美国乡村民谣英语（乡村音乐林林总总The）

注：乡村音乐（country music）是一种具有美国民族特色的流行音乐，于20世纪20年代兴起于美国南部，其根源来自英国民谣，是美国白人民族音乐代表。乡村音乐的特点是曲调简单，节奏平稳，带有叙事性，具有较浓的乡土气息，亲切热情而不失流行元素。多为歌谣体、二部曲式或三部曲式。

形形色色的乡村音乐

Various Countries

坦率点讲，过去几十年里，与其他类型的音乐流派比较而言，乡村音乐的“身份”问题更显得纷繁复杂。比如纠结于一点：如果你不能答出具体对哪一种乡村音乐“情有独钟”，那么就算不上真正意义上的乡村音乐“粉丝”。由于乡村音乐的流派似难以一言以蔽之，笔者拟将其分述为几个主要类型如下。

It is no secret that over the past couple decades country music has struggled with its identity far more than any other genre in the industry. At this point nobody can really claim to be a country music fan without being questioned what kind of country fan? The answers being seemingly endless,I've broken them down into a few main categories.

流行乡村音乐Pop Country

这类流行乡村音乐可当之无愧地被称为“纳什维尔乡村乐”，因为确实该类差不多“圈走”九成左右的乡村音乐粉了。在与人们交谈时，笔者常常发现大家并不太愿意承认自己是流行乡村乐的粉丝。他们对自己如何热爱威利·纳尔逊侃侃而谈，还喜好含糊哼唱几句穆尔·哈格德的作品，尽管有明显“装腔作势”之嫌。当他们回到私家车，独自一个人沿着公路疾驰时，便打开收音机，大声播放流行乡村乐歌圣仙妮亚·唐恩的歌曲，一路引吭高歌而去。只想告诉你，爱你所爱何错之有嘛！其实纳什维尔的唱片公司拥有业内顶尖的词、曲作者，制作唱片时会挑选才华横溢、魅力十足的歌手，还再配上顶级乐队呢。

This category could really be referred to as“Nashville

Country.” It hosts probably about 90% of the country music out there. I often find people not wanting to admit in conversation that they’re fans of this category. They like to talk about how they love Willie Nelson and mouth the words to Merle Haggard songs even though it’s obvious their faking it. Then they get alone in their cars and unwind by driving down the highway,blasting Shania Twain on the radio, and singing along at the top of their lungs. Let me just say,there’s nothing wrong with that, like what you like. Nashville record labels pick very talented,often attractive singers that perform with some great bands. They also have some of the top song writers and composers in the industry working for them.

叛逆/摇滚乡村音乐

Rebel/Rock Country

你可以看到这类乡村音乐的歌手一般思想极其自由，他们依个人喜好天马行空。如此导致的结果便是，当初期的耀眼光芒消散后，他们中很少有人能风光常驻。他们通常不受约束，我行我素。当前引人注目的典型代表是格雷琴·威尔逊。还有一些出道已有一段时间的歌手，但是名声还远未及威尔逊，如雷·怀利和德·斯奈德。

这一类型歌手的叛逆性还体现在他们将摇滚乐直接融入他们的音乐元素，代表歌手有罗伯特·厄尔·基恩和詹姆斯·麦克穆特瑞。

Very liberal people are who you tend to find in this category. These artists just do whatever they feel like doing, and as a result there are not many of them, or at least not many of them that popular after their initial shock value wears off. They are usually independent and like letting it hang out. A good example currently in the limelight is Gretchen Wilson. Others that haven't reached her popularity level, but have been around for a while include Ray Wylie Hubbard an Todd Snider.

Sometimes the guys in this category derive quite a bit of their rebelness from incorporating rock into their music. Good examples of this are Robert Earl Keen and James McMurtry.

得克萨斯乡村音乐Texas Country

从某种程度上讲，得克萨斯乡村乐已经发展成为一股遍及美国全境的音乐“特别流派”。这股热潮由威利·纳尔逊、杰里·杰夫·沃克、加里·纳恩等人掀起。近些年，随着罗伯特·厄尔·基恩、科里·莫罗、派特·格林、杰克·英格拉姆等音乐人出现，这股热潮迅速扩散发展，尤其受到“孤星州”(即得克萨斯州)各地兄弟会的热捧。当刚才提及的歌手们改走其他音乐路线时，新晋歌手诸如麦克斯·思多林、马克·戴维·曼德斯、伯利森依然会取代他们，继续引领此热潮。如果仔细观察这一发展趋势，便可清楚觉察到得克萨斯的乡村音乐产业发展如此迅速，它极有可能在短时间内和纳什维尔乡村音乐共领风骚。

This category has developed into somewhat of a music cult, and it stretches all over the Unite States. Its popularity started off with the likes of Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Gary P Nunn. What really sent it off in recent years was the popularity of Robert Earl

Keen,Cory Morrow Pat Green, and Jack Ingram. It plays extremely well in frat houses across the Lone Star State. While the guys mentioned earlier have taken off in a different direction, new artists like Max Stalling,Mar David Manders, and Ed Burleson have started to take their place. If you ever watch this development, it’s easy to see that the Texas music industry is growing so fast that it will probably soon be just as big as Nashville's.

经典（古老）乡村音乐

Old Country

如果你能唱出威利·纳尔逊、乔治·琼斯、约翰尼·卡什几首作品的歌词，那么你就是经典乡村音乐的入门粉丝了; 如果你能跟着佩茜·克莱恩、查理·里奇、汉克·威廉姆斯的唱片一起唱，那么你就算是经典乡村音乐铁粉;如果你整晚都能低声吟唱鲍勃·威尔斯的歌曲，让我薄酒幸会知音：你有资格入行经典乡村音乐。不幸的是，很多人都觉得经典乡村音乐着实乏味。

也许你像我一样，有自己最喜爱的乡村音乐类型，同时也会对其他类型的乡村音乐兴趣不减。 事实上目前没有任何一种方法能将乡村音乐进行明确地分类。由于乡村音乐本身在不断发展变化，有可能永远不易分门别类了。

If you can sing the words to three or more Willie Nelson, George Jones, and Johnny Cash songe please come in. If you can sing along to Patsy Cline,Charlie Rich, and Hank Williams please take a seat. If you can croon all night with Bob Wills please let me get you a beer, I'm glad we met. Welcome to the old country category. Sadly a lot of people find it boring here.

lf you're like me, you probably have your favorite category and then like some things out of each one. Theres not really any one way to define country music, and with it being an ever- changing industry there probably never will be.

http://live-music-archive.com/the-many-countries-a-rant-about-country-music-2/