Selling around 8,000 copies per week over several months, the popularity of “Crazy Blues” proved to record executives that there was a market and an audience for “race records.” Companies began developing catalogues aimed at these audiences, and they often hired black talent scouts and agents to find musicians to record. Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues,” produced by OKeh Records in 1920, was one of the first recordings in this new genre. One of these genres was known as “race records,” commercial recordings that were aimed specifically at African American audiences. © Birthplace of Country Music gift of Betty Lou Dean and Roger Allen Dean This Decca record sleeve in the museum collections includes a list of various genres and the price of records within each series. However, the recording and marketing of music created a need to target audiences in order to make money, and so record executives began advertising music and musicians based on what they assumed different audiences would like, leading to the development of a variety of genres. Prior to the recording music industry, musical categories such as blues or rock or country did not really exist. Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music by Diane Pecknold explores these connections more deeply. And there has been a continuing presence of African Americans in country music beyond the early commercial years, for instance with artists like Charlie Pride and the celebration of black stringband music by the Carolina Chocolate Drops. However, the intersections exist and are significant, and we’ve explored some of these in the Birthplace of Country Music Museum – for example, in the development of genre, with musicians who had impact on early commercial country music, and of course, through the African origins of the banjo, an instrument now indelibly linked to country and bluegrass music. Woodson labored to inject a fair portrayal of African Americans into the national record.”Īt first glance, you might not think that the history of early country music intersects a great deal with African American history. As a blog post on the National Museum of American History website notes: “When mainstream history either largely ignored or debased the Black presence in the American narrative, Dr. This call to recognize the central role of African Americans in our history was first put forward by Dr. Museum Lesson Plans & Educator ResourcesĪfrican American History in a Country Music Museum? Exhibits and Programs Explore the ConnectionsĮach year February is highlighted as Black History Month.
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