CITATION — REFERENCE ENTRY
Principal Influences on the Music of the Lilly Brothers of Clear Creek, West Virginia — The Journal of American Folklore
- Key
- mcdonald1973-lilly-brothers
- Authors
- McDonald, James J.
- Issued
- 1973
- Type
- article-journal
- Container
- The Journal of American Folklore
- Volume
- 86
- Issue
- 342
- Pages
- 331-344
- DOI
- 10.2307/539357
Raw CSL JSON
{
"DOI": "10.2307/539357",
"URL": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/539357",
"page": "331-344",
"type": "article-journal",
"issue": "342",
"title": "Principal Influences on the Music of the Lilly Brothers of Clear Creek, West Virginia",
"author": [
{
"given": "James J.",
"family": "McDonald"
}
],
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
1973
]
]
},
"volume": "86",
"container-title": "The Journal of American Folklore"
}
Claims
-
The 1930s saw many popular brother acts in hillbilly music, such as the Monroe Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys and the Delmore Brothers, which generally featured harmony singing in the southern rural tradition with guitar and mandolin, and which represent the stylistic development later embodied in bluegrass. McDonald describes the Blue Sky Boys' harmony as mournful and extremely tight, the closest ever in country music.
"Also representing the "mountain" branch of hillbilly music in the thirties were the appearance and popularity of many brother acts. These groups, such as the Morris Brothers, the Delmore Brothers, the Dixon Brothers, the Callahan Brothers, the Monroe Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys, and, later, the Lilly Brothers, represent the stylistic development that is embodied today in bluegrass music. In general, these duos featured harmony singing based in the southern rural tradition, plus guitar and mandolin accompaniments ... In mournful, extremely tight harmony, the closest ever in country music, they sang traditional songs of death, sorrow, and unrequited love."
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