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Music of Oklahoma is of necessity, brief. Oklahoma is relatively young—it has been a state for less than a hundred years. Still is has a rich history and many fine musicians.
Songs of Oklahoma
Oklahoma has had many songs written about it. Among those:
Official State songs
Other songs
- Good Old Oklahoma, Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys
- Home Sweet Oklahoma, Jimmy LaFave
- My Oklahoma, Terrye Newkirk
- Oklahoma Hills, Jack Guthrie
- Oklahoma Rag, Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys
Categories
American Indian
Because of the federal government's policy in the 19th century of moving groups of American Indians westward, Oklahoma has the most diverse collection of Native American musicians in the world. This rich collection of traditional music is performed in pow-wows all over the state. Additionally, the music is enriched by Indian musicians exposure to other tribe's songs through the many intertribal meetings in the state. The American Indian Exposition at Anadarko is the oldest in the nation bringing tribes from over the west to perform. The Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City, in a less traditional, more modern setting, has also become very popular.
Country
The traditional Appalachian folk ballads brought by new settlers from the South infused Oklahoma with a music about the lives of everyday people. Much of the music was overtly religious as the rural communities revolved around their churches. Another distinctive type of country music grew out of the dance halls and roadhouses, especially in the oil boom areas of eastern Oklahoma. This honky-tonk style music from Oklahoma and the surrounding states became a staple of American country music for years.
Jazz and Swing
The territory bands of the 1920s and 30s brought a new style of music to Oklahoma. Many of the well-known swing musicians tuned their skills and styles touring with these regional bands. These bands brought the big-band orchestras to many communities never visited by the more popular groups from New York. Perhaps the most famous of the Oklahoma based territory bands were the Blue Devils from Oklahoma City. The Blue Devils were the foundation for Count Basie's orchestra. The Al Goode Orchestra, also from Oklahoma City, performed into the 1970s.
Symphonic
Rock & Roll
Western, or Cowboy
Prior to Oklahoma's opening for settlement, cowboys pushing cattle from Texas to the railheads developed a style and subject of music that became known as Cowboy or Western. As they settled on the ranches they continued their traditional style of singing. The romanticism of the cowboy in the popular culture brought a wider audience to the music. Although the writers of these traditional Western songs are mostly unknown, Dr. Brewster Highley, author of perhaps the most famous of the cowboy ballads, Home on the Range, followed the frontier into Oklahoma where he died in 1911.
Western Swing
Oklahoma was a center for the development and spread of Western swing. Performers playing the traditional western music, influenced heavily by the territory bands, added fiddles and steel guitars to the their orchestras to produce a new and very popular type of music. Bob Wills, and His Texas Playboys, based in Tulsa, influenced this music for more than a generation.
Venues
Live performances
Music in Oklahoma has been played, sung, and heard in the Indian villages of the earliest Americans; around the campfires of the cowboys and traders; in the churches, theaters, and dancehalls of the territorial days; and in concert halls and at music festivals, pow-wows National Guard armories, and school gymnasiums of the present day.
Radio
In 1922, WKY began broadcasting in Oklahoma City. Other stations followed and soon, anyone with a radio could hear music previously unavailable to them. Still, many radios broadcast local music. KVOO in Tulsa aired Western swing from Bob Wills for more than twenty years.
In 1958, KOMA, a 50,000 watt radio station in Oklahoma City, began a format of playing Top 40 recordings and Rock & Roll. Its signal strength allowed many young people across the Great Plains and Western states to listen to music not available from their local stations and influenced many of their local music markets.
Oklahoma currently supports many radio stations. Most play music that ranges from classical to hip-hop. Much of their content, however, is taped and the same programs broadcast over several stations throughout the U.S. Very little local music is aired. (See List of radio stations in Oklahoma)
Native Oklahoma musicians and composers
- Hoyt Axton, Duncan, Oklahoma
- Chet Baker, Yale, Oklahoma
- Garth Brooks, Yukon, Oklahoma
- Anita Bryant, Barnsdall, Oklahoma
- J.J. Cale, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Henson Cargill, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- David Allen Coe, Oklahoma
- Edgar Cruz, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Joe Diffie
- Vince Gill, Norman, Oklahoma
- Woody Guthrie, Okemah, Oklahoma
- Jack Guthrie, Olive, in Creek County, northeast of Drumright, Oklahoma
- Roy Harris, Chandler, Oklahoma
- Lee Hazlewood, Mannford, in northern Creek County, covered by Keystone Lake
- Wanda Jackson, Maud, Oklahoma
- Norma Jean (Beasler), Wellston, Oklahoma
- Gary P. Nunn
- Reba McEntire, McAlester, Oklahoma
- Barry McGuire, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Patti Page, Claremore, Oklahoma
- Leon Russell, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Jimmy Webb, Elk City, Oklahoma
- Sheb Wooley, Erick, Oklahoma
Musicians with Oklahoma ties
- Gene Autry, raised in Oklahoma, originally billed as the Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy.
- Roy Clark, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
- Merle Haggard, son of dust bowl immigrants from Oklahoma to California and reflected in his music.
- Roger Miller, raised in Erick, Oklahoma.
- Hank Thompson, broadcast the Hank Thompson Show from WKY in Oklahoma City. In 1973 Thompson opened the Hank Thompson School of Country Music, at Rogers University in Claremore, Oklahoma.
- Bob Wills, King of Western Swing, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He and his Texas Playboys broadcast their show from KVOO radio 1934-1958.
Oklahoma bands
External links
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