Host(Me): Welcome! To our special guest, Mr.Richard Collins!!!
Special Guest (Mr. Collins): Hello! I’m Richard Collins (Clapping Music)
Host (Me): In today’s episode, I will be talking about the background knowledge and some figures and facts about the country. And later on, Mr.Collins will give us an example.
Host (Me):
So, in the late 1800s, Guitars were difficult to mass-produce, however, until the Industrial Revolution.The appearance of the louder steel string guitars improved things somewhat, though the technology of brass and tungsten coating strings was still some way off; but fiddle, mandolin and banjo remained dominant among white stringbands. Black southern musicians were quicker to adopt the guitar, and it became an integral part of rural black music.
The electric guitar had been around in varying forms since the late 1920's and Grand Ole Opry group The Vagabonds had even experimented with some sort of amplification early on. But the first real amplified guitars were steel guitars. In 1936, Gibson introduced their ES-150 electric guitars. Most southeastern country musicians rejected them, but the Western swing bands of the Southwest were quick to adopt them, most notably the Light Crust Doughboys' Muryel "Zeke" Campbell and Eldon Shamblin.
After complaints that Ernest Tubb's early acoustic Decca recordings were inaudible, Tubb had guitarist "Smitty" Smith use an electrified guitar on his 1941 "Walking The Floor Over You." It established Tubb's style and helped end the Opry's ban on electric guitars when Tubb came to the show. Still, few country singers used electrics, one exception being Floyd Tillman.
The first true guitar stylists were a varied lot. Maybelle Carter's famous "drop thumb" guitar style, epitomized by her solo work on "Wildwood Flower," inspired generations of country pickers. Karl Farr's acoustic guitar work with The Sons of the Pioneers combined country with a bit of jazz.
The syncopated Western Kentucky thumb and index finger picking style
pioneered by Kennedy Jones, featuring a thumb pick, formed the basis for the picking of Ike Everly and Mose Rager, who taught the style to Merle Travis. Travis' playing over WLW in the late 30's and early 40's inspired young Chester Atkins to develop his own version of the style. Jazz guitarists like Belgian Django Reinhardt and black electric guitarist Charlie Christian also influenced many country guitar players after that.
Host (Me): For today, our special guest, Mr.Collins will show what exactly is country. Let's give him a round of applause!!! (Clapping sound effect)
Special Guest (Mr. Collins): (Present the song)
Host (Me): Thank you sooooo much, but Mr.Collins, what is the reason that you want to play this song in front of the audience?
Host (Me): Thank you sooo much, Mr.Collins, the song that you play is really lovely!!! We wish to see you play more songs next time!!!
