John Myles, understanding my concern for Country Music, graciously allowed me the penning of this introduction. Thanks to him, and others of his caliber, Country Music shall not be forgotten. Perhaps, advanced.
In 1998, during the writing of this work, true Country Music is waning in the United States of America. It is being bastardized, falsified, and thoroughly raped of its integrity. Yes, it is astonishing that a cultural medium of such impact, continuity and strength is succumbing to the shallow whims of capitalistic pseudo-moguls.
The essence of American Country Music has been stripped of its core, leaving but a hollow shell in its place. "Attractive" and sexy appearance of performers, has taken priority over musical talent and good Country songs. Appalling but apparent. Even during the siege of the "Urban Cowboy Movement" (-1980+) the remaining *true* Country material was sufficient to sustain and further the art form. Although many "drug store cowboy" acts (or "plastic pistol packers," as I prefer to label them) appeared, they failed to engulf and eliminate the entire genre. That type of liquidation is now becoming an unsettling reality, as is evidenced through the efforts of those "market-makers" unconcerned with the preservation of traditional and absolute American Country Music.
But what of BRITISH Country Music? Assuming that *all* Country Music originated within the boundaries of the United States of America, and was initially composed solely by Americans, is preposterous. The "roots" of Country Music are very long, very deep, and extremely
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diversified. For America to claim exclusivity of this art form would be a naive and arrogant declaration.
Who were the folk entering the land of America and beginning a cultivation of a unique musical art form? Were they Americans before they reached those shores? Did they forget *everything* they knew of music (from their homelands) the second they got there? Or did they bring along skills in music passed down to them throughout the ages and then use those talents to bring life to a new musical language?
Who were these people living in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, the hills and the valleys of West Virginia, the plains of Texas, and in "hick towns" throughout the land? Folk of European ancestry, mainly. Where does Cajun music originate? That sweet Louisiana sound is tied to the roots of French Canadians. So is this *pure* American music? Did these people have neither musical talent nor inclination to apply it until they arrived in America? Or did they bring it with them and help to spawn a hybrid of musical expression using their existing knowledge as a catalyst? In purity, does this art form reflect *only* American talent? Or is it a culmination of many cultural, musical backgrounds uniting to create a phenomenon known as Country Music? . . .
(This excerpt comprises approximately 2 of the Introduction's 7 pages.)
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