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This thread/poll is mainly intended for Southerners, but naturally open to all.
The general question is, what genre of music do you consider the real "soul" and "essence" of the South. (Uh, did I telegraph an answer? )
I guess, even in looking over my own question, it is so broad and open-ended, I feel a little silly in asking.
On the other hand, I am going to ask it anyway!
Blues orginiated in the Mississippi Delta. It spread quickly into Louisiana, Alabama and East Texas. Then up the Mississippi River to where it became the Mo-Town sound.
Classic Country is deeply rooted in the South. When a proportional per capita map of the United States is drawn up, it the Southern states (in this case, Old Confederacy and border South) make up about about 75% of it!
And of course, Southern Rock of the 70's became a sound of its own, and regionally identified (Lynryrd Skynryd, Charlie Daniels Band, ZZ Top, Allman Brothers, etc)
So which one, y'all...?
I could have made this poll more than one option. But it would have defeated the purpose, in many ways.
As my C-D friends know, I am a Texas white boy so my natural inclination might lean toward classic country. And it IS my personal favorite when it comes to the real melon-cuttin. But I am going to choose Blues, with classic country a VERY close second.
Keep in mind too, that just because the choice is limited to one, that we can't also love 'em all. I do for sure.
As to the inspiration for starting this thread/poll? Well, I was just scanning some music today and came across these two on "You Tube."
Strangely enough, one of them is by a yankee (Neil Diamond), but does such wonderful justice to the man we know as Mister Bojangles
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band version made the charts in the 70's...but much more "soul" was put into the one by the northerner! LOL. The other? Welllll...it is dedicated to my friends in Georgia...
I confess to getting a bit teary-eyed over both. Something about the soul and sound of the South affects me that way, I guess...
Very true. But its roots are so solidly in the South that it deserves being an option as to Southern music choices ala' the thread topic. I remember when I was growing up in the 70's it was called "Soul Music" Hey, thats gotta be Southern!
Hey TexasReb, I have to say bluegrass gospel or southern rock.
Good point, RAP. I should have included "Southern Gospel" as a choice. As it is almost exclusively Southern. I remember the days when we kids would spend the night with my grandparents, and all my grandmother watched on TV were the Southern Gospel programs!
I don't know about Gospel. There's too many forms. I know there is Southern Gospel but there are too many different forms of Gospel music though and I don't think they necessarily formed off of the Southern version.
But what you could ask for is Jazz. Jazz is all Southern specifically New Orleans. Though you could relate it to blues. In fact, blues is my pick. It has inspired too many genre's of music including country and rock and roll and mo-town. No blues, none of those either.
I don't know about Gospel. There's too many forms. I know there is Southern Gospel but there are too many different forms of Gospel music though and I don't think they necessarily formed off of the Southern version.
But what you could ask for is Jazz. Jazz is all Southern specifically New Orleans. Though you could relate it to blues. In fact, blues is my pick. It has inspired too many genre's of music including country and rock and roll and mo-town. No blues, none of those either.
*curious* Spade, could that you are speaking of fairly be called "Dixieland"...? I am thinking of Louis Armstrong in particular!
And BTW, totally agree with what you say about the Blues. Which is my own reason for picking it as well. Without the Blues, many of the others would not exist. However, an exeption would be classic country. It's roots were not so much of Southern black origins as dated to the Scots-Irish folk music. Later, as you allude to, they blended into early Southern rock and roll (Elvis, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc).
Motown is from Michigan. Motown = Detroit. Midwestern. I know you say it has "Southern roots," but it came out of the Midwest, not the South.
I really don't like voting for just one, but I'll say classic country music. When I think of the South, I think country and bluegrass. Jazz is popular in NYC and Chicago. The blues really came out of Chicago.
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I should have included "Southern Gospel" as a choice. As it is almost exclusively Southern. I remember the days when we kids would spend the night with my grandparents, and all my grandmother watched on TV were the Southern Gospel programs! 
