Education Archives - The Birthplace of Country Music
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The Earth is a Garden: Environmentalism in Country and Folk Music

By Sam Parker, AV & Technology Specialist at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.


A genre like country music relies heavily on the land and our natural surroundings for inspiration. Most country, bluegrass, and old-time music artists have written about the beauty and simplicity of rural life in some form, but a few go even further. Many artists have used their music to inspire change and speak out about environmental issues. Since today is Earth Day, we want to highlight a few of these environmentalist artists and the causes they sang for. 

A number of songs distinctly focus on the growing effects of pollution, human interference in ecosystems, and unsustainable development. In the decades since the 1927 Bristol Sessions, more and more artists have taken a stance on environmental issues and spoken out about being better custodians of the land.

Woody Guthrie in 1943
Photo by Al Aumuller
From the Library of Congress

Woody Guthrie, one of folk music’s most famous artists, focused many of his early songs on the Dust Bowl. The hardships of the Great Depression were only compounded for farmers living in the American Great Plains as overuse of the land and improper farming methods led to the destruction of the topsoil. This, in turn, left the region susceptible to wind erosion, leading to winds kicking up massive dust storms that ravaged the plains for most of the 1930s. One of his most famous songs, “So Long, it’s been Good to Know Yuh,” originally titled “Dusty Old Dust,” focused on the Dust Bowl’s ravaging effects on the communities in Northern Texas. In one verse, he sings about how the local preacher invited the townspeople to pray for their salvation, but as the black dust storm blocks out all light and he can’t read his Bible, he tells the congregation, “So long, it’s been good to know yuh.”

Automobile buried by dust storm in Dallas, South Dakota, 1936
Photo by Sloan
From the United States Department of Agriculture

Jean Ritchie, known for collecting British and Irish folk songs as well as the many songs she wrote and recorded with the Appalachian dulcimer, did not stay silent on the growing dangers of pollution and overdevelopment. Primarily focusing on the effects of the mining industry in her native Kentucky, Ritchie wrote “Black Waters,” detailing the destruction of the natural environment due to unsustainable mining practices:

 

In the coming of springtime we planted our corn

In the ending of springtime we buried our son

In the summer come a nice man saying everything’s fine

My employer just requires a way to his mine

Then they tore down my mountain and covered my corn

Now the grave on the hillside’s a mile deeper down

And the man stands a talking with his hat in his hand

While the poison black waters rise over my land

 

One of the more famous environmental songs Ritchie recorded is“Now Is the Cool of the Day,” a hymn urging people to be better custodians of the Earth and treat each other with respect. While both songs have powerful messages set to beautiful music, “Now Is the Cool of the Day” became the unofficial song of those opposing mountaintop removal mining. Ritchie even allowed the song to be used by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, a working-class organization focusing on limiting strip-mining and mountaintop removal mining in the area, along with a myriad of other progressive causes.

Jean Ritchie in 1950
Photo by George Pickow
From the American Folklife Center George Pickow and Jean Ritchie Collection

John Prine, whose family came from Kentucky coal country, grew up in the Chicago suburbs and in the summer visited his parents’ aptly named hometown of Paradise in Muhlenberg County. While some mining operations had existed in the county since the early 19th century, it wasn’t until the 1960s that heavy coal mining operations began as they discovered multiple shallow coal seams, which lead to large coal companies buying up swaths of land for high-intensity mining operations. What little environmental protections followed in the 60s were very loosely enforced as the mining caused soil erosion and pollution of the county’s groundwater. The Tennessee Valley Authority opened a coal-fired power plant in Paradise around the same time. Pollution from its smokestacks became so bad that locals would hang their laundry out to dry, only to return to find their clothing and linens turned gray from the ash. Shortly after, Paradise became a ghost town. The last three families were told by TVA that they had to leave the town by December 30, 1967, so that they could expand their coal plant enough to make it the largest in the world at the time.

Prine wrote “Paradise” about the destruction of his parents’ home, not only the community but the natural landscape as well. 

 

Then the coal company came with the world’s largest shovel

And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land

Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken

Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man

 

And Daddy, won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County?

Down by the Green River where Paradise lay

Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking

Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away

John Prine in 2016
Photo by Matt Ludin
From the United States National Park Service

The year after “Paradise” came out, coal output in Muhlenberg peaked at 26 million tons, but Prine’s song quickly raised awareness of the destruction in Muhlenberg County. By 1991, two decades after the song’s release, coal production in the county dropped to 5 million tons, and the lush green landscape had begun to return to Muhlenberg. Today, the three coal-firing units at the Paradise power plant have been shut down and demolished, and have been replaced with cleaner natural-gas units, along with plans to install a solar farm. However, the only part of Paradise that remains is a lone cemetery near the plant site.

C.W. McCall, most famous for his hit “Convoy,” also advocated for environmentalist causes through his music. In his 1976 album Wilderness, he features the song “There Won’t Be No Country Music,” in which the singer warns that time is running out before the last bits of nature are overcome by human greed. Every verse, the time left shrinks, with the consequences of inaction becoming more and more dire:

 

Yeah, it’s only gonna take about a minute or so

‘Til the factories blot the sun out

You gonna have to turn your lights on just to see

And them lights are gonna be neon, sayin’

“Fly Our Jets To Paradise”

And the whole damn world is gonna be made of styrene

 

“There Won’t Be No Country Music” features the usual driving rhythm and supporting chorus that fans of McCall will be familiar with, though with a more grim message, warning listeners that “When they take away our country, they’ll take away our soul.” 

These are just a few of the songs written by a handful of artists within the broad country genre about environmental issues, and there are so many more! Such as John Denver,  who recorded songs about conservation and treating the Earth better, and even Alabama recorded “Pass It On Down, again calling on people to be more mindful of the environment and take responsibility for its conservation. All of these artists understood that if we don’t take care of the land now, nurture and protect it, then one day it might not be around to inspire music. 

J.A.M.ming with the Boys From Bristol

By Erika Barker, Curatorial Manager at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.


Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with The Boys From Bristol, an exciting new musical group that grew out of the museum’s Pick Along Summer Camp! The members, Easton Compton and Eamon Russell, have formed a musical duo that does more than just participate in the museum’s Junior Appalachian Musicians (J.A.M.) weekly music instruction program, they stay after the group lesson and continue to practice together as The Boys From Bristol!

How did you meet and what made you want to start a band? 

Russell: We met because last summer there was Pick Along Summer Camp. 

Compton: Yeah. We all met right here at the museum. And ever since then, we just started playing together more and more every week and we thought we might have something on our hands here. So, we decided to name ourselves The Boys From Bristol because we are all from the Bristol area.

How would you describe your sound as a band?

Russell: It’s bluegrass!

Compton: Yeah, and I’d say Appalachian. It’s more than bluegrass, it is also traditional roots, old-time, and Appalachian bluegrass. 

Collage. First image is a young man in a hat. Second image is the same young man standing next to another boy also wearing a hat. Third image is the other boy.

Do you perform locally? 

Compton: Yes! We have been open for bookings for a couple of months now and have played a handful shows so far. 

Russell: One of my favorites so far was a private show for a group of female attorneys.

Compton: Yeah, that was a good one. We have also played at the Fiddlers Restaurant in Abingdon, here at the museum, and we have also done a few charity events in the area.  

The Boys From Bristol recently had an opportunity to jam with Ralph Stanely II at Bluegrass Jam Session in Lebanon, Va. They will also be playing another charity event this spring at the “Blues and BBQ” Queen of Hearts fundraiser for the American Heart Association on March 22.

What is your dream venue for a concert? 

Compton: well, obviously, the Grand Ol Opry is a dream, but that’ll be a long time probably.

Russell: Locally, I think it would be cool to play at the Carter Family Fold. They want people who play acoustic. 

Compton: Yeah, That would be a good fit for us.

Two youthful boys wearing hats standing next to a man. The boy in the middle has his arm around the boy and man on either side of him.
Eamon and Easton with Ralph Stanley II at the Bluegrass Jam Session at the Russell Theater in Lebanon, Va.

What are your musical influences? 

Compton: My biggest influence is The Stanley Brothers, especially Ralph Stanley.

Russell: (laughs) Of course they are. I’m not sure myself…

Compton: (laughs and jumps in) He’s influenced by it all! Eamon likes every genre and everybody. He listens to everything and loves it all.

What is your favorite song to play?

Compton: For me, it is hard to choose. I really like every song we play together. For me, individually, I like anything by Ralph Stanley and the Stanley Brothers and the music of here, really to be honest. 

Russell: My favorite songs to play are probably Foggy Mountain Breakdown or 500 Miles

What are your goals for The Boys From Bristol? 

Compton: Just to stay together.

Russell: Nashville or bust!  

Compton: Yeah! Get a bus eventually and just play as long as we can together and have a good time. 

Eamon and Easton are 13 and 14 respectively.

Now that you are starting to perform, how do you balance The Boys from Bristol with school and other extracurricular responsibilities?

Russell: We don’t.

Compton: (laughs) Yeah, I mean, it is tough at some points, but thankfully, a lot of the music playing is on the weekends when we don’t have school. But there are some times we play during the school week, which can be tough. 

Russell: (laughs) It’s not tough when I get to get out of school for it. 

How do you feel you have grown as musicians since you started playing together?

A group of children, holding instruments and wearing matching shirts, at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum's Pick Along Summer Camp.
This photo of the 2024 Pick Along Summer Camp campers was taken right before their final performance.

Russell: When I started playing this summer, I had very little musical knowledge. 

Compton: Yeah, playing together has helped us both progress. We had both played by ourselves a lot and maybe with a few other people here and there, but I think being in a band or just finding somebody you can play with regularly really helps you grow as a musician. 

You both also participate in the J.AM. program here at the museum, which emphasizes traditional group learning styles and encourages burgeoning musicians to play and learn together.

How has being a part of JAM affected your band experience and growth as musicians?

Compton: Oh, it’s great. It helps you meet new musicians at all different levels and the best way to become a better musician is to listen to people and play with people. You know, just the more you can get out there and play, the better you get. 

Your band was born at the Pick Along Summer Camp here at the museum, but you were in the intermediate level camp class so yourr musical journey must have begun before camp.

How did you get started with music and how many instruments can you play?

Compton: I played guitar on and off my whole life. About the time right before I started Pick Along Camp, I started going heavy on it. Now I can play banjo, mandolin, and bass as well. 

Russell: I started out on the fiddle when I was really, really little. Then I took a long hiatus. When I picked it back up, I got bored with it again pretty quickly and started playing mandolin instead.  I also picked up the harmonica this past summer and have been working on that. 

Other than the birth of The Boys From Bristol, what is your favorite part of Pick Along Camp, and are you planning to come back to this summer?

Compton: I think we both can agree that Pick Along Camp is one of our favorite things. I remember the first time I ever came here, it was a couple of years ago. The only instrument I could play was the guitar. I didn’t know hardly anything about music but I loved it ever since I was little. As soon as I went there, I was like, “this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life!” That is literally what I told my mom afterward. 

Russell: Yeah, it is just fun. I’ll be back for sure.

Compton: Oh yeah, I will come back until they kick me out!

After they finished talking with me, The Boys From Bristol were kind enough to treat us to a private performance. Check them out at the video above and if you would like to contact the Boys From Bristol to play at your next event, they are active on Facebook and Instagram (@theboysfrombristol) and can be reached by email (theboysfrombristol@gmail.com) for booking. 

“It’s Alive, It’s Alive!”: Frankenstein Instruments Brought to Life

By Rene Rodgers, Head Curator at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.

November 21 marks the 103rd anniversary of the release of the movie Frankenstein (the book by Mary Shelley upon which it was based was published on January 1, 1818). For those who don’t already know, Frankenstein is the doctor rather than the monster – and Frankenstein’s poor monster only became a true monster after being rejected and alienated by the person who created him and the society around him. As he says at one point in the book, “I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.”

image of Mary Shelley's 1818 Frankenstein book cover, 1931 Frankenstein movie poster, and 1974 Young Frankenstein movie poster.
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, 1818; Frankenstein, 1931; Young Frankenstein, 1974

With this anniversary, we want to share some non-fiendish instruments (depending on your perspective!), ones that are made up of elements of different instruments with a mish-mash of musical qualities. “Frankenstein instruments,” if you will!

Two Frankenstein instruments that touch on the history of the 1927 Bristol Sessions and old-time music are the harp guitar and the banjo ukulele – the names of both make the origins of their different parts obvious! The harp guitar is basically a guitar with the addition of a second neck, either curved or straight, that bears several unstopped open strings, which are usually plucked individually as is done when playing the harp. The harp guitar was never commonly used in mainstream American music, but it possibly appears on the 1927 Bristol Sessions in the distinctive gospel recordings by Alfred Karnes who was skilled on the instrument and known to play it. Some scholars believe that he played it on “I Am Bound For The Promised Land,” “When They Ring The Golden Bells,” and “To The Work.” However, others question whether Karnes played harp guitar at all on these songs. The harp guitar is difficult, if not impossible, to hear when played in an ensemble, and Karnes might have used a traditional guitar instead, or perhaps only played the extra strings on the harp guitar now and then. 

A large guitar with an extra neck and open strings resembling a harp.
Harp guitars, like this model by The Gibson Company, became popular in the 1910s and appeared throughout the United States as part of mandolin orchestra ensembles. On display at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, loaned from the collection of Joseph R. Gregory

Banjo ukuleles – more commonly called banjo ukes and also known as banjoleles – look like a reduced version of a banjo with the standard body/head of the banjo and the shorter neck and four strings of the ukulele. Banjo ukes were particularly popular during the 1920s and 1930s, giving performers the ease of playing and tuning found with the ukulele with the sound and volume of the banjo. Popular on the vaudeville circuit, they have also been played by country and bluegrass musicians, and often are used in comedic playing styles. Other banjo hybrids include the banjo dulcimer (or dulci-banjo), the mandolin banjo (or banjolin), and the bass banjo. 

five different sizes and styles of banjo ukes.
Several different banjo ukes showing the varying sizes and design features. Ukulele magazine, Fall 2016

The kazoo is another instrument that often takes on the form of or is combined with different instruments. For instance, kazoos can look like trumpets or saxophones, amongst other instruments or musical items (like a microphone). And there are also trumpet, trombone, and French horn kazoos that come closer to their partner instruments’ sizes. While these kazoo mixes are similar to other Frankenstein instruments in that they look like they are a mix-up of different instruments together, they are still played – and mostly still sound – like kazoos, without taking on any of the musical qualities of the partner instrument. If you want to know more about kazoos in general, check out our Instrument Interview HERE

 A collection of differently shaped kazoos including ones that look like a saxophone, trumpet, and boat.
A collection of differently shaped kazoos. Courtesy UC San Diego Library

One of the weirdest Frankenstein instruments is the ukelin, an instrument we’ve highlighted on our blog before. Of the Frankenstein instruments, the ukelin is closest to a monstrosity – not in appearance but in its effects on those who tried to play it! The ukelin utilizes two sets of strings for a total of 32: one set of sixteen melody strings and another set of four groups of four bass strings all tuned to a different chord. On the neck of the instrument, the first set of strings is akin to a violin, and there are guiding posts located on the neck to show the player where to move the bow in order to elicit the desired melody. On the body of the instrument, the accompanying chords are meant to be plucked or picked to the song being played. Ukelins were first patented in 1923 and became quite popular in the 1930s – they were sold door-to-door by traveling salesmen who would disingenuously convince potential customers that the instrument was easy to play and would make them into a musician within days or even hours. Once bought, however, the actual playing proved to be a real challenge. There were too many strings doing different things, and once they fell out of tune, they were nearly impossible to get back into tune, soon resulting in a cacophony of unpleasant sounds. Inevitably, these instruments soon ended up either given away, stored and forgotten in attics, or perhaps even trashed by someone whose patience ran too thin while trying to make beautiful music…which is why we have two ukelins in our collection! 

an instrument resembling a wide and flat ukulele with extra strings on the neck.
With this ukelin in the museum’s collection, you can see the full instrument, along with its bow and a tuning key to the left. The two up-close photos show the ukelin’s deceptively beautiful decorative elements (hiding the monster within!) and its built-in cheat sheet for the chords that can be played on the instrument. Photograph © Birthplace of Country Music; gift of Bruce Maass.

Finally, none of these Frankenstein instruments should be confused with what is known as the Frankenstein guitar, the name given to Eddie Van Halen’s guitar by his devoted fans. This wonderfully different instrument was first properly introduced to the world with Van Halen’s (the band) debut album in 1979. Not only was it played by Eddie Van Halen, but it was also essentially built by him from different parts, concepts, and personal innovations. Basically, the guitars he could buy didn’t have all the qualities or abilities he needed to perform the music he wanted to play – so he created exactly what was needed to make him one of the most revered rock guitarists of all time. You can read more HERE about this extraordinary player and his Frankenstein guitar (and even get a replica of your own!).

magazine cover with a young man with big wavy brown hair and an unbuttoned blue shirt. He is posed with his arms crossed and wearing a red guitar with whit and black stripes.
Eddie Van Halen and his Frankenstein guitar were on the cover of Musician magazine in 1982. https://vanhalengear.com/frankenstrat/

Country Music as an Academic Probe

“Country music”, along with its variations, is not often a term you’d associate with academia, at least not until you have a good understanding of the vast field of musicology. As a historian of music, I often find myself at the crossroads trying to explain what I study and how I study it. My succinct answer is, a historian of music studies music, but not strictly musicologically, but rather uses music to scrutinize history. This, in my opinion, is disparate from music historians, or musicologists with an emphasis on history, for whom the product of music itself is the central subject. As for country music historians, country music as an art form comes first and foremost, but that doesn’t mean it’s just about the music. As a genre with humble roots, one can’t talk about country and folk music without referring to historical and sometimes political contexts.

Today, country music is a recognized, albeit small, academic discipline with international appeal. One of American folk music’s early advocates, Charles Seeger (1886-1979) helped spearhead the founding of the Society of Ethnomusicology (SEM). Seeger envisioned for music to be communicated and studied musically, instead of merely through linguistics as crutch. He advocated the role of the (ethno)musicologist to be a transmitter of music but also critic of culture. The field today has mostly evolved a long way from the days of Seeger. Musicology nevertheless still relies heavily on textual analyses of music, which, tellingly, did not necessarily become a point of concern for professionals. Currently, country music in academia is taught primarily as a form of performing arts, and less as a theory or history. The International Country Music Conference (ICMC), founded in 1983,  has been held annually at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee since 1998. This year it runs from May 30th to June 1st.

A white man holding a baby plays a piano outside a trailer while a standing woman plays fiddle and two children sit on a bench beside her.
Ethnomusicologist Charles Seeger, Jr., with his wife, Constance, and their three sons, Charles III, John, and Pete. This photograph may be from a tour they made of the American South in a homemade trailer. Image is from the National Photo Company (1921) and is in the public domain.

For those who aspire to become professional musicians or work in the country music industry and adjacent, East Tennessee State University, Morehead State University, and Denison University offer degree programs in the genre. Other institutions in North America including the Berklee College of Music, USC Thornton School of Music, University of Miami, University of Saskatchewan MacEwan University offer, or have offered in the past, courses and an initiative on country music. The Country Music Foundation based in Nashville had published the Journal of Country Music from 1971 to 2007. The journals are archived and still accessible through many higher institutions, as well as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum digital archive.

If you are interested in reading academic writings on country music, a good place to start is with anything by historian Bill C. Malone, professor of history emeritus at Tulane University. Country Music U.S.A. (1968) is inarguably the first academic history book on country music. The turn of the twentieth century saw the political bifurcation within country music, shown through monographs such as Charles K. Wolfe’s Country Music goes to War (2005) and Rednecks and Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music (2007) by journalist Chris Willman. In recent years, academics have leaned more toward socio-political themes, displayed in work like Diane Pecknold’s Hidden in the Mix: the African American Presence in Country Music (2013), Nadine Hubbs’ Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music (2014), Peter La Chapelle’s I’d Fight the World: A Political History of Old-Time, Hillbilly, and Country Music (2019), and anthology Whose Country Music? Genre, Identity, and Belonging in Twenty-First-Century Country Music Culture(2022).

Collaged image of the cover of four books. Country Music U.S.A, Rednecks and Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music, Hidden in the Mix: the African American Presence in Country Music, and Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music.

Just like the grassroots of country music itself, the academia of country music also reflects the debates that are present in the country music scene. The problem of “authenticity” has plagued various art forms and genres, but with a genre like country music, it is particularly prominent. Recently, philosophy professor Evan Malone published an excellent piece on the topic in the British Journal of Aesthetics in a 2023 issue. With references to a range of scholars with backgrounds from Anthropology to Aesthetics with an emphasis on country music, including Jack Bernhardt, John Dyck, Richard Shusterman, it demonstrates the versatile ways country music can be studied academically.

In my very own first year of PhD for a final’s assignment, I assembled a lecture in history on medieval Celtic and African musical traditions and their manifestations in Appalachian folk music—a connection that often surprises non-listeners. Outside of traditional academia, current events surrounding and within country music have been covered by journalists and critics, such as Emily Nussbaum’s 2023 piece for The New Yorker.

Alas, it is challenging to include a more thorough academic country music discography here. In an effort to keep this blog digestible, I am only able to give you taste of the available literature and must leave many scholars out of this post. I encourage you to start your own reading journey and dive into the academic world of country music with me. As country music enters a new phase both artistically and in popularity, we can certainly anticipate further exciting discussions in the near future!

Image of a young Chinese-American woman with long black hair and wearing a grey long sleeve shirt.
Emily Lu, PhD Candidate at Florida State University.

Guest Blogger Emily Lu is a PhD candidate in History at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.