The Yodel’s Cultural Bridge

Swiss emigrants brought the vocal technique to America’s founding colonies.

"Driving Down the Cattle From the Alps," 19th century, by Josef Thoma. Dairy farmers in the country’s Alpine region yodeled to communicate with fellow herders across the vast, mountainous area, and to herd their cattle and cows. Public Domain

When Europeans sailed to North America in the 1700s, they brought a variety of instruments with them, including flutes, violins, and harpsichords. But one instrument making the journey required no extra packing—the human voice. Many of America’s early settlers brought with them the tradition of the yodel. Used as a form of communication in Switzerland, the yodel would transform into an art form as the New World transformed into a country.

America now has a vibrant yodeling tradition of its own. But it wouldn’t have been possible without a place that music writer Bart Plantenga called “a spiritual center for yodeling.”

The long, ocean-hopping legacy of the yodel begins with the dairy farmers of Switzerland.

From Farmlands to Founding Colonies

Yodeling, or the ability to quickly alternate one’s voice between falsetto high notes and deeper chest notes to create a melody or form of communication, can be traced back to Switzerland. That’s where the first recorded instance of the vocal technique was documented in 1545 by scholar Alfred Tobler in the book “Yodeling and Yodeling Song.”

Dairy farmers in the country’s Alpine region yodeled to communicate with fellow herders across the vast, mountainous area, and to herd their cattle and cows.

But the calls weren’t just belted out to move packs of animals. Sometimes, farmers yodeled softly in the form of a lullaby to comfort them during storms.

American colonies experienced a large influx of Swiss dairy farmers in the 1700s due to economic hardship and unusable land in their home country. They brought with them their calls from the mountains. Yodeling spread across the New World as people worked to establish a new cultural identity while preserving traditions of the past.

Transformation Over Time

The yodel has quite possibly experienced more transformations than any other musical technique.

“The yodel started with a prelingual call,” Plantenga explained to music magazine, No Depression.

“It eventually developed musical qualities and was next incorporated into wordless songs or a ‘pre-Gregorian scat.’ It was then applied to a basic song structure, serving as a refrain. Eventually, the ‘yodel song’ evolved into its own entity and later was commercialized through professional performances and recordings.”

A detail from the 1958 album cover "Yodel in Hi-Fi" by Marie Luise Tichy and Two Rudis. Internet Archive. Public Domain

Aside from its various stylings and uses, different yodeling traditions could also be found in various areas across the world throughout history, from Persia and Africa to Scandinavia. These differing styles all came to influence musicians in America, producing an integrated yodeling style that paired well with lyrical songs.

In 1928, early country star Jimmie Rodgers, who is known as the “Father of Country Music,” brought the tradition of the yodel into modern American times.

The Blue Yodel Series

Publicity portrait of American singer Jimmie Rodgers dressed as the “Singing Brakeman,” 1931. Public Domain

As Rodgers helped birth country music, he also popularized the yodel within the genre. His 1928 single, “Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas),” was a surprise hit that sparked 12 releases with yodeling as a featured technique.

“Many people who follow the history of country music … usually refer to “Blue Yodel” as the genre’s first major hit. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the years following its release and established Rodgers as an entertainer who would have a profound influence on future generations of artists and fans,” shared Ben Wynne at the Library of Congress website.

Another founding country artist, Hank Williams, would famously incorporate his own melodic yodeling style into songs like “Lovesick Blues” and “Ramblin’ Man.”

Hank Williams publicity photo for WSM Radio in Nashville, 1951. Public Domain

LeAnn Rimes’s breakout 1990s ballad, “Blue,” features refined yodeling paired with the twang and command of Nashville-produced vocals. The hit feels nostalgic, with an air of Patsy Cline, who also yodeled.

While growing up, country songwriter Ashley Monroe was inspired by Rimes. The Pistol Annies group member learned how to yodel as a child and continues to work it into her live performances today.

A Torchbearer of Traditional Yodeling

While yodeling isn’t nearly as popular as it once was in America, it’s still a treasured tradition in Switzerland that permeates the culture and artistic works. One of the country’s beloved yodelers, the late master Ruedi Rymann, rose to Swiss fame with his rendition of the traditional folk lamentation “Dr Schacher Seppli.” In 2007, the song was voted the “best Swiss hit ever“ by viewers of a television series covering the country’s popular music.

A torch bearer of traditional yodel technique, he also lived a traditional yodeler’s life.

“By profession, he was a man of the land; his life revolved around laboring, farming, cheesemaking, and forestry work,” news publication The Week shared.

In 1910, the Swiss Yodeling Association was founded. In 1924, the organization had its first country-wide festival, the National Yodeling Festival in Basel, Switzerland. The celebration has been held in different cities every three years since. Today, the festival draws crowds of over 200,000.

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