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The Upland South is defined by landform, history, and culture, and does not correspond well to state lines. This map shows the approximate region known as the Upland South.

The terms Upper South and Upland South refer to the northern part of the Southern United States, in contrast to the Lower South or Deep South.

Geography[link]

Status of the states, 1861.

   States that seceded before April 15, 1861

   States that seceded after April 15, 1861

   Union states that permitted slavery

   Union states that banned slavery

   Territories

There is a slight difference in usage between the two terms.^[1] "Upland South" is usually defined based on landforms, generally referring to the southern Appalachian Mountains or Appalachia (although not the full region defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission), the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains, and the plateaus, hills, and basins between the Appalachians and Ozarks, such as the Cumberland Plateau, the Allegheny Plateau, the Nashville Basin, and the Bluegrass Basin, among others. The southern Piedmont region is often considered part of the Upland South, while the Atlantic Coastal Plain (the Chesapeake region and Carolina's Lowcountry) is generally not.^[2]

Climate Zones of the Continental United States with Humid Subtropical in dark green

In contrast, the term "Upper South" tends to be defined politically by state. The term dates to the early 19th century and the rise of the Lower South, which became noted for its differences from the more northerly parts of the American South. In antebellum times, the term Upper South generally referred to the Slave states north of the Lower or Deep South.^[3] During the American Civil War era, the term Upper South was often used to refer specifically to the Confederate states that did not secede until after the attack on Fort Sumter — Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. This can also include the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, Maryland, or Delaware in the Upper South.^[4] Today, although many definitions are still based on Civil War-era politics, the term Upper South is often used for all of the American South north of the Deep South.

The Encyclopædia Britannica defines the Upper South as the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The Upland South is defined by landforms rather than states but encompasses the same general region. The Upper/Upland South is also described in the Encyclopædia Britannica as the "Yeoman South", in contrast to the "Plantation South".^[5]

These two definitions cover the same general area. The Upland South, not being defined by state lines, includes parts of Lower South states, such as northwestern South Carolina (the Upstate), North Georgia, North Alabama (and, in some definitions, Central Alabama), eastern Oklahoma. It also includes parts of some Northern states, such as Southern Illinois (the Shawnee Hills), Southern Indiana, and Southern Ohio. Sometimes northeastern Mississippi and western Maryland are included as well. In the same way, the Upland South usually does not include parts of some Upper South states, such as the Mississippi embayment (which includes eastern Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, the Purchase area of Kentucky, and part of West Tennessee), and the coastal lowlands of North Carolina and Virginia.

Despite these differences, the two terms, Upland South and Upper South, refer to the same general region — the northern part of the American South — and are frequently used synonymously. The corresponding terms, Lower South and Deep South similarly refer to the same general region to the south of, and lower in elevation, than the Upland or Upper South. Likewise, the terms Lower South and Deep South are often used interchangeably.

History and culture[link]

The Upland South differs from the Deep South in several significant ways; terrain, histories, economics, demographics, and patterns of settlement.

Origins[link]

The Upland South emerged as a distinct region in the late 18th century and early 19th century. Migration and settlement patterns from colonial coastal regions into the interior had been established for many decades, but the scale grew dramatically toward the end of the 18th century. The general pattern was a westward migration from the lowcountry and Piedmont regions of Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland, as well as a southwestern migration from Pennsylvania. Large numbers of European immigrants arrived in Philadelphia and followed the Great Wagon Road west and south into the Appalachian Highlands, via the Great Appalachian Valley. These migration streams from Virginia and Pennsylvania resulted in the Shenandoah Valley becoming well-settled as early as 1750. The early settlers of the Ohio Valley were mainly Upland Southerners.^[6] Much of the culture of the Upland South originated in southeastern Pennsylvania and spread down the Shenandoah Valley.^[7]

These migration streams eventually spread through Appalachia and westward through the Appalachian Plateau region into the Ozarks and Ouachitas, and ultimately contributed to the settlement of the Texas Hill Country.^[8] The main ethnicities of these early settlers included English, Irish, Scottish, and German.^[9] The early culture of the Upland South was influenced by other European ethnicities. For example, the Swedes and Finns of New Sweden — relatively few in number but pioneering Pennsylvania before the Germans and Irish arrived — contributed techniques of forest pioneering such as the log cabin, the "zig-zag" split-rail fence, and frontier methods of shifting cultivation such as girdling trees and using slash and burn to convert forest into temporary crop and pasture land.^[10]

The pattern of settlement that had begun in the Appalachian foothills was continued and extended through the mountains and highlands to the west and across the Mississippi River into the Ozark highland region. Where there was the danger of Indian attacks, people settled at first in clustered "stations", but as danger lessened settlement tended to be in a rural, dispersed, kin-structured pattern, with relatively few towns and cities. These early settlers of the Upland South tended to practice small-scale farming, stock raising, and hunting. This settlement pattern of the Upland South was markedly different from the Deep South and the Midwest.

A significant portion of the 19th century settlers of the Midwest were from the Upland South. The southern Midwest was most heavily settled by Upland Southerners, especially in Missouri, southern Indiana and Illinois.^[7] This early migration to the southern Midwest included many African Americans. They were mainly freed slaves, but slavery was permitted in some places such as Cincinnati, under the Missouri Compromise of 1820. In the mid 19th century there were concentrations of African Americans in east-central Indiana, southwest Michigan, and elsewhere.^[7] Due to their early settlement of the Midwest, Upland Southerners initially controlled territorial and state governments, and played a major role in establishing the political and social culture, such as the Black Laws of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.^[7] Over the 19th century the percentage of Upland Southerners fell, especially as large numbers of native born Midwesterners joined the population.^[7]

Distinct from neighboring regions[link]

The Deep South is generally associated historically with cotton. By 1850 the term "Cotton States" was in common use and the differences between the Deep South (lower) and Upland South (upper) recognized. A key difference was the Deep South's plantation-style cash crop agriculture (mainly cotton, rice, sugar), using African American slaves working large farms while plantation owners tended to live in towns and cities. This system of plantation farming was originally developed in the West Indies and introduced to the United States in South Carolina and Louisiana, from where it spread throughout the Deep South, although there were local exceptions wherever conditions did not support the system. The sharp division between town and country, the intensive use of a few cash crops, and the high proportion of slaves, all contrasted with the Upland South. Virginia and its surrounding region stands out as different from both the Upland South and the Deep South. Its history predates the West Indian plantation model, and while tobacco was a cash crop from the start, and African slaves became widely used, Virginia did not share many of the Deep South's characteristics, such as the early proliferation of towns and cities.^[11]

As a result of the difference in the use of slaves, the boundary between the Upland South and Deep South can still be seen today on maps showing the population percentage of African-Americans. The term Black Belt originally referred to a region of black soil in Alabama that was especially good for cotton farming (the Black Belt of Alabama), but has become more commonly used today to refer to the region of the South with a high percentage of African-Americans. In contrast, the Upland South was less involved with slavery from the start.

In addition, the Cotton Belt of the Deep South was controlled by Indians (mainly the Five Civilized Tribes of the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole) powerful enough to keep pioneering settlers from moving into the region. The Deep South's cotton boom did not occur until after the Indians were forced west in the early 19th century. In contrast, the Upland South, Kentucky and Tennessee especially, were the scene of Indian resistance and pioneering settlement in the late 18th century. Thus the Upland South was already colonized and had established its particular settlement patterns before most of the Deep South was opened to general colonization.

Johnson County, KY in eastern Kentucky

Hardwood forest in Middle Tennessee

The differences between the Upland South and lowlands of the South's Atlantic Seaboard and cotton belt often resulted in regional tension and conflict within states.^[12] For example, during the late 18th century, the upland "backcountry" of North Carolina and South Carolina grew in population until the Upland Southerners of these areas outnumbered the older, well-established, wealthier coastal populations. In some cases the conflict between the two resulted in warfare, such as War of the Regulation in North Carolina.^[12] Later, similar processes resulted in divergent populations in states to the west. Northern Alabama, for example, was settled from Tennessee by Upland Southerners, while southern Alabama was one of the core regions of the Deep South cotton boom. During the American Civil War some areas of the Upland South were noted for their resistance to the Confederacy. The uplands of western Virginia became the state of West Virginia as a result, though half the counties of the new state were Secessionist, and partisan warfare continued throughout the war.^[13] Kentucky and Missouri remained in the Union but were torn by internal strife. The southern Appalachian region of East Tennessee, parts of western North Carolina and some parts of northern Alabama and northern Georgia were widely noted for their pro-Union sentiments.

The two regions also differ physically. The upland south is dominated by deciduous hardwood forest, in contrast to the Deep South's predominately evergreen pine forests. The upland south is often much hillier than the deep south, due to the Deep south being part of the coastal plain.

Upland South today[link]

The Upland South contains its own sub-regions. The fertile lowlands of the Nashville Basin and the Bluegrass Basin gave rise to the truly urban cities of Nashville and Lexington, which grew into banking and mercantile centers in the 19th century, home to an elite class of Upland Southerners, including bankers, lawyers, and politicians. Most of the Upland South, however, remained rural in character.

Although historically very rural, the Upland South was one of the nation's early industrial regions and continues to be today. Mining of coal, iron, copper, and other minerals has been part of the region's economy since the 18th century. As early as 1750 lead and zinc were mined in Wythe County, Virginia, and copper was mined and smelted in Polk County, Tennessee. Two major Appalachian goldfields were developed, the first in western North Carolina beginning in 1799. By 1825 Rutherford County was the center of the nation's most extensive gold mining. In 1828 a much richer Gold Strike was made in north Georgia, mostly within what was then the territory of the Cherokee Nation. The mining camp of Dahlonega boomed during the ensuing Georgia Gold Rush. Iron foundries in Virginia and early coal mining operations in central Appalachia date to before 1850.^[14] Furnaces and forges were built in the Appalachians of north central Alabama as early as 1818. Some were fueled with nearby deposits of bituminous coal. Similar examples of early urban-industrial areas include Embree's Iron Works in East Tennessee (1808), the Red River iron region of Estill County, Kentucky (1806-8), and the Jackson Iron Works near Morgantown, West Virginia (1830). Wheeling, West Virginia was known as "Nail City" in the 1840s and 1850s. By 1860 Tennessee was the third largest iron producing state in the nation, after Pennsylvania and New York.^[15] The scale of mining, especially coal mining, increased dramatically after 1870.^[16] The importance of mining and metallurgy can be seen in the many towns with names such as Pigeon Forge and Bloomery (a bloomery being a type of smelting furnace), scattered across the Upland South.

Logging has also been an important part of the Upland South's economy. The region became the United States' primary source of timber after railroads allowed large scale industrial logging in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Today, the importance of the Upland South's forests can be seen in its many national forests, such as Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee, Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina, and Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, among many others. The Upland South's terrain and forests, as well as history and culture, occur in parts of states usually associated with the Midwest and Deep South. These areas are often associated with national forests, for example Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, Hoosier National Forest in southern Indiana, Wayne National Forest in southeast Ohio, William B. Bankhead National Forest in northern Alabama, Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in northern Georgia, Sumter National Forest in South Carolina, and Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Textile mills and industry have been an important factor in the Upland South's economy since the time of the Deep South's cotton boom.

Today the Upland South contains a diversity of people and economics. Some parts, like the Shenandoah Valley, are famous for their rural qualities, while other parts, like the Tennessee Valley, are heavily industrialized. Knoxville and Huntsville are both centers of industry and scientific research.

Upper South as a cultural region[link]

The Upper South today remains a culture region, with distinct ancestry^[17], dialect,^[18] cuisine, religion^[19] and other characteristics. The heavily rhoticized Upland Southern dialect still predominates in much of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the western portions of North Carolina and Virginia. Noticeable influence can even be found in parts of Deep South states such and northern Georgia and Alabama and parts of the southern portions of the Midwestern states of Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. Like the Deep South, the region is heavily evangelical Protestant with Baptists making up a plurality in the vast majority of counties. The cuisine of the Upper South is generally closely related to the lowland the south, excluding southern low-country areas in which the cuisine tends to involve seafood and rice, which are not common in the upper south. Tobacco is still a large crop in Kentucky and North Carolina.

See also[link]

• Albion's Seed
• Appalachia
• King Cotton
• Moonshine
• Rice Belt
• Rum-running

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Drake, Richard B. A History of Appalachia. The University Press of Kentucky (2001). ISBN 0-8131-2169-8
• Jordan-Bychkov, Terry G. The Upland South: The Making of an American Folk Region and Landscape. Harrisonburg, VA: University of Virginia Press (2003). ISBN 1-930066-08-2
• Meinig, D.W.. The Shaping of America - A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 1 - Atlantic America, 1492-1800. New Haven: Yale University Press (1986). ISBN 0-300-03882-8
• Meinig, D.W.. The Shaping of America - A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 2 - Continental America, 1800-1867. New Haven: Yale University Press (1993). ISBN 0-300-05658-3
• Meinig, D.W.. The Shaping of America - A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 3 - Transcontinental America, 1850-1915. New Haven: Yale University Press (1998). ISBN 0-300-08290-8
• Meinig, D.W.. The Shaping of America - A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 4 - Global America, 1915-2000. New Haven: Yale University Press (2004). ISBN 0-300-10432-4
• Williams, John Alexander. Appalachia: A History. The University of North Carolina Press (2002). ISBN 0-8078-5368-2
• Zelinsky, Wilbur. The Cultural Geography of the United States. Prentice-Hall (1973), pp. 118–119, 122-124.

The Beautiful South
The Beautiful South in concert.
Background information
Origin	Hull, England
Genres	Alternative rock, pop rock
Years active	1988–2007
Labels	Universal, Go! Discs, Ark 21, Mercury, Sony, Elektra
Associated acts	New Beautiful South The Housemartins
Website	http://www.beautifulsouth.co.uk/
Past members
Paul Heaton Dave Rotheray Dave Hemingway Sean Welch Dave Stead Briana Corrigan Jacqui Abbott Alison Wheeler

The Beautiful South were an English alternative rock group formed at the end of the 1980s by two former members of Hull group The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. The group also consisted of Sean Welch (bass), Dave Stead (drums) and Dave Rotheray (guitar) and a succession of female vocalists - Briana Corrigan, Jacqui Abbott and Alison Wheeler.

The group broke up in January 2007, claiming the split was due to "musical similarities",^[1] having sold around 6,500,000 records worldwide.^[2] In January 2009, it was announced that the former members Dave Hemingway, Alison Wheeler, and Dave Stead would reform under the name "New Beautiful South" which was later changed to "The South".^[3]

History[link]

The Beautiful South was originally conceived as a quintet with two lead vocalists, Heaton and Hemingway. Rotheray and Heaton, meanwhile, co-wrote the band's compositions.

On the band's first album, Briana Corrigan was featured as a background vocalist; she was promoted to full membership status in 1990, and thereafter featured as a lead vocalist on numerous Beautiful South tracks, which helped to characterise the bittersweet kitchen sink dramas played out in Heaton's often barbed songs. Also important to the band's sound was studio keyboard player Damon Butcher, who, though never an official member of the group, played virtually all the piano and keyboard parts on the band's albums.

The band's first album Welcome to the Beautiful South was released in 1989 and spawned the hits "Song For Whoever" and "You Keep It All In". The release of 1990s Choke album saw the band claim its only Number 1 hit, "A Little Time". 0898 Beautiful South followed in 1992, with hits including "Old Red Eyes Is Back". Both albums featured Pete Thoms and Gary Barnacle on brass and woodwind.

However, in 1992, Corrigan left the band to pursue a solo career, a decision that was prompted partly by a desire to record and promote her own material (which she felt was not getting enough exposure in The Beautiful South) and partly by ethical disagreements with some of Heaton's lyrics, particularly songs such as "36D", which criticised British glamour models and the industry that employed them. Hemingway later remarked, "We all agree that we should have targeted the media as sexist instead of blaming the girls for taking off their tops".^[4][5][6]

In 1994, St Helens supermarket shelf-stacker Jacqui Abbott was brought on board to fill in as the new third lead vocalist for the band. Heaton had heard her sing at an after-show party in St Helens and remembered her vocal talents. Heaton referred to her as "the lass from the glass" - a reference to the Pilkington factory in St Helens.

Abbott's first album with the band was Miaow in 1994. Hits included "Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)" and a cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'", previously popularised by Harry Nilsson. November of that year saw the release of Carry on up the Charts, a "best of" compilation consisting of the singles to date plus new track "One Last Love Song". The album was a huge commercial success, securing the Christmas number one spot on the charts and becoming the second best selling album of the year.

In 1995, the band was one of the support acts for R.E.M. on the British leg of their world tour. On this tour the band played an extra night when Oasis pulled out of their Huddersfield appearance. The Beautiful South played "Some Might Say" and dedicated it to any Oasis fans at the gig.

The 1996 album Blue Is the Colour sold over a million copies and featured hit singles "Rotterdam" and "Don't Marry Her". The album demonstrated the band's gradual shift towards a country music sound, and was well-received by the public and on BBC and commercial radio.^{[citation needed]} In 1997 the Beautiful South headlined stadium concerts for the first and last time, in Huddersfield and at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London. Support for the Huddersfield concert was provided by Oasis.^{[citation needed]}

The album Quench (1998) was released with similar commercial success, again reaching number one in the UK album charts. "Perfect 10", the first single to be released from the album also provided the band with uncharacteristic singles chart success. The album is also notable for being more up tempo and being the first where Norman Cook was used in a consultancy role.^[7]

Painting It Red (2000) followed, with promotion and touring difficulties with a substantial number of the CD were faulty, and Jacqui Abbott's leaving of the band shortly afterwards. After a second Greatest Hits album Solid Bronze in 2001, the band took time off and Heaton embarked on his first solo project.^[8]

Regrouping in 2003, they recorded Gaze with yet another female vocalist, Alison Wheeler. Wheeler was still in place for 2004's Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs, which was an album of unusually arranged cover tunes including "Livin' Thing", "You're The One That I Want", "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "I'm Stone In Love With You". One track from the album, "This Old Skin", was presented as a cover of a song by an obscure band known as The Heppelbaums; it was later revealed to be an original Heaton/Rotheray composition.

The band's final album Superbi was released on May 15, 2006. It was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, a farm in Bakewell and at producer Ian Stanley’s studio in Enniskerry, County Wicklow. It was mixed by Bill Price (Sex Pistols, The Clash, Guns N' Roses). Paul Heaton’s hand is recognisable in quirky song titles such as "The Rose of My Cologne", "The Cat Loves The Mouse" and "Never Lost A Chicken To A Fox". The first single, "Manchester", started off as a poem - "If rain makes Britain great, then Manchester is greater" – 'a sodden tribute' to the city in which he now lives, says Heaton. The tracks cover love and loss and all that happens in-between …"So many pop songs are written about 15-20 year olds. We've never really targeted them, or newly weds. We write about people who've lived together most of their lives."^{[citation needed]}

Split and solo careers[link]

After a band meeting on 30 January 2007, they decided to split.^[1] They released a statement on 31 January 2007, in which they joked their reasons for splitting were "musical similarities" - an ironic reference to "musical differences" which are often cited as the reason for a band's split. "The band would like to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music," the statement also said.

Since the split, Dave Rotheray has released a solo album called The Life Of Birds; Paul Heaton has released two solo albums The Cross Eyed Rambler (2008) and Acid Country (2010). Dave Hemingway, at the time of the split, released a collection of songs on an album called Hello Cruel World.

Dave Hemingway, Dave Stead and Alison Wheeler, plus six new members formed The New Beautiful South in 2008 and later renamed as The South in 2010, with Debbie Johnston as back up.^[9] The band have continued to perform Beautiful South songs in concert but have not released any new material yet.^[10]

In May 2007 the band's music was used in a jukebox musical entitled The Slide (book by Adrian Davis).^{[citation needed]} It was premiered at the Phoenix Theatre, Swindon.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Welcome to the Beautiful South (1989)
• Choke (1990)
• 0898 Beautiful South (1992)
• Miaow (1994)
• Blue Is the Colour (1996)
• Quench (1998)
• Painting It Red (2000)
• Gaze (2003)
• Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs (2004)
• Superbi (2006)

Compilations[link]

• Carry on up the Charts (1994)
• Solid Bronze (2001)
• Gold (2006)
• Soup (2007)
• The BBC Sessions (2007)

DVD[link]

• The Beautiful South: Munch - Our Hits (2003)
• Live In The Forest (2005)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Beautiful South

• Complete Discography