On April 26, 1941, Ernest Tubb recorded his song Walking
the Floor Over You in a Fort Worth, Texas
recording studio. He was from San Antonio, Texas. His
band, the first Texas Troubadours were from Gadsden,
Alabama. The Texas Troubadour opened the Ernest
Tubb Record Shop and The Midnite Jamboree
radio program in 1947.
On behalf of the Library of Congress, Alan Lomax went
to Stovall, Mississippi in August 1941 to record
country blues musicians. "He brought his stuff
down and recorded me right in my house and when he
played back the first song I sounded just like
anybody's records. Man, you don't know how I felt
that Saturday afternoon when I heard that voice
and it was my own voice. Later on he sent me two
copies of the pressing and a check for twenty
bucks, and I carried that record up to the corner
and put it on the jukebox. Just played it and
played it and said, 'I can do it, I can do it'." -
Muddy Waters, Rolling Stone.
FM
radio as we know it began in 1941. That's when
the first commercial FM station went on the air --
W47NV in Nashville. FM -- standing for frequency
modulation -- was first proposed in a scientific
paper written by Edwin Armstrong in 1922. By 1934,
he demonstrated how FM was unaffected by static,
unlike all the radio stations then on the air, which
used AM or amplitude modulation. Critics said the
idea was impractical. World War II interrupted the
advance of FM broadcasting, which slowly began to
gain popularity in the 1950s. Radio Stars never
sounded better.
First
Gold Record: The idea of awarding performers a
gold record for a big selling performance dates back
to this week in 1942. During a live radio broadcast,
surprised band leader Glenn Miller was given the
first gold record for his million selling hit,
"Chattanooga Choo Choo." The award wasn't revived
until 1958, for Perry Como's single "Catch a Falling
Star." The first award for an album was the cast
recording of the musical "Oklahoma."
South Carolina native Dizzy
Gillespie began an innovative style of trumpet
performance that would come to be called BeBop.
Rocky Mount, North Carolina native Thelonious
Monk contributed to the birth of Bebop.
Janis Joplin
was born in Port Arthur, Texas in 1943.
Sonny
Boy
Williamson was one of the most influential
harmonica players in blues history. He was the
blues first radio star on "The King Biscuit Time" in
Helena, Arkansas.
Louis
Jordan,"Father
of Rhythm and Blues," had his first
million-seller with "Is
You Is or Is You Ain't Ma Baby?
Nashville was beginning to emerge as
a center for country recording. Chet
Atkins played a major role in the development
of the Nashville music industry.
The Lucky
Millinder didn't play an instrument and
couldn't read music but he played a crucial role in
the early development of jump blues.
The
Louisiana
Hayride began their Saturday night broadcast
from the Municipal Auditorium Shreveport, Louisiana
on April 3, 1948.
Atlantic
Records was founded in 1947. Click
here to watch a short history of Atlantic Jazz.
On June 11, 1949, Hank
Williams made his debut on the Grand
Ole
Opry.
Adrian Belew: The Twang Bar
King was born December
23, 1949, Covington, Kentucky
45
rpm Records: The sound recording business
became more complicated in 1949 -- when RCA unveiled
the 45 rpm record. So-called "long-play" recordings,
either 10 or 12 inches and turning at 33 rpm, had
been around for a few years, but older, 78 rpm
technology was still used for recording single
musical selections. Seven-inch 45s soon took over
the pop single market and were the favorite of
teenagers across the country. Radio Stars rejoiced.
February
6, 1949: Ed
Sullivan Show presents W.C. Handy.
The
1950s get all the glory when it comes to the early
days of Rock n Roll but Roy
Brown recorded Good
Rocking Tonight in 1947 and Fats Domino
recorded The Fat Man by in 1949 at Cosimo
Matassa's J&M Recording Studio in New Orleans,
Louisiana.
