[Ads-l] Antedating of "Country Music"

[Jonathan Lighter]

And don't overlook the not-quite-synonymous "mountain music" ('specif.,
traditional music typical of the Southern Appalachian and Ozark Mountains')

1922 _Riverside [Calif.] Daily Press_ (Jan. 24) 3 [GenealogyBank]: Mountain
Music.

1929 _Nashville Banner_ (May 26) 25 [Newspapers.com] : Pickard Family To
Give The South's Songs...fast-stepping hill-billy classics....[T]his
exposition of mountain music...includes such favorites as "Turkey in the
Straw."

1929 _Atlanta Journal_ (June 16) Society Sec. 10 {Newspapers.com] :
Mountain Music Topline Feature  At The Georgia [Theater].

1930 _Santa Maria [Calif.] Daily Times_ (Sept. 30) 3 [Newspapers.com]:
Mountain music is the nearest approach to folk music America has.

Etc., etc.

JL

On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 6:48 PM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Excellent methodology and result.  Thanks !
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> ADSGarson O'Toole <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, January 19, 2026 5:47 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Country Music"
>
> There were too many matches for "country music" with divergent senses,
> so I constrained the search by adding the instruments mentioned in the
> germane OED definition: fiddle, banjo, and guitar. Below is a 1926
> citation that might be ok.
>
> country music NOUN
> [Begin OED excerpt]
> 2. Popular music of a style originating in folk music of the rural
> southern United States and cowboy music of the American West,
> typically consisting of ballads and dance tunes accompanied by fiddle,
> banjo, guitar, and pedal steel guitar. Cf. country and western n. and
> hillbilly n. 2.
> [End OED excerpt]
>
> Date: March 24, 1926
> Newspaper: The Charlotte News
> Newspaper Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
> Article: Old-Time Music Features Meeting of Monarch Club
> Quote Page 21, Column 7
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
>
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-charlotte-news-countrymusic%2F189340796%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C24ff8896d101403bcd4908de57acbe72%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C639044596646489079%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=LpdvvjijrVw%2FI5jKcE7sSGo%2BX%2F0fofauNzicUV6oKLY%3D&reserved=0
> <
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charlotte-news-countrymusic/189340796/
> >
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Echoes of olden days, in the mellow music of the fiddle and strum of
> the banjo and guitar, were heard at the weekly meeting of the
> Charlotte Monarch Club, held in the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday at 1
> P. M.
>
> A string orchestra, playing "country" music, entertained the club
> members. This orchestra was composed of Robert Helms, Archie Porter,
> Joe and Brown of Antioch, Joe Forbis, of Matthews, and Joe Baker and
> James Eaton, of Charlotte.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 11:52 AM Shapiro, Fred
> <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > country music (OED 1942)
> >
> > 1934 Philadelphia Inquirer Public Ledger 10 June 10/3 (ProQuest)
> >
> > On Thursday, June 14, 1934, at 1:00 P.M. General Store will present a
> real country wedding.  It will be an exciting half-hour of real
> old-fashioned country happenings with good old country music.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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