Old Timey Music

One of my favorite films is O Brother, Where Art Thou? It's a quirky, beautiful, satire set in the American South during the Great Depression. Three escaped convicts are on a journey to retrieve a stolen treasure that may soon become unaccessible once the valley where it is buried is flooded to build a dam. Along the way they meet many interesting characters. One of the main characters in the film is music. It tells a vital role in the telling of their journey. At one point, they record an "old timey" song "into a can" because they need the money. That song ends up saving their lives.

In the 1930s "Old Timey" music was the beginnings of what we know today as Country music. Much of the music used in the film is authentic to the period and were popular hits of the day. The artists behind those songs were pioneers in the Country and Western genre.

Below are a few of those artists.



-- Jimmie Rodgers

Considered by many to be the "father of country music", Jimmie Rodgers was a pioneer in music history. Born September 8, 1907 in Pine Springs, Mississippi, Rodgers spent his early life in Meridian, Mississippi. By the age of 13 he was working on the railroad. This nomadic life exposed him to a variety of people and musical styles. It also may have contributed to his contracting tuberculosis in 1923. Since this meant he had to leave the railroad business, it gave him more time to concentrate on his music. In 1927 he signed with Victor Records. His music combined folk and blues (and some yodeling) to create another uniquely American sound. One of his hits, "In the Jailhouse Now", was used in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Rodgers also starred in a short film called The Singing Brakeman (1929).

His health continued to fail and in 1933, at the age of 35, he passed away. In 1961 he was one of the first artists to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

-- Roy Acuff

From the "father of country music" to the "king of country music." Roy Acuff, born September 15, 1903 in Tennessee, was one of the most popular country musicians of all time. After an injury forced him to give up his dream of being a professional baseball player, he started playing the fiddle and ended up joining a local traveling group as a musician/comedian/actor. With the success of that tour, Acuff began performing with his brother and a friend on the streets of Knoxville. The band quickly grew in size and by 1936 signed a contract with the American Recording Company. The group, the Smoky Mountain Boys, had one of their biggest hits "Wabash Cannonball" in 1938.

After the success of "Wabash Cannonball", the group was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry radio program. Acuff would be a continued presence at the Opry until the 1990s. His warmth and charm made him a natural for master of ceremonies duties.

Acuff was also a smart business man who formed his own music publishing company Acuff-Rose Publishing in 1942. He realized it made more sense to be his own publisher rather than sell his songs to someone else.

In 1962, Acuff became the first living artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.



-- Gene Autry

Gene Autry was known as the "Singing Cowboy" for his many years of playing that role on film, radio and television. Autry was born September 29, 1907 in Texas but grew up in Oklahoma. His musical career began in 1929 with the best selling "That Silvered-Haired Daddy of Mine." By the mid-1930s Autry began his long association with Hollywood. His first film, In Old Santa Fe, had only a brief, but popular, singing performance by Autry. But that was enough to spur him on to making films for the next twenty years. After World War II, Autry made the transition from film to television with such shows as The Gene Autry Show and The Adventures of Champion.

Autry is probably most well known today for his holiday songs, such as "Frosty the Snowman," "Peter Cottontail," and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Probably his most well known song, "Back in the Saddle Again" has been used numerous times in contemporary films, most notably Sleepless in Seattle.

Gene Autry entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969.



-- Hank Williams

Hank Williams is one of the many country artists who benefited from the early work of Rodgers, Acuff and Autry. Through his brief, but highly prolific career, Hank Williams became the father of contemporary country music. Born in Alabama on September 15, 1923, Williams got his first guitar at the age of 8 and learned to play from a local blues street performer. His honky-tonk, country-blues style was greatly influenced by his early exposure to African-American blues. When he was 12, Williams won a songwriting contest and by the age of 14 had organized his own band.

For the next several years, Williams continued to perform and write, but was not having widespread success. He moved to Nashville and signed a songwriting contract with Acuff-Rose Publishing. In 1947 he signed with MGM Records and recorded "Move It On Over" which was a huge hit for him and his band, The Drifting Cowboys. He joined the Grand Ole Opry, over objections to his hard drinking ways, in 1949. For the next four years Williams would have 27 top ten hits. He also saw many of his songs covered by other performers of the day, such as Tony Bennett and Jo Stafford.

In December of 1952 Williams suffered a heart attack brought on by his excessive drinking. He died January 1, 1953 at the age of 29. More than 25,000 grieving fans attended his funeral in Montgomery, Alabama. He was inducted into the Country Music Association Hall of Fame in 1961, along with Jimmie Rodgers.

His legacy lives on in the musical careers of his son (Hank Williams Jr.), grandson (Hank Williams III) and his granddaughter (Holly Williams).


-- Post by Tracy