Lullabies, Laments, and Ragtime Cowboys: Yodeling at theTurn of the Twentieth Century

By Timothy Wise

Yodeling's American heyday was doubtless the Depression era, when "hillbilly" and cowboy singers made it a hallmark of their musical expression. indeed, the vogue for yodeling they began lasted well into the 1940s and early 1950s when even mainstream performers such as bing Crosby and the Andrews sisters yodeled (or were yodelers manqué) in some of their songs. Yodeling from those times has attracted the attention of a few scholars. But earlier forms of yodeling by and large get little notice. And even those few authors who have discussed Depression-era yodeling have focused primarily on biographical and historical matters. The yodeling itself is usually neglected.