Jesup Gallery
September 7 – December 10
“Jazz emphasizes this, and blues emphasizes this, and country emphasizes this… but where they all start is in this beautiful boiling American Music pot.” – Rhiannon Giddens
Drawn once more from the collection of American blues keyboardist and record producer Mark Naftalin and his wife, Ellen Naftalin, this exhibit highlights the art of country music, with album covers dating from the 1920s through the 1970s.
Country music is not — and never was — one style of music. It has always been a mixture of many styles, springing from many roots and sprouting many new branches to create a complicated chorus of American voices, joining together to tell a complicated American story, one song at a time.
Country music rose from deep and intertwined roots. From fiddle tunes and hymns, to work songs and ballads; to smoky saloons and secluded Appalachian hollows; to barrios along the southern border, and the wide-open spaces of the American West.
As country music evolved, its greatest artists never created their music in a vacuum. They were influenced by their own experiences, but also by the other types of American music they listened to. That cross-pollination of experiences and styles resulted in innovations in sound, tempo, and instrumentation, creating dynamic new branches of country music.
Description excerpted from film documentary Country Music (2019)by Ken Burns.
Thank you to Ellen and Mark Naftalin for digging though their treasure trove of LPs and sharing this piece of unforgettable American recording history.
Exhibit support provided by The Drew Friedman Community Arts Center.
