News — nashville

Music historians will argue over the exact origins of the music industry in Nashville, although any stance depends on the genre under discussion, and how far back one is willing to go. The predominance of country music is undeniable, with its roots planted in Celtic and European folk songs and associated instrumentation brought to the US by early immigrants. In the 1920s, Nashville’s first radio station WSM cemented the city’s country music status with Grand Ole Opry broadcasts of mountain songs and hillbilly music. These styles would later contribute to what is now known as the ‘third’ generation of country...

Located on 17th Avenue, North and Jo Johnston, Pearl High School (now Martin Luther King High) was a rich source of black sports and musical talent. In the early 1960s the Bard sisters Francesca (“Fran”, b. unknown d. 1991) and Beverly (now Bard-Smith, b. unknown) formed their group, The Avons, along with schoolmate Paula Hester. Their recordings should not be confused with at least two other groups with same name who recorded around the same time outside of Tennessee. The Avons first taste of the studio was an initial one-off hire for budget label Hit, providing uncredited backing vocals to...

“There were three of us, eighteen months apart” says Brenda Kippa, sister of Dan Folger. “My first brother was born in 1941, then came Dan (b. 1943 d. 2006) and finally me. We lived in La Honda, a suburb of San Francisco. We were comfortable financially and lived in a lovely home. However, there was great trouble in the marriage between our parents, and finally my mother called her father who came to California and brought us all (except my father) back to Texas. My mother couldn't find work, so she initially left us with her parents and found work...

  Olene Gaines, the wife of Earl Gaines (b.1935, d. 2009) recalls that he was raised partly by his mother in between Alabama and Nashville. His father was in the picture, though he was never really mentioned as being involved in his upbringing. His first singing experience was with his uncle in Alabama, as part of a gospel quartet. Early life consisted of helping the family pick cotton and raising cattle during the day, and listening to blues singers on WLAC at night. As a teenager Earl moved permanently to Nashville to live with his mother, and became good friends...