It’s easy enough to see why Jimmie Rodgers caught Ralph Peer’s eye in Bristol. A show-business veteran with the gift of the gab and a zest for self-promotion, Rodgers was a dapper dresser with a fine, flexible voice, brimming with self-confidence, and he had that yodel to set him apart from the crowd. The songs … Continue reading Straight from Clinch Mountain
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Bound for a Different Land
There are various reasons that the Bristol Sessions are widely viewed as, in Johnny Cash’s words, “the single most important event in the history of country music.” Most obviously, they launched the careers of country’s first enduring stars, Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. (The word “enduring” is key, of course. Vernon Dalhart had scored … Continue reading Bound for a Different Land
If Anyone Should Ask You Who Composed This Song
When Vince Gill covered “The Soldier’s Sweetheart” (1927), the first song Jimmie Rodgers had recorded at the Bristol Sessions, he made some significant changes to the lyrics. This wouldn’t be surprising—country artists often tweak the tunes or lyrics of the songs they sing, whether to reflect modern sensibilities, to make them fit more comfortably with … Continue reading If Anyone Should Ask You Who Composed This Song
If You’ve Got the Money: The Economics of the Bristol Sessions
The Bristol Sessions looms large in history for artistic reasons: They launched the careers of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, whose music would define the parameters of country music for generations to come. However, the Sessions were not primarily an artistic exercise, but rather an economic one. Ralph Peer wasn’t in Bristol looking for … Continue reading If You’ve Got the Money: The Economics of the Bristol Sessions
El Watson and the Ghost of Esley Riddle
By July 28, 1927, the Bristol Sessions were looking like a bit of a dud. Ralph Peer had been recording for three days, and though he’d heard some good music—most of it from Ernest Stoneman and his friends and family in various combinations—he hadn’t heard anything that sounded like a game-changer for Peer or for … Continue reading El Watson and the Ghost of Esley Riddle
Spreading the Word
The standard mythology about the Bristol Sessions has it that Ralph Peer drifted into Bristol on July 22, a stranger in town; that he placed an ad in the local paper and, as a result, hordes of aspiring country musicians came down from the hills to audition; and that among those hordes were Jimmie Rodgers … Continue reading Spreading the Word
Pop Comes to Bristol
Mention the Bristol Sessions, and anyone who’s visited the Country Music Hall of Fame (or, better yet, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol) will know what you’re talking about. After all, the sessions brought together three iconic members of the Hall of Fame at the beginning of their country careers: producer Ralph Peer, … Continue reading Pop Comes to Bristol
Why Bristol?
Today “the Bristol Sessions” is a portmanteau phrase in its own right, so much a given to country-music aficionados that it hardly seems necessary to ask questions such as “why were there sessions in Bristol?” or, more relevant to this discussion, “Why were the sessions in Bristol?” They didn’t have to be. In the 1910s … Continue reading Why Bristol?
2 States, 12 Days and 90 Years: It’s Time for a Party
I spent a chunk of last summer toying with the idea of staging a country-music festival this summer to mark the 90th anniversary of the Bristol Sessions, aka the Big Bang of Country Music. Sadly, Country 90 NYC (as it was provisionally called) didn’t come together; we’ll just have to wait for 2027 and Country … Continue reading 2 States, 12 Days and 90 Years: It’s Time for a Party
An Unlikely Queen
As one of the two parents of rock ‘n’ roll (the other is rhythm and blues), country music understandably has had a considerable impact on the younger genre, and it’s no surprise that 10 country artists are enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not enshrined there, however, is the country star who … Continue reading An Unlikely Queen
Tennessee Walt 