By: Taylor Coe,
on 4/19/2015
Recently reading through the Notes and Discographies section of Greil Marcus’s book Mystery Train (first published in 1975), I was struck by Marcus’s meticulousness when it came to recommending records.
The post Learning country music in the digital age appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Alice,
on 4/1/2012
Think you know your country music? While “Crazy” was made famous by Patsy Cline, it was composed by Willie Nelson. And that brings us to Level 3: Crazy — the last stage in our three-part country music quiz, compiled by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Michael McCall, John Rumble, and Paul Kingsbury — authors of The Encyclopedia of Country Music. You can still go back and take “Level 1: Walk the line” and “Level 2: Ring of fire”. Tonight is the 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. Are you ready?
June Carter was married to what country music performer before Johnny Cash?
(a) Joe Maphis
(b) Carl Smith
(c) Claude Casey
(d) Carl Butler
Who recorded “Friends in Low Places,” only to have Garth Brooks beat him to the punch by releasing it as a single first?
(a) Joe Diffie
(b) Clint Black
(c) Mark Chesnutt
(d) David Ball
Which radio announcer is credited with having founded the Grand Ole Opry?
(a) John Lair
(b) Lowell Blanchard
(c) David Stone
(d) George D. Hay
Who performed country’s first million-selling record, “The Wreck of the Old ’97” b/w “The Prisoner’s Song”?
(a) Vernon Dalhart
(b) Carson J. Robison
(c) Fiddlin’ John Carson
(d) Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman
Who was the first country entertainer to guest-host “The Tonight Show”?
(a) Eddy Arnold
(b) Roy Clark
(c) Ferlin Husky
(d) Glen Campbell
Who were the first three members elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame?
(a) Gene Autry, Jimmie Rodgers, and the Carter Family
(b) Vernon Dalhart, Patsy Montana, and the Carter Family
(c) Roy Rogers, the Carter Family, and Hank Williams
(d) Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, and Fred Rose
Chicago’s “National Barn Dance” radio program was originally known by what name?
(a) Checkerboard Fun Fest
(b) WLS Barn Dance
(c) WLS House Party
(d) Chicago Jubilee
Which country singer did Hank Williams’s widow, Billie Jean, marry after Williams’s death?
(a) Jim Reeves
(b) Johnnie Bailes
(c) Johnny Horton
(d) Webb Pierce
WSM radio personality and Grand Ole Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs formerly played fiddle in what group?
(a) The Country Gentlemen
(b) The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers
(c) The Seldom Scene
(d) The Johnson Mountain Boys
Which country comedian was known for his tag line, “I’m goin’ back to the wagon, boys, these shoes are killin’ me!”?
(a) Whitey Ford (The Duke of Paducah)
(b) Rod Brasfield
(c) Speck Rhodes
(d) Hot Shot Elmer
Radio station WSM, home of the Grand Ole Opry, signed on the airwaves in 1925. Its call letters were specially chosen by the station’s owners, the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, to stand for what slogan?
(a) We Sell Merchandise
(b) We Shield Millions
(c) We Secure Millions
(d) World’s Strongest Membership
Which artist worked for Garth Brooks, selling merchandise at his shows, prior to securing his/her own record deal?
(a) Sara Evans
(b) Trisha Yearwood
(c) Martina McBride
(d) Patty Loveless
Which country act joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1937?
(a) Paul Howa
By: Alice,
on 3/31/2012
Let’s test your knowledge from honky tonk to hillbilly blues. Here’s the second of a three-part quiz on the twang of guitars and accents, compiled by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Michael McCall, John Rumble, and Paul Kingsbury — authors of The Encyclopedia of Country Music. You can still go back and take “Quiz on country media, Level 1: Walk the line.” All this is running up to the 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards is this Sunday, April 1st. Can you pass all three levels of our a country music knowledge challenge?
What was Minnie Pearl’s real name?
(a) Sandy Diamond
(b) Judy Canova
(c) Ophelia Acuff
(d) Sarah Colley
Which famous country singer popularized the song “Great Speckled Bird”?
(a) Roy Acuff
(b) Roy Drusky
(c) Leroy Van Dyke
(d) Uncle Dave Macon
What radio show did Ernest Tubb begin broadcasting from his Nashville record store in 1947?
(a) The Midnite Jamboree
(b) E.T. Country
(c) Tubb Thumping
(d) The Troubadour Hour
How is country singer Sammy Kershaw related to Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw?
(a) Brother
(b) Son
(c) Cousin
(d) Not related at all
Which future Country Music Hall of Fame member wrote Jeannie C. Riley’s million-selling 1968 hit “Harper Valley P.T.A.”?
(a) Willie Nelson
(b) Tom T. Hall
(c) Bobby Braddock
(d) Dolly Parton
Which group recorded two albums under the pseudonym Lester “Roadhog” Moran & the Cadillac Cowboys?
(a) Asleep at the Wheel
(b) The Statler Brothers
(c) Kentucky HeadHunters
(d) Highway 101
The Renfro Valley Barn Dance radio program first originated from what city?
(a) Richmond, Kentucky
(b) Dayton, Ohio
(c) Lexington, Kentucky
(d) Cincinnati, Ohio
Who said: “Country music is three chords and the truth”?
(a) Harlan Howard
(b) Sara Evans
(c) Hank Williams
(d) Kris Kristofferson
Who was the first woman to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award?
(a) Kitty Wells
(b) Patsy Cline
(c) Loretta Lynn
(d) Barbara Mandrell
Charlie Rich set fire to the envelope that proclaimed which singer as the Country Music Association’s 1975 Entertainer of the Year?
(a) Olivia Newton-John
(b) Ronnie Milsap
(c) John Denver
(d) Kenny Rogers
What is Nashville session pianist Hargus Robbins’s nickname?
(a) “Hoss”
(b) “Fingers”
(c) “Frog”
(d) “Pig”
What famed Nashville club was one of the main settings for the 1993 River Phoenix/Sandra Bullock film The Thing Called Love?
(a) Bluebird Café
(b) Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge
(c) The Station Inn
(d) Exit/In
Which famous studio guitarist can be heard on Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” and Waylon Jennings’s “Luckenbach, Texas”?
(a) Chip Young
(b) Steve Gibson
(c) Reggie Young
(d) Grady Martin
Mark Herndon, drummer for Alabama, was the only member born outside the group’s namesake state. In what state was he born?
(a) Georgia
(b) Tennessee
(c) Maryland
(d) Massachusetts
What country artist recorded a rockabilly single under the name Corky Jones?
(a) Buck Owens
(b) George Jones
(c) Conway Twitty
By: Alice,
on 3/30/2012
The 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards is this Sunday, April 1st, so we thought it was time to pull together a country music knowledge challenge. Compiled by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Michael McCall, John Rumble, and Paul Kingsbury — authors of The Encyclopedia of Country Music — we begin the first of a three-part quiz on the twang of guitars and accents today. How much do you know about the music of “three chords and the truth”?
Which country artist is married to Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman?
(a) Clint Black
(b) Kenny Chesney
(c) Brad Paisley
(d) Keith Urban
Which former Beatle had a hit duet with Buck Owens?
(a) George Harrison
(b) John Lennon
(c) Paul McCartney
(d) Ringo Starr
Which country singer served two terms as governor of Louisiana?
(a) Jimmie Davis
(b) Doug Kershaw
(c) Sammy Kershaw
(d) Jimmy C. Newman
What California town earned the nickname “Nashville West” during the 1960s?
(a) Los Angeles
(b) Bakersfield
(c) San Diego
(d) San Francisco
Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox, and Joe Don Rooney are known collectively by what name?
(a) Rascal Flatts
(b) Diamond Rio
(c) Sawyer Brown
(d) Lonestar
Crystal Gayle is the younger sister of what Country Music Hall of Fame member?
(a) Brenda Lee
(b) Dolly Parton
(c) Loretta Lynn
(d) Emmylou Harris
Which country singer was briefly married to actress Julia Roberts?
(a) Keith Urban
(b) Kenny Chesney
(c) Kenny Rogers
(d) Lyle Lovett
Which artist debuted his song “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” at the 2001 CMA Awards?
(a) Alan Jackson
(b) Toby Keith
(c) Brad Paisley
(d) Trace Adkins
Which Texan rose to prominence after finishing third in the inaugural (2003) season of Nashville Star.
(a) Kellie Pickler
(b) Carrie Underwood
(c) Miranda Lambert
(d) Jennifer Nettles
Which folk and bluegrass group appeared as the Darling Family on The Andy Griffith Show?
a) The Gosdin Brothers
b) The Country Boys
c) The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers
d) The Dillards
Which fictitious pop singer did Garth Brooks create for a 1999 album?
(a) Brandon Brown
(b) Terry Smith
(c) Chris Gaines
(d) Billy Smith
Which of the following stars did NOT die in a car wreck or airplane crash?
(a) Patsy Cline
(b) Jim Reeves
(c) Ira Louvin
(d) Roy Acuff
What was Uncle Dave Macon’s primary musical instrument?
(a) Guitar
(b) Banjo
(c) Accordion
(d) Fiddle
Who were the four artists who comprised the supergroup The Highwaymen?
(a) Willie Nelson, Faron Young, Guy Clark, and Ricky Skaggs
(b) Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Ronnie Milsap, and Kenny Rogers
(c) Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson
(d) Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Kenny Rogers, and Eddy Arnold
Which country artist was briefly married to Renée Zellweger?
(a) Kenny Chesney
(b) Lyle Lovett
(c) Trace Adkins
(d) Toby Keith
Which country-rock group recorded the album that gave Sweethearts of the Rodeo their name?
(a) The Byrds
(b) Poco
(c) The Flying Burrito Brothers
(d) The Eagles
Which Grand Ole Opry member was voted World’s Sexiest Vegetari
