American country music originated in the southern American Appalachian Mountains, can be traced back to the 1920’s. Vernon Dalhart, may have been forgotten by most people, but he is the first big star in this field. He came to country music from outside the tradition, becoming a national star in the years .  He made a great contribution to the American country music.

By:Mo Zhou 120101108 Class 4

Dalhart was born in a cow family in the eastern state of Texas Marion TrySlaughter. Though his classical-music background is often emphasized in accounts of his life, he did actually work for a time as a cowboy while in his teens. Dalhart sang at community gatherings, where he also played the harmonica and the jews harp. He studied music at the Dallas Conservatory, married, and moved to New York in 1910. Dreaming of an operatic career, he worked in a music store and earned extra cash singing for funerals. Dalhart was a keen observer of the early power of the phonograph industry and jumped at the chance to record.His first releases, made around 1916, fell into various pop styles.From 1916 to 1923, using numerous pseudonyms, he made over 400 recordings of light classical music and early dance band vocals for various record labels. He was already an established singer when he made his first country music recordings which cemented his place in music history.

When he turned to country music, it may have been simply a way of capitalizing on a song type that his competitors had neglected, but he immediately showed a flair for story songs.  After The Wreck of the Old 97 became a smash hit, Dalhart was a national star of sorts — he was never a really recognizable figure, but he could sell records in the millions.

While some country music purists always viewed Dalhart with some suspicion because of his light opera background and a vocal style that was closer to pop than country, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1981, and into the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in 2007.

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