progressive country

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Progressive country is variously considered a movement, a genre or a radio format. It developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as a reaction against the slick, pop-oriented Nashville sound of country music.American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3, Starr, Larry and Waterman, Christopher. This movement was variously marketed under the names "Cosmic Cowboy music",{{cite web |url=https://lonestarmusicmagazine.com/qa-michael-martin-murphey/ |title=Q&A: MICHAEL MARTIN MURPHEY |last=Patterson |first=Rob |date=September 1, 2013 |work=Lone Star Magazine |access-date=2023-07-24 |quote=And beyond all of Murphey’s above achievements, there is also the role he played in launching the Austin progressive country scene in the 1970s. So pivotal a role, in fact, that the Capital City’s first local musical movement to have substantial national impact even took its nickname, “Cosmic Cowboy music,” from a Murphey song.}} "twang core", "cosmic country", progressive country, "redneck rock", "gonzo country" and, most commonly, outlaw country. The phrase "Cosmic Cowboy music" was taken from a Michael Martin Murphey song. Some country fans consider outlaw country a slightly harder-edged variant of progressive country.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jv-A9t9gGxIC&pg=PT352 |last=Miller |first=Michael |author-link= |date=July 2008 |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History |publisher=DK Publishing|page=352 |isbn=9781440636370}} KOKE-FM, a radio station in Austin, Texas, was a key proponent of progressive country. By the mid-1970s, progressive country artists entered the mainstream, usually in the form of cover versions by other artists, and "progressive country" had become the standard label for music that mixed country, rock, blues and gospel.{{cite web |url= https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/who-killed-redneck-rock/|title= Who Killed Redneck Rock?|last=Reid |first=Jan |date= December 1976|work=Texas Monthly |access-date=2023-07-22}} In the 1980s and '90s, progressive country evolved into alternative country, and the two terms would sometimes be used interchangeably, as alternative rock clubs would begin booking country acts that were insurgent in a mainstream country scene that had embraced country pop.{{cite web |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19970220&slug=2524931 |title=Grange Grunge? -- Alt Is Country's New Guerrilla Movement, And It Seems To Be Burgeoning In Ballard |last=Phalen |first=Tom |date= February 20, 1997 |work=Seattle Times |access-date=2023-07-26}}

Progressive country drew equally from the Bakersfield sound, classic honky-tonk country, the works of contemporary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, and rock and roll, as well as folk, bluegrass, Southern rock and blues.{{cite book |last=Gesell |first=Carla E. |editor=Godfrey, Donald G. |editor2=Leigh, Frederic A. |date=May 21, 1998 |title=Historical Dictionary of American Radio|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4l_2kkv5aeMC&pg=PA315 |pages=315–16 |publisher= Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9780313296369}} Another important influence on progressive country was Roger Miller, who, in blending country with jazz, blues, and pop, "utilized unusual harmonic and rhythmic devices in his sophisticated songcraft".{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/roger-miller-mn0000151431/ |title= Roger Miller |last=Erlewine |first= Stephen Thomas|date= |work=AllMusic |access-date=2023-07-24}} Tommy Caldwell of the Marshall Tucker Band suggested that progressive country combined country music structures and riffs with jazz improvisation upon which more complex structures could be built from the country music foundation.{{cite web |url=https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/marshall-tucker-band-where-we-all-belong-album-of-the-week-club-review |title=Marshall Tucker Band: Where We All Belong - Album Of The Week Club review|author=Staff |date=January 24, 2022 |work=Classic Rock |access-date=2023-07-22}} The Marshall Tucker Band's use of instruments like flutes and saxophones, as well as their fusion of rock instrumentation and country melodies, set them apart from other Southern rock bands.{{Cite web |url=https://www.msn.com/en-in/music/news/the-marshall-tucker-band-an-enduring-legacy-in-progressive-country-rock/ar-AA1l1Bc8 |title=The Marshall Tucker Band: An enduring legacy in progressive country rock |last=Wainio |first=Wade |date=2024 |website=msn.com |publisher=FanSided |access-date=November 30, 2024 }} Marty Stuart, who stated influence from "cosmic country" on his 2023 album Altitude, defined "cosmic country" as "a state of mind. It’s a term that never got fully defined or explored or completed. My idea of cosmic country is the music that the Byrds made in an experimental fashion or the Flying Burrito Brothers."{{cite web |url=https://outsider.com/entertainment/music/country-music/marty-stuart-discusses-cosmic-country-ahead-release-altitude/ |title=Marty Stuart Discusses Cosmic Country Ahead of the Release of 'Altitude' |last=Edwards |first=Clayton |date=March 30, 2023 |work=Outsider |access-date=2023-07-23}} Some progressive country singers were also influenced by the progressive politics of the 1960s counterculture.

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File:Kris Willie Waylon.jpg in 1972.]]

Gram Parsons and the original incarnation of the Flying Burrito Brothers laid the groundwork for progressive country in the late 1960s.{{cite web |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1982/02/26/poco-burrito-brothers-now-exist-in-name-only/62892791007/|title=Poco, Burrito Brothers Now Exist in Name Only |last=Triplett |first= Gene |date=February 26, 1982 |publisher=The Oklahoman |access-date=2023-07-22}} Emmylou Harris was called "the founding mother of progressive country and Americana".{{cite web |url=https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2011/jul/10/emmylou-harris-broadens-what-it-means-be--20110710/ |title=Emmylou Harris broadens what it means to be country|last=Ellis |first=Widner |date=July 10, 2011 |work=Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette|access-date=2023-07-23}} The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo is considered a seminal progressive country album.{{cite web |url=https://www.kentucky.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article220248025.html |title= Marty Stuart thankful opening for Chris Stapleton, 'the man carrying the flag for country music'|last=Tunis|first=Walter |date=October 22, 2018|work=Lexington Herald-Leader |access-date=2023-07-23}} Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were pioneers of the genre,{{cite web |date=July 17, 1976 |url=https://archive.org/stream/cashbox38unse_7/cashbox38unse_7_djvu.txt |title=We've Got a Live One Here |magazine=Cash Box |publisher=Internet Archive |access-date=September 7, 2020}} as was Bob Livingston.{{cite web |url=https://www.cowboysindians.com/2018/01/bob-livingston-review-up-the-flatland-stairs/ |title=The Road Gives Bob Livingston Life on New Record |last=Hamilton |first=Bretney |date=January 8, 2018 |work=Cowboys & Indians|access-date=2023-07-22 |quote=In the beginning, Bob Livingston helped create progressive country music.}} According to AllMusic, the genre's key performers included Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Tom T. Hall, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock.{{cite web |url= https://www.allmusic.com/style/progressive-country-ma0000002796 |title= Progressive country |work=AllMusic |access-date=2023-07-22}} Progressive country was associated with Texas county artists like Nelson, as well as Nashville pioneers like Waylon Jennings and Tompall Glaser.{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1976/04/08/archives/the-pop-life-progressive-country-music.html|title=The Pop Life |last=Rockwell|first=John |date=April 8, 1976 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2023-07-22}} Joe Ely was a prominent figure in the genre's Austin, Texas scene.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/joe-ely-mn0000152002 |title=Joe Ely Biography |last=Ruhlmann |first=William |work=AllMusic |access-date=2023-07-22}} Jerry Jeff Walker would catalyze the movement with his 1973 album ¡Viva Terlingua!{{cite web |url= https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2020-10-30/jerry-jeff-walker-brought-the-magic/|title= Jerry Jeff Walker Brought the Magic|last=Freeman |first=Doug |date=October 30, 2020 |work=Austin Chronicle|access-date=2023-07-22}} Austin's progressive country scene had a pivotal role in shaping Jimmy Buffett's musical style, as Walker introduced Buffett to both Texas Hill Country and Key West.{{cite web |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2022-06-12/jimmy-buffetts-revisits-life-before-the-beach-in-return-to-austin/ |title= Jimmy Buffett Revisits Life Before the Beach in Return to Austin|last=Freeman |first=Doug |date=June 12, 2022 |work=Austin Chronicle |access-date=2023-07-24}} According to NPR, Shaver and Walker, more than any other performers, "embodied the Austin, Texas-based hippie honky-tonk upheaval of the '70s".{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/11/08/932105759/the-ballad-of-billy-joe-shaver-and-jerry-jeff-walker-country-outlaws |title= The Ballad Of Billy Joe Shaver And Jerry Jeff Walker, Country Outlaws|last=Aaron |first=Charles |date= November 8, 2020|work=NPR|access-date=2023-07-22}} In a 1973 piece on Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic, The New York Times wrote, "The term 'progressive country' can now be re‐defined as 'Willie Nelson's friends'," placing as performers of progressive country, Jennings, Charlie Rich, Kristofferson, Hall, Shaver, Sammi Smith, Greezy Wheels and John Prine.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/22/archives/its-so-progressive-in-texas-progressive-in-texas.html |title=It's So 'Progressive' in Texas |last=Carr |first=Patrick |date=July 22, 1973 |work=The New York Times|access-date=2023-07-22}} In 1977, Billboard identified the Charlie Daniels Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, Ely, Walker and Jennings as major performers of progressive country.{{cite magazine |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=p00EAAAAMBAJ&dq=marshall+tucker+band+%22progressive+country%22&pg=PT92 |title=Traditional Country + Modern Sound |last=Cech |first=Tom |date= October 15, 1977|magazine=Billboard |access-date=2023-07-24}} Marty Stuart became a conduit between traditional "hillbilly" country and bluegrass and progressive country as a sideman performing with Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash, before embarking on his solo career.{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/1992/07/24/this-ones-gonna-hurt-you/ |title=This One's Gonna Hurt You |last=Nash |first=Alanna |date=July 24, 1992 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=2023-07-23|quote=Past stints with Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash had made him a conduit between old-time hillbilly and bluegrass and progressive country music. }}

• List of progressive country artists

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{{Country music}}

{{Progressive music}}

Category:Rock music genres

Category:Country music genres

Country

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