The Steel Guitar Forum

Was wondering what was the first country song recorded. Would like to have

Record Lable
Name of song
Singer
Date

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I think that depends on what your definition of a "country song" is!

Well, which was the first country?

I think the first country was the U.S.

Yeah, my kid thinks that too.

Thanks guys, I think what we are talking about here is, that a long time ago someone called a certain kind of music country, so that was the birth of country music, someone recorded the first country music record, it makes no difference what country it was born, and recorded in.
thanks
Fred

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>Was wondering what was the first country song recorded. Would like to have
Record Lable
Name of song
Singer
Date
</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The first commercial country(hillbilly) recording was by fiddler Eck Robertson from Amarillo, TX. Eck and another fiddler went to New York to make a record back in 1922.
They walked into the Victor Talking machine Company studio for an audition wearing confederate uniforms carrying fiddle cases.
On June 30 1922 they recorded two songs,"Arkansas Traveler" and "Turkey in the Staw", the next day they recorded six more songs including "Sallie Goodin'".
In April of 1923 the recording of "Sallie Goodin'" and "Arkansas Traveler" were released, making it the FIRST commercial Country Music Record!

No singer, these were all instrumentals!

Here's a link to a story and pictures of Eck and there is a link on that page to a mp3 of "Sallie Goddin", the first country music record.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Alvin Blaine on 28 July 2003 at 09:54 PM.]</p></FONT>

Gotta be the Enrico Caruso thick 78 that came out in 1902.

He recorded the earliest known version of:

"Ogni volta vado alla città, i ragazzi tengono a calciare il mio cane intorno."

( Every time I go to town, the boys keep kickin' my dog around.)

If you have one it's worth a few bucks.

EJL<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Eric West on 01 August 2003 at 05:58 PM.]</p></FONT>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>Gotta be the Enrico Caruso thick 78 that came out in 1902.
He recorded the earliest known version of:

"Ogni volta vado alla città, i ragazzi tengono a calciare il mio cane intorno."

( Every time I go to town......)

If you have one it's worth a few bucks.

EJL</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Eric,
I think thats the from the wrong country.

After an exhaustive search, well OK, a couple minutes anyway, I've found an article about Don Richardson, a country fiddle player, whose recording of "A Perfect Day/Dear Old Girl Waltz" on Columbia in Dec. 1914 predates Eck Robertson and Henry Gilliland's recordings by 8 years. And of course there were recordings of what was called folk music, a medley of songs including some fiddle tunes, in the 1890's, these recorded on cylinder and disc.
But it wasn't until 1923 that Ralph Peer and his associates at Okeh Records applied the name "country music".

Actually, Eck Robertson and Henry Gilleland probably <u>were</u> the first to cut a country music record (disc). But as to the first country song ever recorded, credit for that is generally given to "Fiddling Bob Haines", who recorded "Arkansas Traveler", around 1908.

As a sidelight...
Cylinders were actually superior to discs as a recording medium, but they soon lost public favor when 2-sided discs were developed.

Now that we have that figured out,
What was the Last Country Record ?
-John

<font size=1> jus' kidding.... sorta

All that fiddle stuff before Okeh Records sounds like it was "old time" music, and not what we call country today. So it all depends on what you want to call "country music."

Well, before there was "country" music, there was "country and western" music, and before that there was "hillbilly music". So, are we looking for the line between "C&W" and just plain "C"?

Thanks again guy's
This is pretty interesting
Jim your right. there was Hillbilly Music Country and Western Music, and there was Country Music, I think the line between C/W and Country would give us Western Swing, I don't know which of this music came first Hillbilly, C/W, Western swing, or Country, but that don't really matter, but sometime and somewhere someone sang and recorded the first Country Music Song.
Could it might be Jimmy Thompson?
Thanks guy's
Fred

FWIW, apparently the first million seller was The Prisoner's Song by Vernon Dalhart

Now you're makin' me feel old! You see, I still <u>have</u> that old 78 of "The Prisoner's Song", by Vernon Dalhart. Though he did a ton of early country songs, he really wasn't a "country singer", per se (he was just as comfortable doing pop songs and operatic arias). He was quite prolific by anyone's standards, in that he recorded over 1,500 songs. I guess we could easily call him the Garth Boooks of the '20s and '30s since he was so popular, crossed over traditional music boundaries, and did sell millions of records. All this back when the population of the U.S. was a fraction of what it is today.

<SMALL>Now you're makin' me feel old! You see, I still have that old 78 of "The Prisoner's Song", by Vernon Dalhart. Though he did a ton of early country songs, he really wasn't a "country singer", per se (he was just as comfortable doing pop songs and operatic arias). He was quite prolific by anyone's standards, in that he recorded over 1,500 songs. I guess we could easily call him the Garth Boooks of the '20s and '30s since he was so popular, crossed over traditional music boundaries, and did sell millions of records. All this back when the population of the U.S. was a fraction of what it is today. </SMALL>

Some of those singers(Vernon Dalhart & Jimmie Rodgers) were selling more 78 records than there were record players, and this was during hard times, when people didn't have much money to spend. People would buy their own copy to go play on a friends Victrola.
I don't think any of todays artist could come close to being that big.

Using the OLD GRAND OLD OPRY as a reference point: Back in the late 1940's, most Opry guests/stars........were being called "Hillbillys". When Eddy Arnold guested on the show, Red Foley referred to him as "the hottest new Folk singer in America". I believe country music followed somewhere about that time in order to dress up the images conjured up by the term "Hillbilly" with blacked out front teeth and visually offensive attire, not to overlook the cornball jokes of that era. Minnie Pearl and Rod Bradfield used to build on that "image" of country hicks.
Musical talent however, was tops in spite of what you might choose to call it.
Western swing seems to have grown out of the dance band groups (not the Grand Old Opry") of Wills, Thompson, Cooley, etc.
That's the way I see it from way out here on the Left Coast.

Eric,
Laughing my a$$ off!!!!
Thanx

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Sho-Bud ProII
"there's been an awful murder, down on music row!"

For what it's worth, National Public radio is doing a segment on Fridays, on Honky tonks, Hymns and the blues. Today was a segment about Jimmie Rogers. I'd guess it was about 10 minutes in length with cuts of him singing, the story of his life and even comments fron the Hag. I learned more about him in those 10 minutes than I ever knew.

It was in the morning report, about 5:40 AM LA time. The segments are worth checking out at the time they come on in your area. Check out www.npr.org

Next week: The Maddox brothers and Rose.