Overview of the music of Missouri
Music of Missouri
has a storied musical history.
Missouri
has had major developments in several popular music genres and has been the birthplace or career origin of many musicians.
St. Louis
was an important venue for early
blues
,
jazz
,
country
, and
bluegrass
.
Kansas City
has had famous performers such as
Charlie Parker
,
Count Basie
,
Lester Young
, and the distinct style of
Kansas City jazz
.
Ragtime
made influence in the city of
Sedalia, Missouri
, due to
Scott Joplin
and his publisher
John Stark
, and through Missouri native
James Scott
.
Rock and roll
pioneers
Big Joe Turner
and
Chuck Berry
were born in Kansas City and St. Louis, respectively, and
folk
singer
Ella Jenkins
was born in St. Louis.
Hillbilly music
developed in the
Ozarks
of southern Missouri, and from 1955 to 1961,
Springfield
was home to some of the first
national country music programs
on American television. Since the 1980s,
Branson, Missouri
has emerged as a country music tourist mecca. In the 1990s, St. Louis area band
Uncle Tupelo
blended
punk
,
rock
, and country-influenced music styles with raucous performances and became pioneers of
alt-country
. Both St. Louis and Kansas City also have active hip-hop scenes;
Tech N9ne
was born in Kansas City and
Eminem
in
St. Joseph
, and
Nelly
and the
St. Lunatics
got their start in St. Louis.
Sheryl Crow
is from
Kennett, Missouri
and attended the
University of Missouri School of Music
.
Sara Evans
, a Missourian came from Howard County.
Indigenous music
[
edit
]
Folk music
[
edit
]
Missouri fiddling
is a style of folk fiddling that developed in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Howard Wight Marshall
, historian has been active in the preservation of this art form and has published several full length volumes on the topic.
Blues
[
edit
]
Country blues
singer and songwriter
Lottie Kimbrough
was born in
West Bottoms
, Kansas City, Missouri.
Classical
[
edit
]
The
St. Louis Symphony
is one of the oldest orchestras in the United States. The
University of Missouri School of Music
was established in 1917 in
Columbia, Missouri
and has thousands of alumni.
Jazz
[
edit
]
Kansas City and St. Louis are "cradles of jazz" along with
New Orleans
,
Chicago
,
Pittsburgh
,
Philadelphia
, and
New York City
.
[1]
Jazz
artists from Missouri include
Dixieland jazz
and
ragtime
clarinetist, composer, and bandleader
Wilbur Sweatman
; trumpeter, saxophonist, accordionist, and bandleader
Charlie Creath
;
ragtime
musician and composer
Scott Joplin
;
bebop
saxophonist and composer
Charlie Parker
; tenor saxophonists
Coleman Hawkins
,
Ben Webster
, and
Jimmy Forrest
; pianist and bandleader
Bennie Moten
; trumpeters
Shorty Baker
,
Clark Terry
,
Lester Bowie
,
Louis Metcalf
, and
Baikida Carroll
; violinist
Eddie South
; alto saxophonist, arranger, and composer
Lennie Niehaus
; saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader
Oliver Nelson
; clarinetist
Pee Wee Russell
; double bassist
Wendell Marshall
; trombonists
Joseph Bowie
and
Melba Liston
; alto saxophonists
Luther Thomas
and
Jimmy Woods
; saxophonist and composer
Ahmad Alaadeen
; guitarists
Grant Green
,
Pat Metheny
, and
Norman Brown
; drummer
Phillip Wilson
; organists
Wild Bill Davis
,
Milt Buckner
, and
Charles Kynard
;
smooth jazz
musicians
Bob James
and
David Sanborn
; and singers
Anita O'Day
and
Oleta Adams
.
St. Louis's
Gaslight Square
entertainment district was an important area for jazz from the mid-1950s to 1960s.
Jazz club
Peacock Alley
was the site of
Miles Davis
's recording of
Miles Davis Quintet at Peacock Alley
in 1956. The
Black Artists' Group
was a multidisciplinary art collective in St. Louis from 1968 to 1972 that fostered jazz and the
Black Arts Movement
in the city.
[2]
BAG inspired the foundation of
Human Arts Ensemble
.
By the 1920s, Kansas City was the geographical center of the
vaudevillian
Orpheum circuit
, which included live music.
[3]
Kansas City jazz
is a riff-based and blues-influenced sound developed in jam sessions in the crowded clubs of the
18th and Vine
neighborhood. Many jazz musicians of the 1930s and 1940s lived or got started here, including Charlie Parker,
[4]
Count Basie
, and
Lester Young
. Kansas City jazz in the 1930s marked the transition from big bands to the bebop influence of the 1940s. The 1979 documentary
The Last of the Blue Devils
portrays this era in interviews and performances by local jazz figures.
Kansas City Jazz Orchestra
is big band style.
Due to this musical legacy, U.S. Representative
Emanuel Cleaver
said 18th and Vine is America's third most recognized street after
Broadway
and
Hollywood Boulevard
.
[5]
In 2018,
UNESCO
designated Kansas City its first and only
City of Music
in the US, in "recognition of [Kansas City's] investment and commitment to music, arts, and creativity as a driver of urban economic development", including the city's
$7 million
budget for improving the
18th and Vine
Jazz District in 2016.
[6]
Rock and metal
[
edit
]
The Urge
came from St. Louis.
Christofer Drew
and his indie rock band
Never Shout Never
are from
Joplin
.
Harlow
from Kansas City signed to Greenworld records.
Shaman's Harvest
is from
Jefferson City
.
Prog metal
band
Anacrusis
is from St. Louis. In 2005, rock band
Living Things
gained national attention after the release of their album
Ahead of the Lions
. Cavo is from St. Louis.
Puddle of Mudd
is from Kansas City.
Story Of The Year
from St. Louis is multi-platinum.
Greek Fire (band)
Spawning from Story Of The Year also from St. Louis.
Hip-hop
[
edit
]
Tech N9ne
from Kansas City helped popularize the
chopper
rap style in the late 1990s and co-founded the
Strange Music
label.
Nelly
from St. Louis had four #1 Billboard Hot 100 hits in the early 2000s, including "
Hot in Herre
" in 2002, and one with
Murphy Lee
.
Metro Boomin
from St. Louis has multiple #1 Billboard Hot 100 hits due to his production.
Country
[
edit
]
Branson, Missouri
is a popular tourist destination in the
Ozarks
of southwestern Missouri with an association with mainstream
country music
. The town's popularity grew in the 1980s when a number of prominent country stars moved to the area, including
Boxcar Willie
,
Sons of the Pioneers
, and
Roy Clark
. Two major attractions had roots in the 1950s: the Shepherd of the Hills Theatre and Park, and
Silver Dollar City
. Modern music festivals in Branson include the Old-Time Fiddle Festival, Branson Jam, and the State of the Ozarks Fiddlers Convention. The largest music venue in Branson is the Grand Palace, which seats upwards of 4,000 people.
[7]
Prominent local attractions in Branson include entrepreneur and performer Jennifer Wilson, a regional celebrity known for her show at the Americana Theatre,
[8]
the Mabe family's
Baldknobbers
jamboree, which has been running for three generations, and
Jim Owen
of the
Jim Owen Morning Show
.
The area's country music broadcasting history, however, can be traced to nearby
Springfield, Missouri
in the mid-1930s, when
Ralph D. Foster
's
KWTO
began carrying live performances and syndicating them to other stations across the country. The station's most famous program was
Ozark Jubilee
, which, starting in 1955, was carried live on ABC-TV across the country. Foster became a major figure in the region's music history; there is a museum named after him on the campus of the
College of the Ozarks
.
[7]
Other national country music TV programs originating from Springfield included
Five Star Jubilee
and
Talent Varieties
. Television entertainers
Porter Wagoner
and
Speck Rhodes
were from
West Plains, Missouri
.
Branson's place as a tourist destination was sparked in large part by the publication of the popular novel
The Shepherd of the Hills
by
Harold Bell Wright
in 1907, which is set in the Branson area. It was the first novel in America to sell over a million copies, and readers flocked to Branson to see the places described in the book. The local music scene and a tourism industry developed as a result.
[9]
Alt-country and indie rock
[
edit
]
Mid-1980s
[
edit
]
In the mid-1980s, the
Saint Louis
area (and nearby southern Illinois) was home to
garage rock
band the Primitives and rock band the Blue Moons.
[10]
The Blue Moons featured
Festus
native
Mark Ortmann
on drums and
Brian Henneman
.
1990s
[
edit
]
The Primitives reorganized and transformed into
Uncle Tupelo
in the early 1990s.
[10]
At the same time, Chicken Truck, an original
outlaw country
rock
band, featuring
Brian Henneman
and drummer
Mark Ortmann
, was giving memorable performances in clubs such as Cicero's. Chicken Truck reorganized and became the indie
roots rock
band
the Bottle Rockets
in 1992. A country cover band called Coffee Creek linked all of these upstart bands. Coffee Creek was composed of
Jay Farrar
, Brian Henneman,
Mike Heidorn
, and
Jeff Tweedy
.
[11]
Uncle Tupelo disbanded in 1994.
[12]
Founding members of Uncle Tupelo formed
Son Volt
and
Wilco
after the split.
Bottle Rockets became known for their hit songs, "Radar Gun", "$1,000 Car", and "I'll Be Comin' Around". Their success led to appearances on
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
performing one of their original songs and being featured in a comedic sketch.
2000s
[
edit
]
After extensive remodeling, Cicero's, in the art district of
University City
, became what is currently known as
Blueberry Hill
's Duck Room.
Chuck Berry
performed there frequently until 2014, and the venue hosts national touring rock music artists.
[13]
Angel Olsen
is a folk and indie rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist who was raised in St. Louis.
Nathaniel Rateliff
was born in St. Louis and grew up in Hermann before initially relocating to Colorado to work with an evangelical ministry, after which he left religion and began pursuing music professionally.
[14]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Kansas City Jazz"
. Savvytraveler.publicradio.org. October 30, 1999
. Retrieved
May 21,
2014
.
- ^
"River of Song: Music Along the River"
. Pbs.org
. Retrieved
October 24,
2015
.
- ^
Londre, Felicia Hardison (2007).
The enchanted years of the stage : Kansas City at the crossroads of American theater, 1870-1930
. University of Missouri Press.
ISBN
9780826265852
.
OCLC
290503575
.
- ^
Thomason, Philip (December 1989).
"National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: 18th and Vine Historic District"
(PDF)
. Missouri Department of Natural Resources
. Retrieved
March 1,
2017
.
(includes 27 photographs) and
site map
- ^
Horsley, Lynn (January 6, 2016).
"KC Council will consider pitch for $18 million to bolster 18th and Vine district"
.
The Kansas City Star
. Retrieved
July 26,
2020
.
- ^
Wankum, Leah (March 27, 2018).
"Investing in the arts earns KC designation as UNESCO's only 'City of Music' in US"
.
Startland News
.
Archived
from the original on April 17, 2018
. Retrieved
April 16,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Byron, pp. 123-140
- ^
"Lodge of the Ozarks"
. January 19, 2018. Archived from
the original
on April 22, 2010.
- ^
Dale Cox (April 23, 2015).
"Branson, Missouri - Music Capital of the Ozarks"
. Exploresouthernhistory.com. Archived from
the original
on October 31, 2015
. Retrieved
October 24,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"No Depression liner notes"
. Factorybelt.net
. Retrieved
May 20,
2010
.
- ^
"Coffee Creek"
. Factorybelt.net
. Retrieved
May 20,
2010
.
- ^
Archived at
Ghostarchive
and the
Wayback Machine
:
"Uncle Tupelo's last song"
. YouTube. September 13, 2007
. Retrieved
May 20,
2010
.
- ^
Pick, Steve.
"Bottle Rockets ≪ Americana and Roots Music"
. No Depression. Archived from
the original
on February 23, 2019
. Retrieved
May 20,
2010
.
- ^
"Nathaniel Rateliff Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More"
.
AllMusic
.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Budds, Michael
(2021).
200 Memorable Missouri Musical Moments: Commentary, Historical Photographs, & Video Clips: In Honor of the Missouri State Bicentennial In 2021
.
Columbia, Missouri
: The Mizzou Store.
ISBN
9781616004095
.
- Blush, Steven
;
Petros, George
(October 1, 2001).
American Hardcore: A Tribal History
.
Feral House
.
ISBN
9780922915712
. Retrieved
August 10,
2017
.
- Byron, Janet (1996).
Country Music Lover's Guide to the U.S.A.
(1st ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 178.
ISBN
0-312-14300-1
.
- Hogeland, William (March 14, 2004),
Emulating the Real and Vital Guthrie, Not St. Woody
, New York Times.
- Wolff, Kurt & Duane, Orla (2000).
Country Music: The Rough Guide
. Rough Guides. pp. 557?8.
ISBN
9781858285344
.
- The Mississippi River Of Song: The Grassroots of American Music
. Smithsonian Institution and the Filmmakers Collaborative, 1999.
- Gilbert, Barry (May 5, 2008),
Bottle Rockets Blaze in Launching Their 15th Anniversary Concerts
, Saint Louis Post-Dispatch.
- Blackstock, Peter (December 7, 2007),
if kerosene works, why not gasoline?
, No Depression.