OTARM It depends on what you mean by…

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Counrymusicquartet

Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad (1891-1953)—often referred to as 'Professor Joad' or 'C.E.M. Joad'—was a member of the BBC 'Brains Trust', where he popularized the expression "It depends what you mean by…". He was by trade a philosopher and psychologist, not a rich source of catch phrases in our own time. I was asked recently if I liked country music… aha! you are a step ahead of me, but yes indeed, I answered, "It depends what you mean by…" It transpired that what was meant was American rural music before World War II. Labels can be as useful as they can be misleading. In this case 'rural music' would be a much better term. Irrespective of individual musical preferences, surely nobody would try to come up with a label that covered music as diverse as the work of Eck Robertson [1] on fiddle, Roy Rogers [2] on Trigger, Willie Nelson [3] on weed, and Taylor Swift [4] on MTV?

You underestimate Mr Nobody: the label he came up with is 'Country Music'! If you check that Wikipedia link, all four are referenced as being examples of the genre. As a tin-eared philistine, I was surprised to learn that music from those four artists may not be as divergent as I would have expected. The website ArtofManliness.com quotes Flatcar Rattlers member Andrew Bays—a long time string player and guitar maker— that more or less anything can be played on a three string guitar using only the three chords G, C, and D: “You can play darn near anything with those chords (save Taylor Swift songs, cause they always have that dramatic teenage girl angst minor chord thrown in).”

Trying to gain my bearings, I listened to some recorded rural music from early twentieth century America. Ah, the good stuff! I think I will call it Old Time American Rural Music: have to have a label if you want people to know what you are talking about!

 

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