Music of Kentucky
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Music of the United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| Local music | ||
| AK - AL - AR - AS - AZ - CA - CO - CT - DC - DE - FL - GA - GU - HI - IA - ID - IL - IN - KS - KY - LA - MA - MD - ME - MI - MN - MO - MP - MS - MT - NC - ND - NE - NH - NM - NV - NJ - NY - OH - OK - OR - PA - PR - RI - SC - SD - TN - TX - UT - VA - VI - VT - WA - WI - WV - WY | ||
The Music of Kentucky is heavily centered on Appalachian folk music and its descendants, especially in eastern Kentucky. Bluegrass music is of particular regional importance; Bill Monroe, "the father of bluegrass music", was born in Rosine, Kentucky, and he named his band, the Blue Grass Boys, after the bluegrass state, i.e., Kentucky. Kentucky is home to the Country Music Highway (Highway 23), which extends from Portsmouth, Ohio to the Virginia border in Pike County .
Other musicians from Kentucky include Loretta Lynn of Van Lear, Steven Curtis Chapman, J. D. Crowe, Lionel Hampton, Bill Monroe of Rosine,Thom Bresh Jackie Dee Shannon, Billy Ray Cyrus of Flatwoods, Dwight Yoakam, Ricky Skaggs, The Judds of Ashland, John Conlee, Rosemary Clooney, and Slint.
Contents |
[edit] Music venues and institutions
Major music venues in Kentucky include the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland. There is also the Sturgill's Music Center in Olive Hill, home of Tom T. Hall. Just south of Olive Hill is Sandy Hook, the boyhood home of Keith Whitley, whose house is now a museum, exhibited in conjunction with the annu Tobacco Festival. The Kentucky Opry in Prestonburg is a major institution, using the Mountain Arts Center. Louisville is home to the West Point Country Opry, while the city of Owensboro is a major bluegrass center, and is home to the International Bluegrass Music Association .
[edit] Festivals
Singers gather annually at Benton, Kentucky on the fourth Sunday in May to sing from a shape note hymn and tune book called The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion. This event, first organized in 1884 and called The Big Singing or Big Singing Day, is considered by many to be the oldest indigenous musical tradition in the United States. It was organized by James Roberts Lemon, a newspaper owner and publisher in western Kentucky.
Ashland is the home to the Summer Motion festival and Poage Landing Days, while Olive Hill is home to the International Strange Music Weekend and the Shriner's Bluegrass Festival. The Renfro Valley Barn Dance has been held in Renfro Valley since 1939. Owensboro has ROMP (River Of Music Party) the last part of June every year. Other festivals include the Forkland Heritage Festival and Revue in Gravel Switch .
Lexington, Kentucky is host to the oldest bluegrass music festival in the state. The Festival of the Bluegrass is held every June at the Kentucky Horse Park and considered one of the premier traditional bluegrass festivals in the country.
[edit] History
In the 1830s, a Great Awakening of fervent Christianity began, leading to popular spiritual song traditions. During this period, the country was undergoing a religious revival that was centered on itinerant preachers called circuit riders, and outdoor worship gatherings (camp meetings) where hymns (camp songs) were sung. Earlier in the century, the first camp meeting was held in July 1800 in Logan County, Kentucky. In 1801, a meeting in Cane Ridge, Kentucky lasted for six days and attracted ten to twenty thousand people .
In 1916, Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway collected Kentucky folk music which they published in two folios:
- Lonesome Tunes: Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains (1917, New York)
- Twenty Kentucky Mountain Songs (1920, Boston).
[edit] References
- Chase, Gilbert (2000). America's Music: From the Pilgrims to the Present. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-00454-X.
