Lullabies, laments, and ragtime cowboys : yodeling at the turn of the twentieth century

This empirically-based musicological study deals with yodeling in U. S. American popular music at the turn of the twentieth century as documented in phonograph recordings and, in contrast to previous discussions of yodeling in this context, in printed sheet music. Focusing on an overlooked phase in the yodel’s history, it discusses in detail the textual features of the yodeling itself, particularly the melodic structures, incipits, and associated lyric themes. It identifies yodel archetypes that persisted in later English-language yodel songs. The first part highlights the influence of J. K. Emmett on yodeling in the late nineteenth century, discussing recordings by George P. Watson, Frank Wilson, Matt Keefe, et al., and tracing specific aspects of his material in their repertoire. The second part considers the emergence of ragtime yodeling styles as they begin to appear in the 1910s in Tin Pan Alley and by 1917, on phonograph recordings. Ward Barton’s recordings are discussed in detail