In chapter nine of her book It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost highways, Amanda Petrusich discusses the rise of the country music. She visits Kentucky, specifically the town of Lexington where she discovers the roots and bloosoming of country music while at the same time learned the stereotypes associated with it. Country music had a reputation as being for white individuals only and on page 148 Petrusich states " Still African Americans are very much a part of country music's history, and their exclusion from that canon is both tragic and telling" (Petrusich 148). Country music is a genre that is composed mainly of white musicans but the early country music was borrowed by African American slaves and their spirituals. Bill Marlone writes that country music is not from the south because the genre is older than South itself. The music is derived from folk songs that were brought to America by Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English immigrants. Back then country music became very popular in the rural areas of the nation and listeners followed the music in radio shows. That does not just stand true for back then but nowdays as well. Country music is more popular and more listened to down South in rural areas instead of big cities. In the city everyone listens to a variety of music styles and everyone has different taste. When people in the 1930s started listening to the radio that was the time where country music touched many rural and urban listeners. As time progressed, country music started growing and "steadily eeking its way into nonrural American life" (Petrusich 153).
One example of a stereotype used in Amanda Petrusich's novel is the term hillbilly. "In the Journal of American Folklore, the writer and scholar Archie Green notes that the term hillbilly appeared in print as early as 1900 and was used, mostly, as a vague catchall for rural, mountain-living southerners." (Petrusich 150) Most of the time hillbilly was used for southern Americans but it was also used in music. Petrusich states that "hillbilly was first applied to musicians in January 1925, when a string band hailing from North Carolina and Virginia agreed to play under the name the Hill Billies" (Petrusich 150). People in the United States still use the term hillbilly against Americans, generally in the south, who can't read or write. The term is also related with redneck.
Another stereotype used in chapter 9 was the comedy show white working-class men put on, where they portrayed themselves as African Americans. "Beginning in New York City in the 1840s, minstrel shows were considered high comedy for plenty of American: working-class white men dressed up as plantation slaves, slathered themselves with blackface, performed skits, and crassly imitated African song and dance" (Petrusich 150) They portrayed African Americans as illiterate and stupid. The only reason African Americans were good for was slavery. This is an idea that is now dead. Slavery is now something that has been long past and everyone in America has human rights given to them by the government. Even though there are still times when African Americans are made of use and racism is used against them, it is a better time now than it was during slavery.
In chapter nine of her book It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost highways, Amanda Petrusich discusses the rise of the country music. She visits Kentucky, specifically the town of Lexington where she discovers the roots and bloosoming of country music while at the same time learned the stereotypes associated with it. Country music had a reputation as being for white individuals only and on page 148 Petrusich states " Still African Americans are very much a part of country music's history, and their exclusion from that canon is both tragic and telling" (Petrusich 148). Country music is a genre that is composed mainly of white musicans but the early country music was borrowed by African American slaves and their spirituals.
ReplyDeleteBill Marlone writes that country music is not from the south because the genre is older than South itself. The music is derived from folk songs that were brought to America by Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English immigrants. Back then country music became very popular in the rural areas of the nation and listeners followed the music in radio shows. That does not just stand true for back then but nowdays as well. Country music is more popular and more listened to down South in rural areas instead of big cities. In the city everyone listens to a variety of music styles and everyone has different taste. When people in the 1930s started listening to the radio that was the time where country music touched many rural and urban listeners. As time progressed, country music started growing and "steadily eeking its way into nonrural American life" (Petrusich 153).
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One example of a stereotype used in Amanda Petrusich's novel is the term hillbilly. "In the Journal of American Folklore, the writer and scholar Archie Green notes that the term hillbilly appeared in print as early as 1900 and was used, mostly, as a vague catchall for rural, mountain-living southerners." (Petrusich 150) Most of the time hillbilly was used for southern Americans but it was also used in music. Petrusich states that "hillbilly was first applied to musicians in January 1925, when a string band hailing from North Carolina and Virginia agreed to play under the name the Hill Billies" (Petrusich 150). People in the United States still use the term hillbilly against Americans, generally in the south, who can't read or write. The term is also related with redneck.
ReplyDeleteAnother stereotype used in chapter 9 was the comedy show white working-class men put on, where they portrayed themselves as African Americans. "Beginning in New York City in the 1840s, minstrel shows were considered high comedy for plenty of American: working-class white men dressed up as plantation slaves, slathered themselves with blackface, performed skits, and crassly imitated African song and dance" (Petrusich 150) They portrayed African Americans as illiterate and stupid. The only reason African Americans were good for was slavery. This is an idea that is now dead. Slavery is now something that has been long past and everyone in America has human rights given to them by the government. Even though there are still times when African Americans are made of use and racism is used against them, it is a better time now than it was during slavery.