Critical Review of Three Contrasting Country Music Songs (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

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Critical Review of Three Contrasting Country Music Songs
Country music sounds date back as far as the 1920s. the sounds have stood the test of time, listened to by many generations ever since they came out. They have managed to blend different sounds thus remaining appealing to a diverse amount of people. Various styles have therefore emerged within the genre in order to keep on remaining relevant. A review of three contrasting country music songs will be able to demonstrate differences in style, culture and individual artist experiences in their musical experiences.
“The Ballad of Casey Jones”
This song was done in 1902 and typical of a ballad, it tells a story of Casey, an engineer who had safely navigated the first train to Memphis. From another trip, he intended to take a rest but was recalled when the other engineer was sick. Starting late than the scheduled take off, he intended to recover lost time, therefore, drove at high speeds. The train crushed at the end, but the passengers were saved with only him being the casualty. From all this, it is clear that this piece is an American folk ballad. It was composed by Wallace Saunders and it is sung by a male solo voice accompanied by a banjo with choral harmonies heard in the background. The texture maintained is homophonic implying that the voice manages to maintain a single melodic line with the accompaniment. Finally, the tempo in the whole piece is quite fast with a quadruple meter and a verse chorus form.
“Blue Yodel no. 9.”
This is a collaborative song done in 1931 between Jimmie Rodgers and Louis Armstrong belonging to the genre of Country Blues. It uses a homophonic texture with a strophic form. This is basically due to the irregularity in the number of bars per line and lines in each stanza. The song has a distinctive feature of Rodgers’ natural yodel at the end of each verse. The piece begins with a trumpet and piano introduction with the tempo maintained at being relaxed in a bluesy fashion. The song then concludes with a yodel then an expressive horn in conjunction with a steady piano playing the final chord.
“Earl’s Breakdown”
This piece was done in 1963 by Earl Scruggs. It belongs in the Bluegrass category of country music. This particular style of country music is an effective kind of play blending jazz, blues and string music in a creative manner that allows for improvisation. An ensemble of this kind of music is a fiddle, guitar, banjo and a mandolin. All this is incorporated in the piece “Earl’s Breakdown” with the instruments blending in a spectacular playing technique. The banjo precisely captures one’s attention as it is allowed chance as a soloist to ‘show off’ improvised technique as an interlude. The form employed in the piece is verse chorus with both the texture and meter being homophonic and duple respectively. The banjo introduces the tune while being accompanied by the other instruments, For the most part, the banjo comes out as dominant compared to the other instruments throughout the performance.
Summary
These three pieces display differences based not only in the time but also artists and instru...