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Bluegrass

Bluegrass is an outgrowth of country music. Originally conceived as a way to keep country pure as the genre's popularity continued to grow, it has developed into a style of its own, with its own traditions and quirks. If there is anyone responsible for bluegrass, it's Bill Monroe; the genre itself was named after his band. Monroe developed the genre's signature style -- hard, fast tempos; high, close harmonies; and a pronounced emphasis on instrumental technique -- in the mid-'40s, and he... [+] Read More

Key Artists: The Dillards | Bill Monroe | Flatt & Scruggs | Vassar Clements | The Country Gentlemen | Osborne Brothers | J.D. Crowe & The New South | The Kentucky Colonels | The Stanley Brothers | Old & In the Way | Mac Wiseman | Jim & Jesse | Bashful Brother Oswald | Reno & Smiley
Blues

Blues is about tradition and personal expression. At its core, the blues has remained the same since its inception. Most blues feature simple, usually three-chord, progressions and have simple structures that are open to endless improvisations, both lyrical and musical. The blues grew out of African spirituals and worksongs. In the late 1800s, southern African-Americans passed the songs down orally, and they collided with American folk and country from the Appalachians. New hybrids appeared... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Ivory Joe Hunter | Bessie Smith | Billy Boy Arnold | Howlin' Wolf | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Jimmy Reed | Slim Harpo | Koko Taylor | Skip James | Kokomo Arnold | John Lee Hooker | T-Bone Walker | Guitar Slim | Little Walter | Etta James
Children's

Children's music is designed to both educate and entertain children, hopefully at the same time. Most children's records are made for children that have yet to attend school, or are in pre-school. They are either filled with catchy, simple songs that are easy to sing along with, or they have engaging stories that are often presented with a read-along book. At its best, children's music is witty, enaging and memorable, and it never condescends to children.

Key Artists: Raffi | Parachute Express | Ella Jenkins | Tom Chapin
Classical

Classical music is probably the most misunderstood of all musical categories, a result of its seeming remoteness -- it is, after all, far older than any of the other major musical fields, dating back to the fifth and sixth centuries. But it is also easy to understand -- even for the listener utterly unschooled in its forms -- on its own terms, because it is the most formalistic of music. It is a music of precision and allows the listener a very clear look at both the intent and design of the... [+] Read More

Country

Country music is about tradition, yet its simple form lends itself to endless variations on similar themes. Like blues -- the two genres often shared themes, melodies and songs -- country is a simple music at its core. Most of its songs are built around three chords and a plain melody, but these forms are so basic, they allow for many different styles, from the gritty sounds of honky tonk to the jazzy improvisations of Western Swing. Country music grew out of American Southern folk music,... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Roy Rogers | Johnny Horton | George Jones | Don Gibson | Stonewall Jackson | Kris Kristofferson | Buck Owens | Merle Haggard | Charlie Rich | Marty Robbins | Hank Locklin | Willie Nelson | Waylon Jennings | Loretta Lynn | Roy Acuff
Electronic-Dance

Reaching back to grab the grooves of '70s disco/funk and the gadgets of electronic composition, Electronica soon became a whole new entity in and of itself, spinning off new sounds and subgenres with no end in sight two decades down the pike. Its beginnings came in the post-disco environment of Chicago/New York and Detroit, the cities who spawned house and techno (respectively) during the 1980s. Later that decade, club-goers in Britain latched onto the fusion of mechanical and sensual, and... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Basement Jaxx | Orbital | Massive Attack | The Chemical Brothers | Autechre | Moby | Underworld | The Prodigy | Plastikman | The Orb | Aphex Twin | Daft Punk | Paul Oakenfold | Mouse on Mars | Tricky
Folk

Each country has their own folk music, but the genre usually refers to American and British music that has been passed through the generations by oral tradition. It's simple, acoustic-based music that spins everyday events and common people into mythic status. Many traditional folksongs have no known author, they have simply evolved over the years. Most of the earliest recorded folk music was of this nature, but with Woody Guthrie, topical folk began making its way to record. Still, many... [+] Read More

Key Artists: The Kingston Trio | Bob Gibson | Sandy Denny | Phil Ochs | Steve Goodman | Leadbelly | Doc Watson | Peter, Paul & Mary | Joan Baez | Odetta | Elizabeth Cotten | Eric Andersen | Judy Collins | Arlo Guthrie | Woody Guthrie
Gospel/ Spiritual

Gospel essentially breaks down into three separate categories. For many listeners, the word "gospel" conjures the sound of large African-American Southern gospel choirs, singing joyous songs of celebration. These grew out of traditional spirituals and would later evolve into close-knit, small combos that were the blueprint for doo-wop groups. Another style of gospel was country gospel, which sounded like traditional country with lyrics about God. These two forms -- along with blues gospel,... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Amy Grant | The Fairfield Four | Michael W. Smith | The Mighty Clouds of Joy | Rev. James Cleveland | The Soul Stirrers | The Caravans | The Harmonizing Four | Charlie Peacock | Rich Mullins | The Swan Silvertones | The Dixie Hummingbirds | The Original Gospel Harmonettes | The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi | Mahalia Jackson
Hip-Hop

To the untrained ear, all rap and hip-hop may sound the same, but there's a number of different levels in even the simplest rap song. At its core, hip-hop is a post-modern musical genre that deconstructs familiar sounds and songs, rebuilding them as entirely new, unpredictable songs. Early rap records, commonly called "old school," were made by DJs scratching records and playing drum loops, with MCs rapping over the resulting rhythms. As the genre progressed, hard-rock guitars and... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Ice Cube | Dr. Dre | Digital Underground | Big Daddy Kane | The Notorious B.I.G. | Slick Rick | Bone Thugs-N-Harmony | Public Enemy | N.W.A | Kool Moe Dee | Kurtis Blow | Cypress Hill | Boogie Down Productions | 2Pac | Whodini
Jazz

Jazz has been called America's classical music, and for good reason. Along with the blues, its forefather, it is one of the first truly indigenous musics to develop in America, yet its unpredictable, risky ventures into improvisation gave it critical cache with scholars that the blues lacked. At the outset, jazz was dance music, performed by swinging big bands. Soon, the dance elements faded into the background and improvisation became the key element of the music. As the genre evolved, the... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Woody Herman | Horace Silver | Sonny Rollins | Barry Harris | Oliver Nelson | Joe Henderson | Charles Mingus | Fats Waller | Lee Morgan | Stan Kenton | Django Reinhardt | Lester Young | Wayne Shorter | Rahsaan Roland Kirk | Eddie Harris
Latin

Latin music is a catch-all term for a number of diverse styles from different regions and countries in Latin America. Often, the term refers to Latin pop -- either dance-based or pop oriented-music sung in Spanish or Tejano. Tejano has a number of different styles, from romantic ballads to the narrative nortenos, and they're usually performed by large groups with acoustic instruments and horns. In the '80s and '90s, Tejano has also adopted smooth production techniques from American pop-rock... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Irakere | Selena | Willie Colón | Los Huracanes del Norte | Beny Moré | Milton Nascimento | Caetano Veloso | Johnny Ventura | Djavan | Ricky Martin | Gilberto Gil | Rubén Blades | Chucho Valdés | Gal Costa | Pérez Prado
New Age

Born from an aesthetic that aims to induce a sense of inner calm, new age music emerged from the meditational and holistic fields. Generally, these are harmonious and nonthreatening albums that are allied with new age philosophies encouraging spiritual transcendence and physical healing. Some of these albums are artistically satisfying as well as therapeutic. Lesser musicians, however, often make ridiculous claims in the liner notes as to their ability to catapult listeners into advanced... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Jean Michel Jarre | Steve Roach | Peter Kater | Mannheim Steamroller | The Penguin Cafe Orchestra | Ottmar Liebert | R. Carlos Nakai | Michael Jones | Kitaro | Georgia Kelly | Ray Lynch | David Lanz | David Arkenstone | Michael Stearns | Brian Keane
R&B/Soul/Urban

Evolving out of jump blues in the late '40s, R&B laid the groundwork for rock & roll. R&B kept the tempo and the drive of jump blues, but its instrumentation was sparer and the emphasis was on the song, not improvisation. It was blues chord changes played with an insistent backbeat. During the '50s, R&B was dominated by vocalists like Ray Charles and Ruth Brown, as well as vocal groups like the Drifters and the Coasters. Eventually, R&B metamorphosed into soul, which was funkier and looser... [+] Read More

Key Artists: The Spinners | Little Richard | Lloyd Price | The Supremes | The Temptations | Ben E. King | Johnnie Taylor | Parliament | Percy Sledge | Joe Tex | The Righteous Brothers | Otis Redding | Sly & the Family Stone | Sam & Dave | The Isley Brothers
Radio/Books/Spoken

Spoken Word records contain poems, stories and sketches as recited by authors and actors, or they're documents of interviews and speeches with historical figures. Frequently, they're enhanced with musical backdrops, but throughout it all, the emphasis remains on the spoken word.

Key Artists: Jack Kerouac | Allen Ginsberg | Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rock/Pop

Rock & Roll is often used as a generic term, but its sound is rarely predictable. From the outset, when the early rockers merged country and blues, rock has been defined by its energy, rebellion and catchy hooks, but as the genre aged, it began to shed those very characteristics, placing equal emphasis on craftmanship and pushing the boundaries of the music. As a result, everything from Chuck Berry's pounding, three-chord rockers and the sweet harmonies of the Beatles to the soulful pleas of... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Bobby Fuller Four | Free | The Kingsmen | The Everly Brothers | Bob Dylan | The Doors | Led Zeppelin | Elton John | The Four Tops | Def Leppard | The Kinks | Michael Jackson | Aretha Franklin | Buddy Holly | Marvin Gaye
Vocal-Easy Listening

Vocal music is a term describing classic mainstream American pop performed either by individual singers or vocal groups. Before rock & roll, pop vocalists didn't write their own material, they interpreted songs written by such professional songwriters as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Cole Porter. Often, they would sing these songs supported by an orchestra or a swinging big band. During the '30s and '40s, vocalists were the centerpiece of these big bands and such singers as Bing Crosby... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Bing Crosby | The Boswell Sisters | The Andrews Sisters | Julie London | Rosemary Clooney | Peggy Lee | Doris Day | Johnny Mathis | June Christy | Frank Sinatra | Judy Garland | Josephine Baker | Perry Como | Dean Martin | The Mills Brothers
World/Reggae

Reggae is a music unique to Jamiaca, but it ironically has its roots in New Orleans R&B. Reggae's direct forefather is ska, an uptempo, rhythmic variation based on the New Orleans R&B Jamaican musicians heard broadcast from the US on their transistor radios. Relying on skittering guitar and syncopated rhythms, ska was their interpretation of R&B and it was quite popular in the early '60s. However, during one very hot summer, it was too hot to either play or dance to ska, so the beat was... [+] Read More

Key Artists: Bob Marley & the Wailers | Freddie McGregor | Dennis Brown | Yellowman | Inner Circle | Black Uhuru | Desmond Dekker | Toots & the Maytals | Wailing Souls | Shabba Ranks | Jimmy Cliff | Big Youth | Sly & Robbie | Lee "Scratch" Perry | U-Roy
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