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[[Country music]] and humor, too, were deeply influenced by blackface minstrelsy. According to Dale Cockrell's account in ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music'', many traditional [[hillbilly]] [[fiddle]] tunes, including "[[Turkey in the Straw]]" and [[Old Dan Tucker]] came from minstrelsy, as did much of the format and content of the (still running) [[Grand Ole Opry]] [[radio]] show. In part because of the popularity of blackface minstrelsy, the [[banjo]], which is African-American in origin, became a standard feature of country and [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]] music. Cockrell notes that ''[[Hee Haw]]'' "in structure, humor, characterization, and, in many ways, music, was a minstrel show in 'rube face'". As with jazz, many of country’s earliest stars—such as [[Jimmie Rodgers]] and [[Bob Wills]]—were veterans of blackface performance.
The immense popularity and profitability of blackface were testaments to the power, appeal, and commercial viability of not only black music and dance, but also of black style. This led to cross-cultural collaborations, as Giddings writes; but, particularly in times past, to the often ruthless exploitation and outright theft of African-American artistic genius, as well— by other, white performers and composers; agents; promoters; publishers; and record company executives. The precedent set by blackface, of aggressive white exploitation and appropriation of black culture, is alive today in, for example, the anointed, white, so-called "royalty" of essentially African-American music forms: [[Benny Goodman]], widely known as the "King of Swing"; [[Paul Whiteman]], who called himself the "King of Jazz"; [[Elvis Presley]], known as the "King of Rock and Roll"; and [[Janis Joplin]], crowned "Queen of the Blues".
For more than a century, when white performers have wanted to appear sexy, (like Elvis); or streetwise, (like [[Eminem]]); or hip, (like [[Mezz Mezzrow]]); or [[Cool (African philosophy)|cool]], (like actor [[John Travolta]]'s Chili Palmer, or even [[ZZ Top]]); or urbane, (like [[Frank Sinatra]]), they have turned to African-American performance styles, stage presence and personas. Sometimes this has been done out of genuine admiration, as in the case of [[Eric Clapton]] or innumerable other blues revivalists. Sometimes it is done with a good deal of calculation by, for example, the many white lead performers who use black backup singers and musicians; or (as [[bell hooks]] argues), when [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]] uses black male dancers to give her stage show a transgressive, sexually charged patina. [http://stevenstanley.tripod.com/docs/bellhooks/madonna.html ] The referencing and [[cultural appropriation]] of African-American performance and stylistic traditions by whites and others— often resulting in tremendous profit— has its beginnings in blackface minstrelsy.
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