you got to ride me high. ”In contrast to others, Autry broke completely with these“ smutsongs ”shortly afterwards.

Another characteristic of the Blue Yodels are the numerous references to the railroad. On the one hand, these stem from Rodgers' biography, on the other hand, they are an expression of a longing for space and independence and also correspond to the experiences that numerous Americans had during this time as migrant job seekers. In addition, they fit into the scheme of the then very popular bum songs that made the hobo their hero, such as HOBO Calling by Goebel Reeves or I Don't Work for a Living by Pete Wiggins.

Over time, the range of topics covered increased and reached as far as novelty songs such as Married Man Blues (1937) by Ernest Tubb or Yodeling Mule (1939) by the Three Tobacco Tags . Jimmie Rodgers' duet with Sara Carter The Wonderful City (1931), in which the heavenly Jerusalem is celebrated , is particularly unusual . It is the only religious song Rodgers recorded.

literature

  • Robert Coltman: Roots of the Country Yodel: Notes toward a Life History . In: Nolan Porterfield (Ed.): Exploring Roots Music, Twenty Years of the JEMF Quarterly . The Scarecrow Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8108-4893-1 , pp. 135-156.
  • Charles Wolfe: A Lighter Shade of Blue: White Country Blues . In: Steven Carl Tracy (Ed.): Write Me a Few of Your Lines: A Blues Reader . University of Massachusetts Press, 1999, ISBN 978-1-55849-206-6 , pp. 514-530, here: pp. 524 f.
  • Graeme Smith: Yodeling . In: John Shepherd (Ed.) Et al .: Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World . Volume 2: Production and Performance . Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8264-6322-7 , p. 176 f.
  • Yodeling Cowboys and such . In: Nick Tosches: Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock'n'Roll . Da Capo Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0-306-80713-8 , pp. 109-117; also gives a good overview

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The spelling with an l corresponds to American English, as opposed to British and Australian English.
  2. ^ Max Peter Baumann: Music Folklore and Music Folklorism. A music-ethnological study of the functional change in yodelling, Winterthur 1976, p. 234
  3. ↑ Bart Plantenga: Will there be yodeling in heaven? (in the section "The Hillbilly Jodler")
  4. ^ The Spirit of the Mountains . P. 69, see also P. 2, 52, 169, archive.org
  5. ↑ Yodeling Mountaineers: The Alpine Roots of the American Guitar ( Memento from March 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Gage Averill: Four Parts, No Waiting: A Social History of American Barbershop Harmony . Oxford University Press US, 2003, ISBN 978-0-19-511672-4 , pp. 23 f.
  7. ↑ a b Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff: America's Blue Yodel, Musical Traditions No. 11 (1993)
  8. ↑ Exact date unknown, republished on The Archive Series, Vol. 1 . Watermelon Records, 1995
  9. ^ Douglas B. Green: Singing in the Saddle: The History of the Singing Cowboy , Vanderbilt University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8265-1412-X , p. 19.
  10. ^ Jean Ann Boyd: We're the Light Crust Doughboys from Burrus Mill: An Oral History . University of Texas Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-292-70925-6 , p. 26.
  11. ^ Cary Ginell, Roy Lee Brown: Milton Brown and the founding of Western Swing . University of Illinois Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0-252-02041-4 , pp. 26 f.
  12. ↑ Nick Tosches: Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock'n'Roll . Da Capo Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0-306-80713-8 , p. 112.
  13. ↑ Green, p. 67.
  14. ^ Tony Russell: Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost . Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-532509-6 , p. 70.
  15. ↑ Tony Russell: Blacks, Whites and Blues . In: Paul Oliver (Ed.): Yonder come the Blues: The Evolution of a Genre . Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-521-78777-2 , p. 233.
  16. ^ Dick Weissman: Blues: The Basics . Routledge, 2005, ISBN 978-0-415-97068-6 , p. 76.
  17. ↑ Nick Tosches: Where Dead Voices Gather . Back Bay, 2002, ISBN 978-0-316-89537-8 , p. 96.
  18. ^ Charles K. Wolfe: A Lighter Shade of Blue: White Country Blues . In: Steven Carl Tracy (Ed.): Write Me a Few of Your Lines: A Blues Reader . University of Massachusetts Press, 1999, ISBN 978-1-55849-206-6 , pp. 514-530, here: pp. 524 f.
  19. ↑ a b Wolfe: Blues Reader . P. 524.
  20. ^ Charles W. Joyner: Shared Traditions: Southern History and Folk Culture . University of Illinois Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-252-06772-3 , p. 204.
  21. ^ Robert Coltman: Roots of the Country Yodel: Notes toward a Life History . In: Nolan Porterfield (Ed.): Exploring Roots Music, Twenty Years of the JEMF Quarterly . The Scarecrow Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8108-4893-1 , pp. 135–156, here p. 137.
  22. ^ Bill C. Malone: Country Music, USA 2nd edition. University of Texas Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-292-75262-7 , p. 79.
  23. ↑ Gandy Dancer Work Song Tradition. Encyclopedia of Alabama
  24. ^ A b Russell: Blacks, Whites and the Blues . P. 188.
  25. ↑ Joyner, p. 204.
  26. ^ Robert K. Oermann: A Century of Country: An illustrated History of Country Music . TV Books, 1999, p. 31. ISBN 978-1-57500-083-1
  27. ^ Peter Stanfield: Dixie Cowboys and Blue Yodels: The Strange History of the Singing Cowboy . In: Edward Buscombe, Roberta E. Pearson: Back in the Saddle Again: New Essays on the Western . British Film Institute, 1998, ISBN 978-0-85170-661-0 , pp. 96-118, here: p. 98.
  28. ^ Tosches: Dead Voices . P. 50.
  29. ^ Tosches: Dead Voices . P. 75.
  30. ↑ Barry Mazor: Meeting Jimmie Rodger: How America's Original Roots Music Hero Changed the Pop Sounds of a Century . Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-532762-5 , p. 71.
  31. ^ Tim Brooks, Richard Keith Spottswood: Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry , 1890-1919, University of Illinois Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-252-02850-2 , p. 111.
  32. ^ Tosches: Country . P. 110.
  33. ↑ Malone, p. 90.
  34. ↑ Malone, p. 89.
  35. ↑ Holly George-Warren: Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry . Oxford University Press, 2007 ISBN 978-0-19-517746-6 , p. 38 ff.
  36. ↑ George-Warren, p. 41.
  37. ^ Jon Guyot Smith: CD booklet for Gene Autry: Blues Singer 1929-1931 . Columbia Legacy Roots N 'Blues Series, Sony
  38. ↑ Green, p. 124 ff, especially p. 127
  39. ^ Wolfe: Kentucky Country . P. 62 f.
  40. ^ Wolfe: Kentucky Country . P. 63.
  41. ^ Gus Weill: You Are My Sunshine: The Jimmie Davis Story , Pelican Publishing Company, 1987, ISBN 978-0-88289-660-1 , p. 47.
  42. ↑ Weill, p. 68 f.
  43. ^ Mazor, p. 79.
  44. ^ Green: Singing in the Saddle . P. 64.
  45. ^ Mazor, p. 79
  46. ^ Douglas B. Green: Classic Country Singers . Gibbs Smith, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4236-0183-8 , p. 22.
  47. ↑ a b Malone, p. 106.
  48. ^ Ronnie Pugh: Ernest Tubb: The Texas Troubadour . Duke University Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-8223-2190-3 , p. 10.
  49. ^ Pugh, p. 19.
  50. ^ Pugh, p. 25
  51. ↑ Pugh, p. 30.
  52. ^ Pugh, p. 49.
  53. ^ Charles K. Wolfe: Classic Country: Legends of Country Music . Routledge, 2001, ISBN 978-0-415-92827-4 , p. 52.
  54. ^ Mazor, p. 228.
  55. ^ Charles K. Wolfe, Neil V. Rosenberg: The Music of Bill Monroe . University of Illinois Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-252-03121-2 , p. 83.
  56. ↑ Jim Dawson: Rock Around the Clock: The Record that Started the Rock Revolution! Backbeat Books, 2005, ISBN 978-0-87930-829-2 , pp. 28 f.
  57. ↑ AnnMarie Harrington: Country / Blues: The Beginnings , Part 2. ( Memento from July 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  58. Jump up ↑ Colin Escott, George Merritt, William MacEwen: Hank Williams: The Biography . Back Bay, 2004, ISBN 978-0-316-73497-4 , pp. 97 f.
  59. ↑ Oermann, p. 33.
  60. ^ Graeme Smith: Australian Country Music and the Hillbilly Yodel . Popular Music 1994, No. 13/3, pp. 297-311, here: p. 297.
  61. ^ Charles K. Wolfe, James Edward Akenson: The Women of Country Music: A Reader . The University Press of Kentucky, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8131-2280-9 , p. 198.
  62. ^ Graeme Smith: Singing Australian: A History of Folk and Country Music . Pluto Press Australia, 2005, ISBN 978-1-86403-241-3 , pp. 87 f.
  63. ^ Russell: Originals . P. 70.
  64. ^ Claudia Benthien: Skin: On the cultural border between self and the world . Columbia University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-231-12502-4 , p. 164.
  65. ^ Russell: Blacks, Whites and the Blues . P. 193.
  66. ^ John Greenway: Jimmie Rodgers: A Folksong Catalyst . In: The Journal of American Folklore , Vol. 70, No. 277. (July-Sept. 1957), pp. 231-234: Excerpt
  67. ^ Quoted in Russell: Blacks, Whites and the Blues . P. 189.
  68. ^ Mazor, p. 66.
  69. ↑ Mazor, p. 72.
  70. ^ Peter Stanfield: Hollywood, Westerns and the 1930s: The Lost Trail . University of Exeter Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-85989-694-8 , p. 62.
  71. ↑ Mark Humphries: Notes on CD Cliff Carlisle - Blues Yodeler and Steel Guitar Wizard . Arhoolie Records, 1996.
  72. ↑ Richard Slatta: The Cowboy Encyclopedia . Norton, 1996, ISBN 978-0-393-31473-1 , p. 235.
  73. ↑ Carl Lindahl: Thrills and Miracles: Legends of Lloyd Chandler . In: Journal of Folklore Research , Bloomington, May-December 2004, Vol. 41, Issue 2/3, pp. 133-72.
  74. ^ Robert Palmer: Liner notes to Led Zeppelin: The Music
  75. ↑ Jamie Smith: Music To My Eyes - Soundtracks of Art .
  76. ^ Tosches: Dead Voices . P. 199.
  77. ^ Russell: Blacks, Whites and the Blues . P. 192 f.
  78. ^ Mazor, p. 45.
  79. ^ Charles K. Wolfe: Kentucky Country: Folk and Country Music of Kentucky . Premier Book Marketing, 1998, ISBN 978-0-8131-0879-7 , pp. 64 f.
  80. ↑ In addition to the animal names, cock (rooster) and pussy (cat) also stand for the male and female sexual organs in English.
  81. ^ Russell: Blacks, Whites and the Blues . P. 190.
  82. ↑ Mark Zwonitzer, Charles Hirshberg: Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone ?: The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music . Simon and Schuster, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7432-4382-7 , p. 141.
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