A ramblin’ man, a maverick, an Outlaw. Undeniably, Waylon Jennings was an artist who broke boundaries and refused to be confined by the restrictions that others imposed upon him. He created a style of music that was uniquely his, during a time when many artists bent under the weight of the Nashville Sound. From his humble beginnings on regional Texas radio to his acquisition of the award of the Country Music Association’s Male Vocalist of the Year, Jennings stayed true to himself and his musical style. He was the ultimate maverick of country music. Thanks to an influential mentor and his involvement in the Outlaw Movement of the 1970s, he became a superstar who left a lasting legacy on the genre of country music. Waylon Jennings was born on …show more content…
Holly knew Jennings from his work at Lubbock's KDAV radio station, and arranged for his first recording session at the Petty studio in Clovis on September 10, 1958. Here, Jennings recorded "Jole Blon" and "When Sin Stops (Love Begins)." These recordings were released in the spring of 1959, but did not see spectacular commercial success (Carr and Munde 155). Despite this, Holly took a liking to Jennings and invited him to play in his backup band for his winter tour. Jennings' boss at KDAV was reluctant to let him go, as he was one of the best disc jockeys at the station, but he eventually agreed to allow Jennings to depart on what would become a fateful tour (Denisoff 663). It was on this tour though, that Holly truly became Jennings' mentor; they even discussed Jennings moving into Holly's New York City apartment (Denisoff 664). Their relationship was, unfortunately, cut short by Holly's death in a plane crash in 1959. Jennings was supposed to have been on this flight as well, but managed to avoid a tragic fate by giving his plane ticket to another band member, JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson, at the last minute (Ratiner 92). In spite of Holly's sudden death, the booking agency insisted that the tour must continue and convinced the band members to agree by promising them additional pay that they would never actually receive (Denisoff 667). By the end of the tour, Jennings was at a low point. Firstly, he had lost a mentor, a dear friend, and their ideas for the future; the plans they had made together surely could never be realized (Denisoff 671). Secondly, he was disillusioned with the music industry. He felt that he had been swindled out of money by the booking agency, describing them as mere "flesh peddlers" (Denisoff 671). Holly's death was very traumatic for Jennings and left him demoralized for some time. A few years later,
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.
Eleanora Fagan (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), professionally known as Billie Holiday, was an American jazz artist and artist musician with a vocation traversing almost thirty years. Nicknamed "Woman Day" by her companion and music accomplice Lester Young, Holiday affected jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, firmly propelled by jazz instrumentalists, spearheaded another method for controlling stating and rhythm. She was known for her vocal conveyance and improvisational aptitudes, which compensated for her restricted range and absence of formal music instruction. There were other jazz vocalists with equivalent ability, however Holiday had a voice that caught the consideration of her crowd.
Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. When alled “The First Lady of Song” by some fans. She was known for having beautiful tone, extended range, and great intonation, and famous for her improvisational scat singing. Ella sang during the her most famous song was “A-tiscket A-tasket”. Fitzgerald sang in the period of swing, ballads, and bebop; she made some great albums with other great jazz artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. She influenced countless American popular singers of the post-swing period and also international performers such as the singer Miriam Makeba. She didn’t really write any of her own songs. Instead she sang songs by other people in a new and great way. The main exception
Some of her better-known sides from the Twenties include “Backwater Blues,” “Taint Nobody’s Bizness If I Do,” “St. Louis Blues” (recorded with Louis Armstrong), and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.” The Depression dealt her career a blow, but Smith changed with the times by adapting a more up-to-date look and revised repertoire that incorporated Tin Pan Alley tunes like “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” On the verge of the Swing Era, Smith died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident outside Clarksdale, Mississippi, in September 1937. She left behind a rich, influential legacy of 160 recordings cut between 1923 and 1933. Some of the great vocal divas who owe a debt to Smith include Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin. In Joplin’s own words of tribute, “She showed me the air and taught me how to fill it.
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...
With Chas as his partner in crime, or manager, Hendrix became known world wide. He began his very first tour with his band Jimmy James And The Blue Flames. Chas and Hendrix worked very hard that year and finally released their first Album in the late 1966 early 1967 titled Are You Experienced? This album included the famous tracks Hey Jude and Purple Haze. During mid 1967, Hendrix did something that took the world by surprise. While performing at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 he set his favorite guitar on fire. When later asked about why he did so, Hendrix simply
Almost a year later after Jennings recovery, Johnny Cash gathered Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings together and formed a band. This wasn’t a typical band: it had 4 of the greatest legends as members. They had many hits including “Highwayman,” but the song that proved themselves was “Desperados Waiting on a train,” (Dansby). They split up for a couple years, but reconvened and re-formed the Highwaymen once again. The Highwayman only came out with two albums, Highwaymen and Highwaymen II, but the second one wasn’t as successful as the first
Though Sonny had struggles in life along with the rest of the family, he is able to redeem himself through his music. “Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contains so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began to make it his.”
...lliam’s career were 1950and 1951. He was one of the most successful touring acts in country music. Every one of his records charted, except for those issued as “Luke the Drifter” and his religious songs with a female artist named Audrey. His songs had matured greatly since the demos he had submitted to Molly o Day, began finding a wider market than his own recordings of them ever could. Started with “Honky Tonkin” in 1949, his songs had been covered for the pop market, but it was not until Tony Bennett covered “Cold Cold Heart” in 1951 that he had began to recognize as an important popular songwriter. From that point, there was a rush to revise his songs for the pop market. Guy Mitchell, for instance, had a hit with “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still in Love with You”, and the pair of Frankie Lane and Jo Stafford took Hey, Good looking in the pop top ten. (Hank Williams)
The narrator hesitates to start but goes to support his brother; while at the club Sonny introduces his brother to a few his band members like, Creole, the band leader. Once they began to perform, Sonny was a little shaky, but eventually adjusted just fine. At this moment the narrator finally saw Sonny doing what he loves, it made him look at his brother and his passion differently; the way Sonny and his band played almost brought his brother to tears. “Yet, there was no battle in his face now, I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth… I saw my mother’s face again… I say the moonlit road where my father’s brother died… I saw my little girl again and felt Isabel’s tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise”
On November 23, 1936, Johnson recorded his music for the first time. The first song he recorded was "Terraplane Blues." It became a best-selling hit for Vocalon, a Columbia Records specialty label. In June of 1937, Johnson recorded for his fifth and final time.
In conclusion, Sonny’s Blues depicts the love of a brother through the narrator, who at the beginning was disengaged, unsupportive, and emotionally distant. However, the turning point was when Grace died. This triggered a great turmoil of feelings that overflowed the narrator leading him to a major and impacting change. Instead, he turned into being involved, supportive, understanding, honest, and accepting of his brother Sonny; regardless of the reality that there was no guarantee his pain would not consume his life.
Davy Crockett stands for the Spirit of the American Frontier. As a young man he was a crafty Indian fighter and hunter. When he was forty-nine years old, he died a hero's death at the Alamo, helping Texas win independence from Mexico. For many years he was nationally known as a political representative of the frontier.
At the club in the final scene, his veins are described as boring “royal blood” (Baldwin 45). He’s back on his throne (the stage), with his people (Creole and others in the club who respect him as a musician), and rules his kingdom (performs his music). Baldwin describes him playing the piano as, “Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life” (Baldwin 48). Even if it was just for a song or two, Sonny found his passion and reason to live through music. He forgot his dead parents, disapproving older brother, and the future he would have had in Harlem. Though it didn’t seem as cathartic in Langston Hughes’ “WB”, the Negro man was still able to tell his story. With the simple phrase in line 30 “I wish that I had died,” the audience understands what his life has been like. Music serves as a messenger for the man. He’s able to express his loneliness and catches his audience’s attention about his wish of suicide through song. Unlike in “SB” where music is described as “personal, private, vanishing evocations,” there’s no sense of privacy when it comes to singing the blues in “WB” (Baldwin 46). It’s almost like
Chuck Berry is one of the founders of rock and roll. He is the only one living today. He has performed for millions of people with his famous “Duck Walk.” He still has what Corliss & Bland describe as a slim, toned body, wavy hair drenched in Valvoline oil, and a sharply cut masculine chin and cheeks etched with pain and promise. Even today he only wants a Lincoln Town Car, his Fender Bassman amp, and his guitar. Chuck Berry has had for decades one of the shortest and most ironclad contracts in the music business (Jacobson 6).