Two for Tuesday
Providing background information on music from popular genres like Country, Classic Rock, Southern Rock etc.
Two for Tuesday
From Porches to Radio Towers: How Country Music Found Its Voice
We dive into the 1930s and 1940s to explore what music historians call the second generation of country music, when the genre began to split into distinctive styles with their own culture, instrumentation, and emotional DNA.
• The second generation gave country its first real stars, transforming the genre from hillbilly music to commercial entertainment
• Radio was king during this era, allowing artists to be heard across America through powerful clear-channel stations
• Three primary sub-genres emerged during this period: bluegrass/gospel, cowboy music/western swing, and honky-tonk
• Bluegrass, pioneered by Bill Monroe, featured lightning-fast mandolin picking and tight harmonies with spiritual roots
• Western music split into cowboy music (romanticized by Hollywood) and western swing (dance music pioneered by Bob Wills)
• Honky-tonk originated in rowdy Texas dance halls and featured themes of heartache, drinking, and loneliness
• Roy Acuff's "Wabash Cannonball" helped establish Nashville's music scene and became a symbol of American spirit during the Depression
• Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" showed that country music could be art, not just entertainment
• These songs from the second generation created the foundation of emotional honesty that artists still draw from today
Please subscribe, share this podcast with your fellow country music fans, and head over to the 2nd Round Music YouTube channel to find Michael's performances of these two songs. If you have a favorite classic country song or artist that you want featured on the show, drop me a line in either the fan mail or comments.
Head over to Michael's YouTube channel to hear him perform these classic songs: https://youtu.be/sxOFgDafVTI
Well, hey everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the Two for Tuesday podcast brought to you by 2nd Round Music. I'm your host, Michael Pezent, and today we're rewinding the reel all the way back to the 1930s and the 1940s to dive into what music historians often call the second generation of country music. But before we drop the needle on today's two iconic tracks, I'll talk about where country music stood during this pivotal time when the genre began to split into distinctive styles, each with its own culture, instrumentation and emotional DNA. Let me take a moment to thank all you listeners for following me and being a part of your day. I really appreciate your time and I truly hope that you're enjoying this podcast and, if you are, please consider dropping me a comment. Your feedback is extremely important to me.
Michael Pezent:Now, if you've been keeping up with this series, we've been tracing the roots and evolution of country music through the songs that defined each era and this particular generation. Well, it gave us the first real stars of country music, the men and women who took this genre from dusty porches and barn dances to radio towers and record stores. This period, the so-called second generation, saw country music grow up both artistically and commercially. What began as hillbilly music, recorded in makeshift studios and heard over dusty radios, was starting to organize, evolve and diversify. Let me give you a mental image of what this makeshift studio may have looked like. Go back to the scene in the movie oh Brother, where Art Thou? Where the guys go to the radio station after picking up Tommy Johnson at the crossroads and they're going to record a song to earn some traveling money. Now, one of my favorite lines in this movie was when the guys come out of the radio station and they run into Governor Pappy O' Daniel and Del Mar says hey, mister, I don't mean to be telling tales out of school, but there's a fella in there that'll pay you $10 to sing in his can. Sorry, I got a little sidetracked, but that would be what recording was kind of like during that time period. Now we're talking about an America deep in the Great Depression. Just before the dawn of World War II, radio was king 78 RPM shellac records may have been fragile, but they were in demand and thanks to the rise of powerful, clear-channel radio stations, artists could be heard from the Appalachian Mountains to Arizona in a single broadcast. From this era, three primary sub-genres began to blossom, each in unique sound and spirit and I'll be talking about how they came about. Sound and spirit, and I'll be talking about how they came about. And stick around, because we've got the backstories on two cornerstone tracks of this period Wabash Cannonball by Roy Acuff and I'm so Lonesome I Can Cry by Hank Williams, songs that not only define the time but help shape the future and the sound of country music. Now let's fire up that cannonball and roll it on set the scene.
Michael Pezent:By the 1930s, country music, then referred to by some as hillbilly music, had already started to find an audience through radio shows like the Grand Ole Opry, which began broadcasting out of Nashville in 1925. Now the Opry was critical. It transformed rural folk traditions into commercial entertainment. It took country music from local to national. The first generation you remember? We talked about artists like Phil and John Carson and the Carter family in part one of this series. Now they're still active. But in the 1930s it saw the rise of a new kind of artist. These were full-time performers, many with a background in vaudeville or radio, who saw music not as just as a form of cultural expression but as a profession. Now this second generation is where we meet names like Roy Acuff, who is known as the king of country music, or Ernest Tubb, who brought the honky-tonk sound into sharper focus? Or how about Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass, and the Sons of the Pioneers, whose harmonies helped define the Western in country and Western Now? This was also an era when recordings became more widely distributed thanks to the growth of the 78 RPM format and, along with radio, syndications, meant artists could reach listeners far beyond their home states. Now, after this sponsored message, we'll take a deep dive into these three sub-genres that emerged during this time.
Michael Pezent:Hey, see you on the other side.
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Michael Pezent:Now let's head to the hills, because another strain of country took roots during the 1930s, and that was bluegrass. It was heavily influenced by Appalachian string traditions and gospel harmonies heavily influenced by Appalachian string traditions and gospel harmonies. Now, while the bluegrass term wouldn't officially take hold until Bill Monroe and his bluegrass boys hit the Opry in the 1940s, the seeds were being sown in the 30s. Monroe's style added lightning-fast mandolin picking and tight three-part harmonies, along with a spiritual urgency that echoed back to Baptist hymnals and old Scottish ballads. Now Bill is called the father of bluegrass, and rightfully so. He did create this music. Now he self-described it as Scottish bagpipes, old-time fiddling, methodist Holiness, baptist blues and jazz with a high, lonesome sound. Now, bluegrass wouldn't really take off until Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs joined the bluegrass boys and they found themselves being invited to take the stage at the Grand Ole Opry.
Michael Pezent:Now, the connection of gospel music can't be overstated. Now, the connection of gospel music can't be overstated. Songs like Angel Band or I'll Fly Away were sung in both churches and around family radios. But one of the biggest early stars would actually be Red Foley. Red is credited with having one of the first million-dollar selling gospel records, peace in the Valley. Now, there's a nice story behind Red and that song and we'll talk about it in another episode somewhere down the road.
Michael Pezent:Now, this dual life of spiritual and secular helped this sub-genre maintain its deep emotional roots. Bluegrass and gospel were the heart and soul of rural country music, and this music was for morning, for Sunday mornings and for storytelling. Now, we could certainly crawl down this sub-genre's rabbit hole for a long time, and we probably will, but more than likely we'll do that in another episode. So now let's saddle up our horses and take a ride out west. Now, this sub-genre had two halves also, now you've got cowboy music and western swing. Cowboy music, as romantic as it was, methodologized, boomed in popularity during the Great Depression. Now, hollywood and the big screen certainly did help this. Singing cowboys like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, portrayed noble heroes with six shooters and perfect pitch, but behind the scenes they were real musicians innovating the sound. Even some cowgirls got involved. Early pioneers like Patsy Montana would open up the door for a future female artist with her history-making song I Wanna Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart.
Michael Pezent:Now, western swing, on the other hand, led by legends like Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, blended country fiddles, new Orleans jazz, mexican rhythms and swing-era big band stylings. See, this wasn't music for the front porch folks, this was dance music. You could hear a saxophone, a steel guitar, a trumpet and a banjo, all in one band. Bob Wills was often quoted saying if you can't dance to it, it ain't music. And boy, you could dance to this. Bob's legacy and his influence on modern music cannot be understated. Did you know that he and the Texas Playboys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 1999? Well, they were. These Western styles captured the open range, the urban cowboy and the idea that American West was something that was a little bit larger than life.
Michael Pezent:Now let's wrap this segment up with honky tonk, because it's the subgenre that would reshape the emotional tone of country music and bring it to what we know as country music today. People, let's be clear on this Honky-tonk was not born in a studio. It was born in rowdy Texas dance halls, roadside juke joints and old-town beer halls, places where the air was smok, smoky, floors were sticky and the music had to fight to be heard over clanking glasses and loud voices. The term honky-tonk originally referred to the bars themselves, but by the 1930s it described a gritty, stripped-down sound that revolved around the electric lap steel guitar, which is the precursor of one of my favorite instruments, the pedal steel guitar, fiddles, acoustic rhythm guitars and a hard charging, often sorrow-soaked lyrical style. And I have to add also that sometimes you might hear an old guy banging out notes on an old upright piano. Now the themes Cheating, heartache, drinking and loneliness. This was music for people living hard lives, roughneck workers, displaced farm families or maybe blue-collar Americans that were just trying to scrape by.
Michael Pezent:Now, one of the early masters was Ernest Tubb, who fused honky-tonk's emotional honesty with the drive of Western swing and the storytelling of old-school folk music. Now his 1941 recording of Walking the Floor Over you is often cited as ground zero for the honky-tonk sound. It had a backbeat, an electric guitar and none of the polish you'd find on the Grand Ole Opry. What honky-tonk really did was give country music a shot of realism. It was unvarnished and vulnerable and it allowed for imperfection and it told the truth even when it hurt. An artist like Hank Williams would later take the rawness and turned it into poetry. Now, if you're like me, when you think about traditional early country music, this is what you think of. And why would I not talk more about Hank? Well, because old Hank's going to get his own episode, maybe even more than one. Yeah, he was that influential. So there you have it Three distinct sub-genres of country music. You see, honky-tonk brought the raw emotion. Bluegrass and gospel preserved the spiritual roots, and cowboy music and western swing added the flair and the fun. And now let's see how the two iconic songs from that era reflect all of that diversity. Hey, somebody crank up that old turntable and let's drop the needle. Turntable. Now, let's drop the needle.
Michael Pezent:Originally published as sheet music in 1882, the Great Rock Island Route, the song that was passed down from folk traditions for over 50 years before Roy Acuff recorded it in 1936. But Roy didn't record it, he redefined it. And what song are we talking about? The Wabash Cannonball. Now his version stripped away some of the early vaudeville style camp and replaced it with a majestic Appalachian feel, filled with plain fiddle and gospel flavored vocals. The sound became more than a train ballad. It became a symbol of pride, perseverance and travelist freedom during the Depression era. Now Wabash Cannonball is a song about a mythical train. There was no real Wabash Cannonball, at least not when this song was written. It was an idea A steel horse rolling through towns where people dreamed of something better. The name was likely inspired by the Wabash Railroad that ran through the Midwest. But the cannonball was a symbol of freedom, romance and wanderlust, a metaphor of the American spirit during the Depression era. The song was so powerful the Grand Ole Opry practically adopted it as its anthem and Roy Acuff played it so frequently that it became his personal music signature and one of the first country music recordings to cross over into mainstream pop culture. And behind the music, acuff's recording helped establish the Nashville music scene, earning him the nickname King of Country Music. He would go on to co-found with Hall of Fame songwriter Fred Rose Acuff Rose Publishing, one of the most important music publishing houses in country history. But it goes even further than that. The song Wabash Cannonball is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. How about that? It's the oldest song on that list also.
Michael Pezent:Now I have to stop here and give you another personal story. When I was a kid, growing up with my family, we would go on summer vacations in a little pop-up camper, and I remember one summer it probably would have been somewhere in the mid to late 70s we went to Nashville and we stayed at a KOA campground. Now, this would have been not too many years after Opryland, the theme park would have opened. Now two things happened that I look back on now with amazement, probably because I had no idea what was happening. Now, first, I remember walking around downtown Nashville and seeing the Ryman Auditorium. Now, there was no one there and there were no locked doors, so we just walked right in, just like we own the place. I can remember walking around on the stage like it was no big deal, having no idea the talent and the big name entertainers that had also stepped on that stage.
Michael Pezent:Oh, and it gets better. Also, during that week, one night at the campground, we found out that there were going to be some special guest musicians coming to a small and I mean small amphitheater on the campground. Now there were three to be some special guest musicians coming to a small and I mean small amphitheater on the campground. Now there were three guys that showed up and for the life of me, I can't remember who the guy was that played the fiddle for them. But one of those guys was a dobro player by the name of Pete Kirby, or better known by his stage name, Bashful Brother Oswald, and, lastly, stage name, bashful Brother Oswald and, lastly, was none other than Roy Acuff himself. And again, I had no idea who this was or how big this moment was, because when they got through playing, they just came down and stood in front of the stage and talked with us just as long as we wanted. Now there were probably, at most, maybe 30 people, as best I recall. Boy, if I could hit the rewind button and go back and do that all again, oh well, now, on the other side of this short break, we'll take a trip down to Sweet Home, Alabama, and talk about our next tune.
Michael Pezent:Hey guys, thank you for listening today and I hope you're enjoying this podcast. If you are, please subscribe or follow the podcast, click the like button, share it with other music lovers and please consider giving a five-star rating so we can reach a bigger audience. Now back to the show.
Michael Pezent:Now, if you're talking about the rise of honky-tonk as an emotional force in country music, you've got to talk about Hank Williams . And no song captures the beauty, loneliness and rawness of that honky-tonk soul like I'm so lonesome, I could cry. Released in November of 1949, this was a B-side song to a song called my Bucket's Got a Hole in it. This track wasn't supposed to be a hit. Supposed to be a hit, but listeners and later historians recognized it to be one of the most emotionally devastating recordings in country music history. So let's set the scene.
Michael Pezent:At this point. Hank had already begun to shake up Nashville scene with hits like Moving On Over and Lovesick Blues. But with I'm so Lonesome, he did something different. He slowed it down, stripped it back and let the silence between the words do just as much work as the melody. And it wasn't just a sad song, it was literary. Take this line the silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky and as I wonder where you are, I'm so lonesome I could cry. Now, guys, that's poetry, plain spoken but devastating. You can picture the stillness, the cold air, the ache behind every syllable.
Michael Pezent:Hank once said that it was the saddest thing he had ever wrote. It's easy to believe, but here's the kicker it's not showy. There's no vocal theatrics, no lush orchestrations, just Hank's trembling voice, a weeping steel guitar and mournful rhythm section. That's honky-tonk in its purest form Vulnerable, honest and universal. Behind the scenes, this song was recorded at Herzog Studio in Cincinnati, ohio, and that's a modest setup that nonetheless captured lightning in a bottle. The musicians backing Hank were part of his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and they brought in just the right amount of restraint to the arrangement. Now let's talk legacy. Bob Dylan once called it the saddest song ever recorded. Elvis Presley covered it in the early 1970s, johnny Cash performed it live with a trembling reverence, and it was also inducted into the Grammy's Hall of Fame in 1989.
Michael Pezent:But more than all the accolades, this song showed the world that country music could be an art, not just entertainment, not just storytelling, but an emotional experience that cut to the bone, and that's why it had to be part of today's episode. So what have we learned today? We look back at an era when country music split into distinct branches honky tonk, bluegrass, cowboy ballads and became a genre with depth, diversity and direction. We explored Roy Acuff's Wabash Cannonball, which gave country music a national voice and a mythical railroad to take a ride on, and we went deep into Hank Williams' I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry, the song that helped redefine honky-tonk as literature with a steel guitar. Now, this second generation set the rules. Then they broke them and gave us the foundation of emotional honesty that artists still draw from today.
Michael Pezent:Now, whether you're spinning a 78, scrolling a playlist or sitting at a bar nursing a heartbreak, these songs still speak, and they speak loudly.
Michael Pezent:So thanks for joining me today on the Two for Tuesday podcast. I hope you learned something new about the roots of country music and how two timeless tracks shape the entire genre. If you liked today's episode, be sure to subscribe, share it with your fellow country music fans and head over to the 2nd Round Music YouTube channel, where you'll find my performance of these two songs. And hey, if you got a favorite classic country music song or an artist that you want to feature on the show, drop me a line in either the fan mail or the comments. This podcast is for y'all as much as it is me, so remember I love you and I need you. Until next time. I'm Michael Pezent and this has been the Two for Tuesday podcast, where the past is always present. God bless you.