America's Musical Roots in Tennessee

America's Musical Roots in Tennessee. . Nashville is known as "Music City," but the entire state has contributed enormously to internationally recognized American Music that speaks across cultures. Source: Based on information supplied by the Country Music Foundation Library and Media Center. , Memphis, the melting pot of American music has nurtured blues, rhythm and blues, rockabilly, soul, rock and roll, and jazz. An important center for composing and performing since the 1910s and for recording since the 1950s, Memphis' prominent contributors include W.C. Handy, Elvis Presley, Alberta Hunter, and Sam Phillips. Aretha Franklin, the "Queen of Soul," is a native of Memphis. , In the Countryside surrounding Memphis real blues took shape in the 1920s-30s. Sonny Boy Williamson, a native son, deeply affected this musical form. , In the 1870s the Fisk Jubilee Singers put Nashville on the musical map. The city rose to radio prominence in the 1920s with WSM's "Barn Dance," later the "Grand Ole Opry." A songwriting and publishing hub since the 1940s, Nashville was also a retail record center, and it became the national center for country music in the 1950s. Since that time "Music City" has also become a recording crossroad for country, gospel, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, soul, rock n roll, and pop sounds. , Jazz and Blues flourished in Chattanooga in the 1910s-20s with artists such as Bessie Smith. At the same time, white gospel emerged from the surrounding mountains. , Landmark Recording Sessions captured the music of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers in Bristol in July-August of 1927 to profoundly shape country music. , Drawing Largely on local talent, Knoxville was an influential recording and country broadcasting center in the 1930s-50s. , From the highest Mountains of Tennessee early strings bands and fiddle contests in the 1920s transported Celtic heritage into the state and region.