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This is America’s greatest untold story.

- Robert Redford

 

    In order to truly appreciate today’s music, you must travel into the past to its infancy.  Getting to know the roots of music can bring a deeper appreciation to the song and those who created it.

   Very few people understand how the music industry truly works. Most people in the industry question it, none more so than the entertainers who create the music.

   Nonetheless, the dawn of the industry can be traced back to the Renaissance period.  Musicians were not as respected as they are today in this period.  Songwriters, who could read and write, would often transcribe their songs to paper for others to learn.

   As time passed by and technology progressed, sheet music became the hub of the music industry.  Songwriters would compose their music onto paper and sell them to various publishing companies.  Then the publishing companies would print the music to sell as printed sheet music.  If a person wanted to hear the music, they would purchase the score and learn to play it. 

   Much of the music industry was designed for and with the wealthy in mind.  This held true until the late 1940’s.  Most of the music that was heard was heard by those who could afford to attend concert halls and or live private performances.  The affluent people, at the time, had the means to delve in such frivolous activities.

   With the advent of the recording devise, the music industry again catered to the wealthy.  Musicians were brought into recording studios to record their music.  This music was then pressed into records called 78s.  Those who had the means were able to purchase a phonograph and play records of various songs.  Majority of the songs sold consisted of operatic and classic compositions, comic novelties, Broadway show tunes and the latest in dance-trends.

   It was shortly after World War I, when the short wave radio emerged.  Newspapers feared becoming extinct to the point that they purchased the radio stations.  Nonetheless, it was the record labels who were facing the extinction. 

   In the 1920s, radio took over the music business and it would forever change the way the public would listen to music.  If you owned a phonograph, you still had to purchase records to play which gave the listener a limited choice of music, plus, the nuisance of having to change the record.  However, once you bought a radio, the music was available all day long, largely for free.

   The introduction of the radio benefited consumers, but it became a catastrophe for the record labels as their sales plummeted.  To save the core of the music industry, record labels were forced to leave the major metropolitan cities and their studios in search for new music. 

   As the sales plummeted, the music industry was doing its best to find new consumers within the rural areas.  Many of these consumers did not have electricity and could not afford phonograph players.  This led to a discovery of mass proportions.  Paramount Records Artist and Repertory man, Art Satherly, said it best; “Those were tough days.  Especially when radio started to come in.  And you can put this on record for all times - the thing that saved the record industry of great America, is now commonly known as rhythm & blues, and country.  That’s what saved the industry, and that is it.”

   Record labels sent scouts into deep rural American areas to solicit advice from local musicians and hold open call talent contests.  Local musicians, like the Carter Family, flocked to these contests.  Winners would have their music recorded on portable recording devices for all to hear. 

   Ultimately, this was the first time America truly heard itself.

   In 2007, a group of people including director Bernard MacMahon and producers Allison McGourty and Duke Erikson with audio engineer Nicholas Bergh took on a project that would progress over the next ten years.  This group of people took on this project to create a trilogy of documentaries that takes us on a journey through American history, geography, and cultures that ultimately shows the birth of the modern music and recording industry.

   Although we have not viewed these documentaries, called American Epic, we have viewed bits and pieces of them via YouTube.  You can view the promotional spot on our website.  All three of the films were originally aired on PBS in the spring of 2017 and can be viewed or purchased on their website at: www.americanepic.com

   American Epic then teamed up with Legacy Recordings to release a box set as well as a sound track.  We share these musical endeavors with you today. 

   American Epic: The Collection is a nice account of the era in which we speak about in this article.  It features five CDs filled with the original recordings.  In the beginning, the music contained within was originally recorded on wax discs.  Obviously, many of these wax discs were destroyed over time.  Nonetheless, once the wax discs were brought to the record labels, the labels transferred them to 78 LPs.  Due to the war effort of World War II, many of these 78s were lost.  The crew of American Epic turned to the record collectors to help gather these recordings. 

  The Collection really gives the listener a broad range of music that was available at the time.  Many of the songs on here are quite entertaining while providing the listener the style of that region as each of the five discs are compiled of music from five regions of the United States.

   This collection of songs gives us an historic account of the recording process at the time.  Musicians and entertainers were given three minutes to record and they had to do that all in one take.  At times, you can hear the anxiety of the performers and at other times, you can hear the pride and honor from the musicians.  More so, you truly hear the diversity of America.

   American Epic: The Soundtrack features a fifteen song disc anthology of the songs featured in the film; including those performed by Jimmy Rogers and The Carter Family.  Other American Epic products include a book and a triple LP version with more music, including songs by modern day entertainers who recorded them on a device from the times.

   This entire project gives us a glimpse into the infancy of modern day music, by sharing with us the nuance of the entertainers of that time.  This is a must have for any record or music collection as you listen to the music or watch the documentaries, you will gain a deeper perspective of the music that is released today.

 

(This article was printed in the July / August 2018 issue of Strictly Country Magazine.)

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