What is “Americana” music?
There is great variance in the way that the term Americana is applied to music.
I did some quick research to sample some of these
perspectives. The first place I
looked for a definition of Americana music was the Web site of the Americana
Music Association, which is a non-profit trade organization for Americana
artists.
Now the first sign of trouble was that they did not define
on their Web site or in their press releases what they meant by Americana.
According to the Web site, the mission
of the Americana Music Association is “to provide a forum for the advocacy of
Americana music, to promote public awareness of this genre and to support the
creative and economic viability of professionals in this field”
The key word here is genre.
To define Americana music as a genre is to take a very narrow view.
The AMA has an audio
clip on the site where they explain that their association includes everyone
from Sam Bush to Lyle Lovett to Jerry Jeff Walker to Willie Nelson to Marty
Stuart to Ricky Skaggs. Talk about
narrow! What’s more, they even provide a demographic
for Americana music. Apparently
78.2% of Americana listeners are male, over 80% attended college in some form,
and nearly 70% make over $40,000 a year!
Now let’s examine a somewhat broader viewpoint.
There is a syndicated radio show called Americana
that’s produced in Nashville by CounterPoint Productions.
They actually do provide a definition of Americana.
According to their Web site, Americana programming
is “best described as progressive, roots country music, which offers an
alternative to mainstream country.” That’s a little better.
They’ve included the word “roots.”
A quick look through their playlists
shows that, in addition to the usual suspects of Willie Nelson and Marty Stuart,
they also include Tejano/Tex-Mex artist Flaco Jimenez, folkies like Peter Rowan,
classic rockers like the Byrds and the Sir Douglas Quintet, and bluegrass
artists like Del McCoury and David Grisman.
What we’re seeing here connections between different
genres, and how certain artists influence others.
Yet, they still speak of Americana as if it’s a genre.
Now you’ll forgive me for pulling the old “according to
Webster’s” high school stunt, but I believe it might shed some real light on
the question. Webster’s defines
Americana as “materials concerning or characteristic of America, its
civilization, or its culture; broadly: things typical of America.”
The second definition is simply “American culture.”
Brilliant! So
one can conclude that Americana music is American cultural music.
It’s not a single genre. It’s
not a demographic. It’s Louis
Armstrong, it’s Tex-Czech polkas, it’s Piedmont Blues, it’s Bob Wills and
his Texas Playboys, it’s Hawaiian steel guitar music, it’s Motown, it’s
gospel, it’s swing, and so on. And
it’s also those artists whose music is recognizably informed by American
cultural music. Like Lyle Lovett. Like
Lucinda Williams. And so on.
What we try to achieve on the KTRU Americana show is to explore this melting pot of American cultural music. Often, we use a theme as a point of departure, such as “the accordion” or “the life of Big Mama Thornton” or “songs about Route 66” or “South Texas’ Sarg Records label.” In addition to just playing the music, we will often try to provide some discussion of the artists or the recordings, and to place the music into context for the listener. We see ourselves as providing an educational function, as well as just playing great music.