'First of Their Kind': The Origins of Recorded Country Music
The Manuscripts Department invites you to an exhibition, "'First of Their Kind': The Origins of Recorded Country Music." The exhibit will be on display through early September 2003 in the Manuscripts Department located on the fourth floor of Wilson Library.
The materials in the exhibit trace the origins of recorded native folk music, at different times known as "Mountaineer," "Old Time," "Southern," or "Hillbilly" music. Text for the exhibit is based on Archie Green's essay "Hillbilly Music: Source and Symbol," first published in the Journal of American Folklore in July 1965.
Though some traditional folk music was available on cylinder or disc in the 1890s, the mixture of rural dances, minstrel routines, country fiddling and concert offerings was not specially categorized by the industry or public. An established category for recorded native folk music did not exist until 1923, when Ralph Peer and his associates at Okeh records opened a field, provided boundaries for it, and gave it a name.
