Music of Washington (state)
The largest city in the state, Seattle, is known for being the birthplace of grunge as well as a major contributor to the evolution of punk rock, indie music, folk, and hip hop.
In the early years, there was an African-American jazz scene on Seattle's Jackson Street, led by the Whangdoodle Entertainers, featuring, amongst others, Frank D. Waldron (trumpet/alto saxophone).
Waldron later joined the Odean Jazz Orchestra, one of the rare African-American bands in that era to play in downtown Seattle.
On the other side of the tracks, Vic Meyers (saxophone) led jazz bands playing in Seattle's Pioneer Square and Belltown districts.
In the late 1940s, Bumps Blackwell led a Seattle band that featured teenaged future icons Ray Charles (piano), Quincy Jones (trumpet), Ernestine Anderson (vocals), and Buddy Catlett (double bass).
In 1971, Clarence Acox Jr. (drums) arrived in Seattle from his native New Orleans to revive the marching band at Garfield High School.
The 1990s saw the emergence from Seattle of Cuong Vu (trumpet), Marc Seales (piano), Jim Black (drums), Joe Doria (Hammond organ) and Jessica Lurie (woodwinds).
The new millennium has produced Roxy Coss (saxophone), Aaron Parks (piano), Emi Meyer (piano/vocals) and The Bergevin Brothers band, all from Seattle.
In 1958, Buck Owens was working in Tacoma at radio station KAYE, when he saw Don Rich, a young fiddler from Olympia, play.
Owens left Tacoma around 1960 to return to Bakersfield, California, and in a few months, Rich followed and became a member of Buck's backup band The Buckaroos, eventually becoming the lead guitarist.
Later in life, she bred cattle and quarter-horses near Orting, before finally settling in Soap Lake, where she continued to perform on weekends until the age of 92.
The new millennium has seen the emergence of mainstream country artists Brandy Clark from Morton, who has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards as a songwriter and performer, James Otto from Benton City, who had a No.
1 country hit with "Just Got Started Lovin' You" in 2008, Vince Mira from Federal Way, who began his career busking Spanish-language songs in Pike Place Market, Adam Craig from Tenino, who has been most successful as a songwriter and Seattle based Brent Amaker and the Rodeo, whose image is influenced by Johnny Cash, the "Man in Black" and Spaghetti Westerns.
An influential garage rock band called The Regents became local icons in the Tacoma area, but the original incarnation never signed to a record label.
The Kingsmen's version eventually caught on nationally after a Boston radio station picked up the song and Dennon negotiated distributing rights with Wand Records out of New York City.
Metal Church was initially formed while Kurdt Vanderhoof was in the San Francisco scene, but moved back home to Aberdeen and reformed the band with new members from the Grays Harbor area.
Heir Apparent came out of North Seattle in the mid-1980's, signed to the independent label Black Dragon Records of Paris, France in 1985, and released what remains the highest-rated album in the 40-year history of Germany's ROCK HARD magazine[2] in January 1986.
[4] More recent underground metal bands include Himsa, Aemaeth, Blood & Thunder, Midnight Idols, Fallen Angels, DEATHBEAT, Big Business, Drown Mary, Evilsmith, Vigilance, Skelator, Ceremonial Castings, Inquisition, Hoth, Inquinok, Pure Hatred, Riot in Rhythm, Deathmocracy, Blood of Kings, Wolves in the Throne Room, Twisted Heroes, Ashes Of Existence, Bleed The Stone, Casualty Of God, Mechanism, I Am Infamy, Devilation, Beyond Theory, Future Disorder, Edge of Oblivion, Last Bastion, Phalgeron, and Bell Witch.
In the 1970s, Ze Whiz Kidz helped launch a hardcore punk scene that included ZEKE, Mentors, RPA, The Rejectors, The Lewd, Violent World[5] The Refuzors, Crunchbird,[6] Pod Six, The Enemy, and, most influentially, Solger and The Fartz, as well as new wave bands like The Heats, The Cowboys, The Meyce, The Telepaths, Visible Targets, Chinas Comidas, X-15 and UC5.
In the early 2000s, the experimental punk rock scene had bands such as Botch, Pretty Girls Make Graves, These Arms Are Snakes, The Fall of Troy, Jaguar Love,Unwound and The Blood Brothers.
The earliest bands included Green River, Skin Yard, Screaming Trees ("Nearly Lost You"), and Soundgarden, among others, with most signed to indie rock label Sub Pop.
This new style was featured on the 1986 compilation album Deep Six (CZ001) released by C/Z Records, with tracks by Soundgarden, Melvins, Green River, Skin Yard, Malfunkshun and The U-Men.
By the late 1980s, several future stars had begun performing, including Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Mudhoney, while the death of Andrew Wood (d. 1990, buried in Bremerton, Washington) of Mother Love Bone led to that band's disintegration and subsequent reformation as Pearl Jam.
In 1991 (see 1991 in music), Nirvana's Nevermind, along with Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, Pearl Jam's Ten and Alice in Chains' Dirt, quickly brought the grunge scene to the forefront.
Riot grrrl is a form of punk rock that arose in Olympia in the 1990s with all-female and woman-led acts like Bikini Kill, known for their militant feminism and raw sound.
The genre never achieved mainstream success due to an on-going media blackout, along with their harsh criticism of society and often grating musical style, and eventually faded.
A new wave of the riot grrrl movement continued in the 21st century with bands like NighTrain, The Gossip, The Black Tones and Thee Emergency, which feature soulful vocals, heavy drums, a driving, intense rhythm and guitar.
Arguably the most famous hip-hop star to come out of the state of Washington has been Sir Mix-a-Lot, best known for his songs "Posse on Broadway" and "Baby Got Back", an early nineties novelty hit.
Also prominent in the Seattle rap scene at this time was Kid Sensation (Steve Spence), who got his start on Sir Mix-a-Lot's first album, Swass (1988).
Fronted by Robert "Raw B" Sletner, the Three Kings won the 2009 Northwest Sound-off and went on to record two hit albums before disbanding to follow solo endeavors.
