Western swing

Western swing
Origini stilistiche	Western, blues, folk, swing, Dixieland, string band
Origini culturali	anni 1920-1930; piccole città nel sudovest degli stati uniti
Strumenti tipici	chitarra, voce, pianoforte, violino, basso, steel guitar, banjo, corno, chitarra, fisarmonica, tromba, sassofono, batteria
Generi derivati
	rockabilly, rock and roll
Generi correlati
	Texas swing
Generi regionali
	scene regionali correlate
Categorie correlate
	Gruppi musicali western swing · Musicisti western swing · Album western swing · EP western swing · Singoli western swing · Album video western swing

«"Western swing is nothing more than a group of talented country boys, unschooled in music, but playing the music they feel, beating a solid two-four rhythm to the harmonies that buzz around their brains. When it escapes in all its musical glory, my friend, you have Western swing."»

Il Western swing è un genere musicale assimilato alla musica country ("Country and Western"), originato tra gli anni '20 e '30 del 900 nelle regioni occidentali e meridionali degli Stati Uniti d'America (Texas, Oklahoma e regioni limitrofe), dalle string band^[1]^[2] di musicisti bianchi che suonavano prevalentemente con strumenti a corde musica dancehall e country primordiale, evolvendo verso le nuove tendenze del jazz, dello swing e persino del blues più viscerale.

Osteggiato dai tradizionalisti del country, a causa delle evidenti influenze "nere", il Western swing ebbe un grande successo in Texas e negli stati del Midwest tra il 1935 e il 1950, cedendo il passo alla voga dell'Honky tonk e dell'Hillbilly-boogie, influenzando non poco la nascita del rock'n'roll "bianco" (basti notare che Elvis Presley e soprattutto Bill Haley, all'inizio delle rispettive carriere si muovevano appunto in ambito Western swing).

Non di rado i complessi Western swing si trasformavano in grosse formazioni simili alle big-band swing, includendo, con scandalo dei conservatori del country, strumenti poco ortodossi, batteria, pianoforte, fiati, chitarre elettriche e lap-steel, contribuendo lentamente alla loro accettazione nel moderno mainstream Country.

^ Brink, Western Swing, p. 550: "In many ways, western swing music is a manifestation of the cultural forces that came together where the geographical isolation and harsh living conditions of the frontier met the electronic age. People still living in dugouts and sod houses on the Southern High Plains became a part of popular culture through the radio and the jukebox, mingling their musical talents and tastes with the new sounds introduced to them through the accessibility of phonographs and the airwaves."
^ Logsdon, "Folk Songs", p. 299: "In the 1920s Bob Wills, a fiddle player son of a cotton farmer in West Texas, started playing ranch-house dances. His desire to play dances eventually developed a dance genre known as western swing. While the music has elements of jazz and blues, it actually evolved from the specific merger of cowboy and farmer folk song and instrumentation."

[1] Brink, Western Swing, p. 550: "In many ways, western swing music is a manifestation of the cultural forces that came together where the geographical isolation and harsh living conditions of the frontier met the electronic age. People still living in dugouts and sod houses on the Southern High Plains became a part of popular culture through the radio and the jukebox, mingling their musical talents and tastes with the new sounds introduced to them through the accessibility of phonographs and the airwaves."

[2] Logsdon, "Folk Songs", p. 299: "In the 1920s Bob Wills, a fiddle player son of a cotton farmer in West Texas, started playing ranch-house dances. His desire to play dances eventually developed a dance genre known as western swing. While the music has elements of jazz and blues, it actually evolved from the specific merger of cowboy and farmer folk song and instrumentation."

[1]

[2]