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Essay on stevie ray vaughan
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“It wasn’t just what you played, but how you played it.”
-Hugh Gregory, Roadhouse Blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Texas R&B, 2003 Stevie Ray Vaughan was a man known for the magic that he could entice with a few strums of his guitar. However, his musical journey did not original start on his signature instrument, the electric guitar, but instead on a plastic Sears toy that he had at the age of ten. Having self-taught himself how to play the blues by the time he reached high school, he soon learned that there was more to his talent than he thought. With a lack of interest in school and a growing enthusiasm in music he pursued his musical skill and jumped from band to band playing as many gigs as he was given opportunity to perform in. With a growing
Finally, after having collapsed while on tour in Europe in 1986, Vaughan checks himself into a treatment center to get back on the path he once was on. For the following year, Vaughan strayed from music scene that had consumed his life the previous years. In 1988, Double Trouble including Vaughan start performing once again and soon start making plans for another album. After having gone through treatment and coming out renewed, Vaughan set out to address his addiction and rehabilitation which ended up being turned into the song “Wall of Denial” on his 1989 album, In Step. Having incorporated the struggles and trials he had gone through throughout his personal life in the album In Step, Double Trouble was rewarded the satisfaction of their fourth studio album reaching No. 33 on the
However, with loss comes a newfound appreciation for the revival of blues due to the influence of him and the legacy that lives on in his stead. In the years following his death, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s legend has only grown in popularity. Although musicians don’t live forever their music will always be immortal. A little more over a year after his death the Texas Governor, Ann Richards, recognized Vaughan as a major influence on the state of Texas and on October 3, 1991 proclaimed the day as “Stevie Ray Vaughan Day”. As new generations of guitarists started growing, more and more of them were influenced by the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan resulting in well-known artists such as Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Even after his death Vaughan keeps living on as every passing year his songs still bounce along the charts and 800,000 copies of his albums are being sold around the world. The love for blues still lives on and it’s all thanks to Stevie Ray Vaughn for reviving it before it was lost in the sea of music
The “king of Western swing,” Bob Wills, was a prominent figure from the 1930s through 1950s. At at a young age he learned to play the fiddle and he and his father performed at dances and other social gatherings. He was exposed to other genres of music as a young boy such a blues, conjunto and mariachi, but it was the new sounds of jazz that inspired him to experiment with traditional country music. In 1929 Wills moved to Fort Worth, Texas, were he formed a band, the Wills Fiddle Band, which would soon change to Light Crust Doughboys. Their music was played was played on the Fort Worth radio station, KFJZ radio, and their unique sound quickly spread which is what the radio advertisers needed during the economic downfall. However, in 1933 Wills left the band and formed a new one called Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and they toured together over the next forty years. In 1945 Wills appeared at the Grand Ole Opry and insisted that there be a horn and drum section on stage. The audience was surprisingly pleased with this unwanted change by the directors. Despite his somewhat strained relationship with Nashville, the local country music establishment formally recognized Wills and his important overall impact on country music when the Country Music Association Hall of Fame inducted him in 1968 (Hartman, 146). Bob Wills died in 1975, but was still a major influence in up and coming young country artists like Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, George Strait and Lee Ann Womack.
He also was known to influences experimental new music and electronic music. Although he spent a good part of his life in the recording studio, he also performed live. In addition to being one of the greatest vocalists in the 1950s, Holly played guitar, a variety of percussion instruments, and electric bass. Although Holly’s music career was short lived, the amount of music he produced is very impressive. As a songwriter, he is famous for developing his own material. It is in his songs and his band, The Crickets, that we truly see Buddy Holly’s unique musical personality. Holly also appeared to be a vocalist and instrumentalist, playing bass and guitar on almost all his songs. “Buddy Holly played rock and roll for only a few short years, but the wea...
Not only that, he played for great stars like Ike and Tina Turner as well as Sam Cooke. The year 1965 was when things really started to take flight for Hendrix’s music career. He played for more bands and artists such as Joey Dee. Hendrix played for the Starlighters at the time as well. During the next three years, Hendrix played for many major music artists and decided to make his own band he named Jimmy James And The Blue Flames. One day, while performing, former bassist of the band The Animals, Chas Chandler watched him and offered to be his manager in mid 1966 (Rockhall).
In the 1930s many black musicians where coming out of the south. One especially who would soon top the charts and hit fame and fortune starting in his young years, Ray Charles. After conquering poverty, blindness and many other things, success was possible. In his young age he had a few losses in his family and near after came down with a disease which was causing him to go blind. He later came over the blindness and was able to learn and compose music with the help of his skills in mathematics. After enduring a harsh childhood and blindness, Ray Charles was able to over come his handicap and follow his dream in music.
Blues has played an extreme role in todays’ music. The music genre of blues, helps us express ourselves in which you can feel it from the ubiquitous in the jazz to the blues scale and the specific chord progressions. To start off, the blues is musically originated by African Americans in the deep South of the United States. Growing up in a southern household, I was used to listening to a variety music, but blues was always most listened to. Every time I listen to blues, the lyrics often deal with personal adversity, and it goes far beyond pity.
...line of Smith's career – and in Classical blues, in general – was due to changing trends in music. Classical blues was out, and Swing was now the music of choice.
As time progressed, music had to continue to evolve to keep up with the ever-changing styles. Blues slowly began to morph into Rock and Roll to engage people of a new era. While many changes occurred in creating Rock and Roll, it continued to carry undertones of the Blues. This can be heard while comparing Son House’s, “Walking Blues” and Elvis Presley’s, “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” These two songs show many similarities, while also having their own identities.
The first instrument Robert played was the harmonica. Robert quit school as a teen and started working in the cotton fields. Robert left that life to travel and play his music. He began to play the guitar around the age of fifteen. Famous blues men; Charlie Patton and Willie Brown influenced Johnson when he was young. At age 17, Robert married Virginia Travis. She and their first baby died during childbirth. Johnson then went on the road. Robert traveled all over the Midwest and all the way down to Mississippi and Arkansas. He married Calletta Craft during his travels. She died only a few years later while Robert was on the road.
He died after suffering from a heart attack on April 30, 1983, in Downers Grove, Illinois. Since his death, Waters’ contribution to the jazz community or the music world as a whole, has continued to gain recognition. In 1987, Waters was later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Five years later, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded him the musician a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. (“Music Makes Make the World Go Round.”) Lastly, some of the most recognizable jazz and blues names in music have named Muddy Waters as their single-greatest influence, including Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Johnny
Musicologists have dated the ‘birth’ of blues to be around 1890 as a West African tradition involving blue indigo in which mourners at ceremonies would wear blue dyed attires to resemble their suffering . Although, blues derived from times of slavery, the Prohibition Era (1920’s), World War Two (1939-1945), and during the Vietnam War (predominantly 1960’s to 1970’s), it has been a continuously evolved form of music in America, in which the similarities have always remained; melancholy and protest.
Art Menius said, “The African-American music of the rural south provided the source for gospel, jazz, and blues, while the often ignored black contribution to country music and hillbilly music went far beyond providing the banjo and Charley Pride.” In 1928, A.P. Carter, the patriarch of the legendary Carter Family, the first family of country music, met a blues guitarist by the name of Lesley “Esley” Riddle. Lesley Riddle had created a unique picking and sliding technique on the guitar while he was recovering from an accident on the job. The Carter Family was looking for a new sound of music, and they were so overwhelmed by the sound that Lesley produced, they wanted him to teach them how to play that way. Lesley Riddle influenced Maybelle Carter’s style of guitar playing called the “Carter Scratch,” which became legendary. According to birthplaceofcountrymusic.org, Riddle’s influe...
Played on acoustic instruments (natural sound): Banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bass fiddle, dobro (resophonic guitar) Instrumental leads used to show off technical ability Distinctive vocal harmonies Originations of Bluegrass Bill Monroe - "The father of Bluegrass" Grew up in Rosine, Kentucky (Ohio County) Music takes its name from Bill Monroe's band, The Blue Grass Boys &nb Arnold Schultz, black "blues" singer and guitar player. Timeline: 1911 - Bill Monroe born on September 13 1940's - development of bluegrass music 1950's - people began referring to his style of music as Bluegrass 1960's - concept of "bluegrass festival" introduced 1996 - Bill Monroe died on September 9 1997 - Bill Monroe inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Because of his influence on popular music. Bluegrass Music featured in: Films of "Bonnie and Clyde", "Deliverance" Television Shows of "The Beverly Hillbillies", "The Dukes of Hazard". Written Overview A sample overview of the history of bluegrass music follows.
In the years after slavery, the blues developed and expanded just as the bluesmen could spread it from place to place. It has a long history and stemmed during times of slavery which means it has to be this world for at least 200 years. And because of the blues, there are lots of best artists come out at that time,what African American black women like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith. Alberta Hunter could perform on stage, amazed their new American audience who were stunned by this soulful new genre. These good artists make the blues spray all over the world, let people enjoy this kind of music, and open a new gene music.
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace,” said legendary American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In the 1960’s Jimi Hendrix, along with many other musical artists, greatly influenced numerous people. His unorthodox method of playing and how well he played the guitar would become his trademark for many years to come. Arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music, Hendrix expanded the range and vocabulary of the electric guitar and pioneered explosive possibilities of the instrument. His innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback, and controlled distortion created a new musical form.
Great African American musicians of the40’s, 50’s, especially 60’s and 70’s, like Jimi Hendrix for example, where not have always been in the headlines for the right reasons. They, Hendrix especially, were not always forefront leaders in movement like the Civil Rights era like Malcolm X or Martin Luther where.. That may be true, but by simply being a successful African American musician in times like these would speak volume, and have profound influence. Jimi Hendrix explained it bests, when he summed up the power behind, not just his music, but all music, when he told us...