MUSC 1800: Popular MusicThe Nashville Sound

Dr. Matthew C. Saunders

Lakeland Community College

C-1078

What is the “Nashville Sound?”

• From the 1940s on, country music based in Nashville adopted the “studio” techniques of the New York music industry.

– Tape recording

– Post-production effects

– Large studio ensembles, including string and brass

• “Country” records started to sound very similar to mainstream urban pop

Big Idea:• Country music styles swing back and forth

between “traditionalist” awareness of hillbilly roots and “pop-oriented” approaches that aim for the mainstream.

Taylor SwiftDixie Chicks

Shania TwainReba McIntire

Barbra MandrellDolly Parton

Olivia Newton-JohnLoretta Lynn

Patti Page

?

Rise of the Producer• The role of the producer

– What does a producer do?

– Chet Atkins and the Nashville Sound

• Jim Reeves: “Four Walls”, 1957

• Don Gibson: “Oh Lonesome Me,” 1958

Country Music in the 1960s

• Largest non-pop segment of the listening public

• Patsy Cline (1932-1963): “Crazy,” (1962)

• Johnny Cash (1932-2003): “Ring of Fire,” (1963, 1968 perf.)

Other 1960s Country Artists• Merle Haggard

– “Okie from Muskogee,” (1968)

• Glen Campbell

– “Wichita Lineman,” (1968)

• Elvis Presley

– “In the Ghetto,” (1969)