Yodeling (or yodelling, jodeling) is a form of singing that involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal or chest register (or "chest voice") to the falsetto/head register; making a high-low-high-low sound. The English word yodel is derived from a German word jodeln (originally Austro-Bavarian language) meaning "to utter the syllable jo" (pronounced "yo" in English). This vocal technique is used in many cultures throughout the world.[1] Although traveling minstrels were yodeling in their performances in the United Kingdom and the United States as early as the eighteen-hundreds, the first country music recording to include yodeling was cut by singer Riley Puckett in 1924. In 1928, blending traditional work, blues, hobo and cowboy music, Jimmie Rodgers released his first recording "Blue Yodel No. 1", and created an instant national craze for yodeling in the United States. The popularity lasted through the 1940s, but by the 1950s it became rare to hear yodeling in Country or Western music.[2]
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Most experts agree that yodeling was used in Alpine folk music in the Central Alps as a method of communication between herders and their stock or between Alpine villages, with the multi-pitched "yelling" later becoming part of the region's traditional lore and musical expression. The calls may also have been endearments shepherds used to express affection to their herds. The earliest record of a yodel is in 1545, where it is described as "the call of a cowherd from Appenzell".[3][4]
British stage performances by yodelers were common as early as the nineteenth century.[5] Sir Walter Scott wrote in his June 4, 1830 journal entry that "Anne wants me to go hear the Tyrolese Minstrels but...I cannot but think their yodeling...is a variation upon the tones of a jackass." In 1939 the Tyrolese Minstrels toured the United States and started an American craze for Alpine music. During the 1840s dozens of German, Swiss, and Austrian singing groups crisscrossed the country entertaining audiences with a combination of singing, yodeling, and “Alpine harmony.”[6] Traveling American minstrels were yodeling in the United States as well. Tom Christian was the first American yodeling minstrel, appearing in 1847 in Chicago. Recordings of yodelers were made as early as 1892 and in 1920 the Victor recording company listed 17 yodels in their catalogue, many of them by George Watson, the most successful yodeler of the time. In 1897 Watson recorded the song, "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" which was later recorded in 1927 by Riley Puckett as the second yodeling record ever made (the first was "Rock All Our Babies to Sleep"). "Sleep Baby Sleep" was also the first song ever recorded by Jimmie Rodgers (at the Bristol sessions); Rodgers would eventually come to be known as the Father of Country Music.[7]
In Persian classical music, singers frequently use tahrir, a yodeling technique that oscillates on neighbour tones. It is similar to the Swiss yodel, and is used as an ornament or trill in phrases which have long syllables, and usually falls at the end of a phrase.[8]
In Georgian traditional music, yodeling takes the form of krimanchuli technique, and is used as a top part in three/four part polyphony.[9]
In Central Africa, Pygmy singers use yodels within their elaborate polyphonic singing, and the Shona people of Zimbabwe sometimes yodel while playing the mbira.[10] The Mbuti of the Congo incorporate distinctive whistles and yodels into their songs. Living from hunting and gathering, they sing hunting and harvest songs and use yodelling to call each other. In 1952 ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey recorded their songs and they have recently been released on compact discs. [11]
It is thought that yodeling was first introduced to the United States by German immigrants in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s. As the new settlers traveled south through the Appalachian Mountains and beyond into the Deep South they came into contact with Irish immigrants, Scandinavians (practictioners of a unique yodeling called kölning), and other nationalities including African slaves who communicated with "field hollers", described by Frederick Law Olmstead in 1853 as a ‘long, loud, musical shout, rising and falling and breaking into falsetto’. German yodeling may have converted southern field hollers into a more musical form and combined them with Irish narrative ballads, resulting in the unique form of the yodeling tradition in America. But it was Jimmie Rodgers who combined the southern Black blues with the yodel in the 1920s, who introduced and popularized the American yodel in the United States.[4]
But not all early American yodeling music came out of the Deep South. Western music was directly influenced by the folk music traditions of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and many cowboy songs can be traced back to European folk songs. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Western music became widely popular through the romanticization of the cowboy and idealized depictions of the west in Hollywood films. Singing cowboys, such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, sang cowboy songs in their films and became popular throughout the United States.[12][13]
The American minstrel show was an entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, black people in blackface. Minstrel shows toured the same circuits as opera companies, circuses, and European entertainers, with venues ranging from lavish opera houses to makeshift tavern stages. When the European Tyrolese Minstrels toured the U.S. for several years in the early 1840s and created an American craze for Alpine music, four unemployed white actors decided to stage an African-American style spoof of this group's concerts. Calling themselves Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, the performance was wildly popular and most historians mark this production as the beginning of minstrelsy in the U.S. According to jazz historian Gary Giddins:
Companies continued to perform in both the North and South throughout the Civil War, and after the war minstrelsy remained popular. Although African Americans were forbidden by law to perform on stage with whites in many states, some companies secretly included blacks, and as laws changed several all-black minstrel companies toured America and Great Britain. Black performers still had to wear blackface makeup in order to look "dark enough," and they performed material that demeaned their own race. Despite these drawbacks, minstrelsy provided African American performers with their first professional stage outlet.[14]
By the 1880s the minstrel show had been replaced by Vaudeville and American Burlesque.[15] By around 1905, more than 20 years before Jimmie Rodgers introduced his blue yodel, African Americans were touring the country singing and yodeling. The most noted yodelers of that time were Monroe Tabor ("The Yodeling Bellboy" - though he was not a bellboy), Beulah Henderson (who appeared in black face), and Charles Anderson (who played a singing "mammy" and a female impersonator in several of his acts). Tabor performed with the Dandy Dixie Minstrels. In New York in 1908 a 'well-known critic' reported:
And from a 1917 review:
Known as The Jolly Hendersons, Beulah Henderson toured with her husband Billy from 1905 through 1910. Billed as "The Classy Colored Comedy Pair" Beulah was featured as "America's only Colored Lady Yodeler". In Indianapolis in 1911 manager Tim Owsley noted:
Charles Anderson was touring with vaudeville as early as 1909 singing a combination of blues and yodeling. A 1913 St. Louis review reports:
Although most historians credit white singer Riley Puckett with the first recorded yodeling record (in 1924), in 1923 and 1924 Anderson recorded eight sides for the Okeh label which gave a summary account of his vaudeville repertoire during the previous decade. Five of the recorded songs are yodels - "Sleep, Baby, Sleep", "Comic Yodle Song", "Coo Coo" (J K Emmett's Cuckoo Song, adapted for Anderson's famous 60-second sustained soprano note), "Laughing Yodel" and "Roll On Silver Moon", a sentimental ballad, similar to Jimmie Rodgers' various Southern ballad recordings.
Country blues singer Lottie Kimbrough, billed as The Kansas City Butterball (she was a rather large woman) sang in speakeasys and nightclubs. and recorded her music from 1924 through 1929. Kimbrough's musical collaboration with Winston Holmes resulted in her best known recordings. Holmes supplied a series of yodels, vocalized bird calls and train whistles on some of their recordings.
When music critic Abbe Niles heard the Blue Yodel recordings released by Jimmy Rodgers in 1928 he was impressed by how distinctively black Rodger's Blue Yodel recordings sounded, yodeling and all. In his opinion Rodgers was a "white man gone black". In his 1928 record review column, writing under the heading 'White man singing black songs', Niles acknowledged that Rodger's first Blue Yodel had "started the whole epidemic of yodelling blues that now rages - though Clarence Williams wrote a good one five years ago." Niles went on to advise his readers to add race records to their collections saying, "Listening to race records is nearly the only way for white people to share the Negroes' pleasures without bothering the Negroes."[16]
Authors Lynn Abbott & Doug Seroff[17] write:
While some of the blue yodels heard on late 1920s Race recordings - those by the Mississippi Sheiks, for example - probably do owe something to Jimmie Rodgers' phenomenal success, others - like Billie Young's When They Get Lovin' They's Gone (accompanied by Jelly Roll Morton on Victor 23339,1930), Lottie Kimbrough and Winston Holmes' Lost Lover Blues (Gennett 6607, 1928), and Clint Jones' Mississippi Woman Blues and Blue Valley Blues (Okeh 8587, 1928) - seem more deeply connected to these precedent recordings by Charles Anderson, and to the venerable line of African-American yodelers they represent. There is no reason to doubt that Jimmie Rodgers, who could not resist a show, was exposed to and influenced by the black yodeler-blues singer tradition. Its practitioners were thoroughly entrenched in minstrelsy and vaudeville, and accessible to all races of people. Perhaps Jimmie even saw Charles Anderson himself perform, or heard some of Anderson's crystalline blues and yodeling 78s, before rising to immortality on his own great 'Blue Yodel' recordings. At any rate, the Freeman references strongly suggest that Charles Anderson and his generation of black professional yodelers had introduced the blue yodel in African-American entertainment before Jimmie Rodgers recorded.
All human voices are considered to have at least two distinct vocal registers, called the "head" and "chest" voices, which result from different ways that the tone is produced.[18] Most people can sing tones within a certain range of lower pitch in their chest voices and tones within a certain range of higher pitch in their head voices and spring into their falsetto (an "unsupported" register forcing vocal cords in a higher pitch without any head or chest voice air support). In untrained or inexperienced singers, a gap between these ranges often exists, although more experienced singers can control their voices at the point where these ranges overlap and can easily switch between them to produce high-quality tones in either. Yodelling is a particular application of this technique, wherein a singer might switch between these registers several times in only a few seconds and at a high volume. Repeated alternation between registers at a singer's passaggio pitch range produces a very distinctive sound.
For example, in the famous "Yodel - Ay - EEE - Oooo", the "EEE" is sung in the head voice while all other syllables are in the chest voice.
The best places for Alpine-style yodelling are those with an echo. Ideal natural locations include not only mountain ranges but lakes, rocky gorges or shorelines, and high or open areas with one or more distant rock faces.
Most music historians say that the first country music record to include yodeling was "Rock All Our Babies to Sleep" sung by Riley Puckett, a blind singer from Georgia. In 1924 in country music, his recording was one of the top hits of that year. Another early yodeler was Emmett Miller, a minstrel show performer, also from Georgia. Miller is little-remembered today, however in the 1920s he recorded the song, "Lovesick Blues" which was later a major hit for country singer Hank Williams. Bob Wills, the King of Western Swing, was also influenced by Miller (see the sound file above with Will's singer Tommy Duncan singing "Blue Yodel No. 1" in 1937)[19] In the early 1920s African American Winston Holmes started a record label, Merritt Records, and was a performer himself. His vocals included bird calls, train whistles and yodels. He managed and made some songs with blues singer Lottie Kimbrough in the twenties.[20]
Probably the most famous early yodeler was Jimmie Rodgers, known as The Singing Brakeman, who recoded dozens of popular songs in the late 1920s and early 1930s. While working on the railroad he learned blues techniques from African American gandy dancers, and eventually created his characteristic sound - a blend of traditional work, blues, hobo, and cowboy songs and his trademark "Blue Yodel." His first Blue Yodel, known as “Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas) ”, was recorded in the Trinity Baptist Church at Camden, New Jersey. When the song was released in February 1928 it became “a national phenomenon and generated an excitement and record-buying frenzy that no-one could have predicted”.[21] Rogers sang about everyday affairs and woes that many Americans of that time could relate to. Here are the lyrics of Blue Yodel No. 4:
According to a black musician who lived near Rodgers in Mississippi, everyone, both black and white alike, began to copy Rodgers: "Every one who could pick a guitar started yodeling like Rodgers."[23] Rodgers died in 1933, however many performers that followed him claimed that he had been a big influence in their singing style and career.
Prior to about 1930, performers had only live performances and records to promote their music. When radios began to grow in popularity in the late 20s and early 30s, the powerful recording company RCA Victor, fearing that free music would devastate their record business, first attempted to prevent artists from appearing on the radio and then successfully stopped the growth of more powerful FM stations.[24] But radio ownership grew from 2 out of 5 homes in 1931 to 4 out of 5 homes in 1938, and stations began to broadcast live shows featuring various artists, sometimes with a live audience. Some artists remained in their home area, however many traveled a circuit appearing on the dozens of low-power AM stations throughout the country, thus introducing the various styles of singing and yodeling to others outside of their region. Thus, a Georgia radio station of that era lists "cowboy Roy Lykes", the "Yodeling Fence Rider" from Texas, in its 1934 roster. Lykes is described as "a real cowboy" who wears "regulation cowboy shoes to get him in the mood".[25]
In 1934 yodeler Elton Britt recorded what was to become his signature song, "Chime Bells". Like so many others of that era, Britt listened to records of Jimmie Rodgers, which inspired him to learn how to yodel. Eventually he became renowned for his ability to sustain his yodel for an unusually long time, a skill he reportedly learned while swimming underwater for several minutes at a time.[26] Country singer Jewel yodels and is known for her version of "Chime Bells" as well. Jewel says that she learned to yodel from her father who also learned to yodel by listening to Jimmie Rodgers.[27]
Blue yodeler Cliff Carlisle was one of the most prolific recording artists of the 1930s, and a pioneer in the use of the Hawaiian steel guitar in country music. He frequently released songs with sexual connotations including barnyard metaphors (which became something of a trademark).[28]
Jack Guthrie, the cousin of Woody Guthrie, performed in the thirties and early forties. Known as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy", he developed a style of singing and yodeling influenced by his idol, Jimmie Rodgers, and his experiences as a bucking-horse rider and rodeo performer.[29]
Hank Snow was one of the great country legends of the 1950s, but he had actually been singing in Canada for years where he was known as "The Yodeling Ranger". He admired Jimmie Rodgers as well, and learned to yodel by listening to his records. He even named his son Jimmie Rodgers Snow.[30]
Tommy Duncan, vocalist for "Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys", was a good yodeler. (See the sound file above with Duncan singing Rodger's "Blue Yodel No. 1" in 1937) Bob Wills is considered by music authorities to be the co-founder of Western Swing.
The DeZurik Sisters were two of the first women to become stars on both the National Barn Dance and the Grand Ole Opry, largely a result of their original yodeling style. Carolina Cotton[31] and Patsy Montana were early cowgirl yodeling singers as well.[32] Patsy Montana's signature song, "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" was again popularized by singer/yodeler LeAnn Rimes in the 1990s. In 1996 Rimes also recorded "The Cattle Call", a "singing cowboy" song written by cowboy yodeler Tex Owens, with legendary singer Eddy Arnold. "The Cattle Call" was Arnold's signature song, but it has been recorded by many artists including Emmylou Harris and even Elvis Presley.[33]
Cowboy singer and actor Roy Rogers yodeled, as did his box office competitor Gene Autry. (See the sound file above in which Autry sings the Jimmie Rodgers song "Blue Yodel No. 5") "Yodelin' Slim Clark", hailed from Maine and performed for 70 years. (See the sound file above "The Old Chisholm Trail" recorded by Clark in 1956.)[34] Yodeler Don Walker was from Texas. Though widely known in Texas, his singing career didn't really take off until he was 60 years old in 1994. In 2000 he received a lifetime "Heritage" award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and he and his band played at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[35] Jimmie Davis, who served two terms as the Governor of Louisiana, was also a successful country singer who yodeled.
Perhaps yodeler Bill Haley of Bill Haley and the Comets has one of the strangest histories of all. Bill Haley zoomed to fame as the "King of Rock and Roll" when his song "Rock Around the Clock" was featured in the popular film Blackboard Jungle. But it is little-known that Haley and his band had been around for years doing Western swing music with Haley featured as a yodeler. Haley was born in 1925 and "Rock Around the Clock" made the scene in 1955 and at that time he and his band were using the name the Comets. However, prior to that time they had gone under the names the Down Homers, the Texas Range Riders, the Four Aces of Western Swing and finally, The Saddlemen. At one point in the 1940s, Bill Haley was even awarded Indiana State Yodeling Champion for his skill, perhaps something that his skillful manager Colonel Tom Parker felt not important to mention to his screaming teenage rock 'n' roll fans.[36][37][38]
Slim Whitman has been performing for over 60 years. Whitman avoided the "down on yer luck" songs, preferring instead to sing laid-back romantic melodies about simple life and love. Critics dubbed his musical style "countrypolitan," due to its fusion of country music and a more sophisticated crooner vocal style. Pop singer Michael Jackson cited Whitman as one of his ten favorite vocalists.[39] Beatles George Harrison and Paul McCartney cite Whitman as an early influence[40] [41][42] In the film, Mars Attacks! a Kansas teenager discovers that the Martians are vulnerable to Whitman's song "Indian Love Call", whereupon he and his grandmother use it to destroy the Martians.
Other western music yodeling singers include Douglas B. Green (Ranger Doug) and Wylie Gustafson. Green sings with his band Riders in the Sky.[43] He is also a music historian and has written a book, Singing in the Saddle "the first comprehensive look at the singing cowboy phenomenon that swept the United States in the 1930s". Gustafson learned to yodel from his dad, who learned from Austrians on the ski team in Bozeman, Montana. In 2007, he released an instructional book and CD titled, How to Yodel: Lessons to Tickle Your Tonsils.
Yodeler Taylor Ware was a contestant on America's Got Talent when she was eleven years old. According to Ware, she taught herself to yodel from an audiotape and instruction book when she was seven years old.[44] Alyse Eady, who holds the title of Miss Arkansas 2010 and was 1st runner-up in the Miss America 2011 Pageant, both yodels and does ventriloquism to the song "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" as her talent performance.
Canadian Wilf Carter (Montana Slim) was known as the "Father of Canadian Country Music". He began singing in the 1920s after seeing a traveling Swiss performer named "The Yodeling Fool" in a nearby town. Carter sang in the "singing cowboy" style and developed a yodel with a Swiss-sound sometimes called an "echo yodel" or a "three-in-one."[45]
Bobbejaan Schoepen was a Belgian yodeler[46] and Franzl Lang, also known as "Der Jodlerkönig" or the Yodel King, is a professional yodeler from the Alps.
Joy McKean, Australian country music singer-songwriter, is known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music. By the age of 18 she was performing with her sister Heather on their own radio show as the McKean Sisters, noted for their yodeling harmonies. Mckean performed with her husband Slim Dusty till his death in 2003. Slim, a singer-songwriter and yodeler as well, wrote his first song, "The Way the Cowboy Dies" when he was only 10 years old. He received 37 Golden Guitar and two ARIA awards and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.[47]
Kishore Kumar was a playback singer from India, famous for his yodeling,[48] while it was JP Chandrababu talented comedian of Tamil film who introduced yodeling as playback singing in India.[48][49][49]
One of the earliest songs to portray an unusual marriage between yodeling and rock music was "Hocus Pocus" by the Dutch band Focus. A UK example of this style was the Glasgow-born Karl Denver; the style can be heard in Frank Ifield's version of Johnny Mercer's "I Remember You." Slim Cessna's Auto Club often features Slim and Jay Munly yodeling.
The Tarzan yell is the yodel-like call of the character Tarzan, as portrayed by actor Johnny Weissmuller in the films based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, starting with Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). The yell was a creation of the movies, based on what Burroughs described in his books as "the victory cry of the bull ape."