Editing Nashville sound

{{Short description|Subgenre of country music}}
{{About|the music genre|the Minor League Baseball team|Nashville Sounds}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Nashville sound
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Country music|Country]]|[[traditional pop]]}}
| cultural_origins  = 1950s, [[Nashville, Tennessee]], United States
| derivatives       = {{hlist|[[Countrypolitan]]|[[country pop]]}}
| subgenrelist      =
| subgenres         =
| fusiongenres      =
| other_topics      = {{hlist|[[List of country musicians]]|[[list of years in country music]]}}
}}

The '''Nashville sound''' is a subgenre of American [[country music]] that originated in the 1950s in [[Nashville, Tennessee]]. It replaced the dominance of the rough [[Honky tonk|honky tonk music]] with "smooth strings and choruses", "sophisticated background vocals" and "smooth tempos" associated with [[traditional pop]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Byworth |editor1-first=Tony |date= 2006|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music |location= London|publisher=Flame Tree Publishing |pages=7, 115–117, 169 |isbn=978-1-84451-406-9}}</ref><ref name=Dawidoff>{{cite book |last=Dawidoff |first= Nicholas|date= 1997|title=In the Country of Country |location=Great Britain |publisher=Faber and Faber |pages= 48–50|isbn=0-571-19174-6}}</ref> It was an attempt "to revive country sales, which had been devastated by the rise of [[Rock and roll|rock 'n' roll]]".<ref name=Dawidoff/>

==Characteristics==
According to Dave Lifton of ''[[Ultimate Classic Rock]]'', the Nashville sound "had more in common with mainstream 50s vocal pop than Western swing or rockabilly."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lifton |first=Dave|date=2016-12-16 |title=The History of Country-Rock: The '50s and '60s |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/country-rock-history-part-1/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |language=en}}</ref>

==Origins==
The Nashville sound was pioneered by staff at [[RCA Victor]], [[Columbia Records]] and [[Decca Records]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee]]. RCA Victor manager, producer and musician [[Chet Atkins]], and producers [[Steve Sholes]], [[Owen Bradley]] and [[Bob Ferguson (music)|Bob Ferguson]], and recording engineer [[Bill Porter (sound engineer)|Bill Porter]] invented the form by replacing elements of the popular [[honky tonk]] style ([[fiddle]]s, [[steel guitar]], nasal lead vocals) with "smooth" elements from 1950s pop music (string sections, background vocals, crooning lead vocals), and using "slick" [[record producer|production]], and [[pop music]] structures.<ref name="TennEncyc">[https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1113 The Tennessee Encyclopedia. Nashville Recording Industry.] Accessed April 9, 2016.</ref><ref name="APM">Sanjek, Russell. (1988). "American Popular Music and Its Business: the first four hundred years". Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-504311-1}}.</ref> The producers relied on a small group of studio musicians known as [[the Nashville A-Team]], whose quick adaptability and creative input made them vital to the hit-making process. The [[Anita Kerr|Anita Kerr Quartet]] was the main vocal backing group in the early 1960s.

The term "Nashville sound" was first mentioned in an article about [[Jim Reeves]] in 1958 in the Music Reporter and again in 1960 in a ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' article about Reeves.<ref>Bill Ivey, Encyclopedia of Country Music</ref> Other observers have identified several recordings that helped establish the early Nashville sound. The country historian Rich Kienzle identified that "[[Gone (Ferlin Husky song)|Gone]]", a [[Ferlin Husky]] hit recorded in November 1956, as a possible precursor. The writer [[Colin Escott]] argued that Reeves' "[[Four Walls (Jim Reeves song)|Four Walls]]", recorded February 1957, as the "first 'Nashville sound' record", and [[Chet Atkins]], the RCA Victor producer and guitarist most often credited with being the sound's primary artistic creator, pointed to his production of [[Don Gibson]]'s "[[Oh Lonesome Me]]" later the same year.<ref name=livinginstereo>{{cite web |title=The "Nashville Sound" Begins |url=http://livinginstereo.com/?p=252 |access-date=August 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120525182906/http://livinginstereo.com/?p=252 |archive-date=May 25, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In an essay published in ''Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles'', David Cantwell argues that [[Elvis Presley]]'s [[rock and roll]] recording of "[[Don't Be Cruel]]" in July 1956 was the record that sparked the beginning of the era now called the Nashville sound.<ref name=livinginstereo/>

Regarding the Nashville sound, the record producer [[Owen Bradley]] stated {{blockquote|"Now we've cut out the fiddle and steel guitar and added choruses to country music. But it can't stop there. It always has to keep developing to keep fresh."<ref name="Music">{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Du Noyer |year=2003 |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music |edition=1st |publisher=Flame Tree Publishing |location=Fulham, London |isbn=1-904041-96-5 |page=14}}</ref>
}}

[[Bradley Studios]], [[RCA Studio B]] and later [[RCA Studio A]], located directly center of [[Music Row]], were considered pivotal as well as essential locations to the development of the Nashville sound musical techniques. RCA Studio A specifically was designed and built to incorporate these techniques and was designed by RCA's sound engineer [[John E. Volkmann]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nashvillescene.com/music/features/article/20991582/three-years-after-being-saved-from-the-wrecking-ball-studio-a-still-makes-an-impact|title=Three Years After Being Saved from Wrecking Ball Studio a Still Makes an Impact|publisher=Nashville Scene|access-date=2018-04-08}}</ref> In 1960, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' reported that Nashville had "nosed out [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] as the nation's second biggest (after [[New York City|New York]]) record-producing center."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://countrymusichalloffame.com/site/explore-history-postelvis.aspx |title=Country After Elvis &#124; Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum &#124; Nashville, Tennessee |access-date=2008-11-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516033857/http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/explore-history-postelvis.aspx |archive-date=2008-05-16 }}</ref>

==Countrypolitan<!--'Countrypolitan' redirects here-->==
[[File:Lynn Anderson on stage April 2011.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Lynn Anderson]]]]
In the early 1960s, the Nashville sound began to be challenged by the rival [[Bakersfield sound]] on the country side<ref name="TennEncyc" /> and by the [[British Invasion]] on the pop side;<ref name=americasradiostars>{{cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/ross/202078/did-the-beatles-kill-americas-radio-stars/|title=Did the Beatles kill America's radio stars?|first=Ken|last=Barnes|work=Radio Insight|date=February 9, 2021|access-date=February 20, 2021}}</ref> compounding these problems were the sudden deaths, in separate airplane crashes, of [[Patsy Cline]] and [[Jim Reeves]], two of the Nashville sound's biggest stars. Nashville's pop song structure became more pronounced, and it morphed into what was called '''Countrypolitan'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->: a smoother sound typified through the use of lush string arrangements with a real [[orchestra]] and often background vocals provided by a choir. Countrypolitan was aimed straight at mainstream markets, and its music sold well through the later 1960s into the mid-1970s. Among the architects of this sound were producers [[Billy Sherrill]] (who was instrumental in shaping [[Tammy Wynette]]'s early career) and [[Glenn Sutton]]. Artists who typified the countrypolitan sound initially included Wynette, [[Charlie Rich]], and [[Charley Pride]], along with [[Los Angeles]]–based singers [[Lynn Anderson]] and [[Glen Campbell]]. [[George Jones]]'s style of the era successfully fused the countrypolitan sound with the honky-tonk style that had made him famous.<ref name="APM" />

The Bakersfield sound, and later [[outlaw country]], dominated country music among aficionados while countrypolitan reigned on the pop charts.<ref name="APM" />

Upon being asked what the Nashville sound was, [[Chet Atkins]] put his hand into his pocket, shook his loose change, and said "That's what it is. It's the sound of money."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/286_200709.html |title=Bet on Chet - eMusic Spotlight |access-date=2011-07-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613042258/http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/286_200709.html |archive-date=2011-06-13 }}</ref>

==Country pop==
{{main|Country pop}}
By the late 1970s and 1980s, many pop music singers picked up the countrypolitan style and created what is known as [[country pop]], the fusion of [[country music]] and [[pop music]].

==See also==
*[[The Nashville A-Team]]
*[[Nashville Sounds]], a baseball team that borrows its name from the style

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Country music}}

[[Category:Country music genres]]
[[Category:Pop music genres]]
[[Category:Music of Nashville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Music scenes]]