Indeed, the format known as Americana has been spinning around on turntables and radiating out through radio station antennae since the beginning of broadcasting.
Americana music may be most easily defined as American roots music, or that music that evolved from European and African origins to morph into 19th and 20th American musical styles of spirituals, Gospel, blues, folk, and country music.
Singers/Songwriters: By virtue of its folk and country connections, Americana music also heralds the songwriter who may not be a great vocalist, but is a moving and memorable lyric or melodic writer, whose compositions are often picked up by better singers and made into popular hits. Americana music often revels in the original versions of the songs by the writers, whose often plaintive vocals direct the listener toward the emotional center of the compositions.
Ironically, for most any of the above-mentioned experts, few will include the very rich and very active music of American Indians, which still serves ceremonial, religious, social, and contemporary purposes. The reason for this is simple: few music historians consider Native American music as a significant influence on American roots or popular music. Additionally, most Americans have ears trained to accept the scales, modes, and tones of European and African music, whereas, American Indian music usually does not relate to those traditions, developing on its own without the influence of Europeans and Africans until their arrival in the Americas. Examples exist of American Indian music that influenced African and European music, as do examples exist of American Indian music influenced by both those traditions, but we’ll discuss that elsewhere.
To begin learning about the American format, one need only understand the following musical forms, and find a representative artist or two of that sound:
Country music can be broken down into about seven or eight sub-genres:
Blues can be thought of in four general stylistic categories:
Heritage Music of the Americana Genre
As time has progressed into the 2000s and what used to be square is now vintage cool, varied elements of American popular music have merged into the Americana mainstream, such as classic country music (George Jones), Southern rock (Allman Brothers), country rock (The Eagles), and some “retro” performers (Hot Club of Cowtown) or “neo-traditional” country artists, or ones who incorporate traditional elements of country music (such as a mandolin or heavily bowed fiddle) into their music (Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill).
Folk music is the most varied element of Americana, and is mostly dictated by one’s geographic focus. Zydeco, Cajun, Polka, Conjunto or Tex Mex, or any traditional music brought from another country to the Americas might be considered folk music. Folk music is learned traditionally in the environment for which the music is intended, and often handed down through generations such as a particular style of church singing (spirituals and traditional hymn singing), or specific songs that relate to human existence. In very profound ways, American Indian music is an important American folk music, as one most often learns the songs by participating, and learns the context for which the song is being performed. However, most Americans tend to think of folk music as one person with a musical instrument, such as a guitar or fiddle, performing songs in a British Isle tradition of dance or storytelling. Woody Guthrie is the most obvious example of Anglo-American folk music, while Huddie Ledbetter is an excellent example of an African-American artist who would not be strictly considered a blues player, but wrote songs about the social condition of Black people during his time. While many examples exist of the varied fiddle styles of the Americas, Byron Berline and Jana Jae are two of Oklahoma’s best known and most accomplished fiddlers.
As a whole, Americana music might best be thought of as the launching and landing pads for contemporary American roots music, the sound of which is at the core of popular music in North America. To open ears, the genre represents both the country’s musical legacy, as well as where that legacy is leading the hearts, ears, minds, and hands of contemporary musicians who know they are link in a chain longer than their own creative lifespan. Americana music is the people’s music, telling our everyday stories in familiar musical forms, concerned less with commercial viability than fulfilling a personal artistic need to express the joys, hardships, and ironies of contemporary life through music and song. As a result, listeners can experience catharsis, inspiration, or just be entertained by connecting with a songwriter or singer who has had a similar event in their life.
By comparison with other genres of American music, the artist/listener nexus is no different in Americana than any other musical genre where fans have favorite songs or artists that speak to the lives of those who are listening. With Americana music, however, “having a good beat so I can dance to it” is usually not enough for a song’s success. Most often, the song has something to say about life that resonates with Americana listeners as significantly as a Holy Book or Bible verse does to a strong believer. Interestingly, those same Bible verses can often be the topic of an Americana songs (thanks Ray Wylie Hubbard and Steve Ripley!), which ultimately demonstrates that the Americana lyrical center is rarely far off from the core experiences of American life, good or bad, and the musical focus is squarely in the American roots music traditions that are well-defined historically and critically.
For one who is involved in American and Oklahoma music on a daily basis, these elements continue to make the Americana genre interesting, but also intrinsic to remaining current with the progression of American roots music.
