Yodeling (also called jodeling or yodelling) is a singing style that uses quick changes in pitch between the low chest voice and the high head voice or falsetto. The English word "yodel" comes from the German word "jodeln," which means "to say the syllable 'jo' (pronounced 'yo')." This singing method is practiced in many cultures around the world. Recent scientific studies about yodeling and non-Western music suggest that music and speech might have come from a shared origin.
Alpine yodeling was a long-standing tradition in rural areas of Europe. It became popular in the 1830s as a form of entertainment in theaters and music halls. Today, yodeling remains an important part of folk music (called Volksmusik) in regions such as Switzerland, Austria, southern Germany, eastern France (Alsace and Savoy), and northern Italy (Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol). Yodeling can also be heard in many modern folk songs, which are often shown on television.
History of Alpine yodeling
Most experts agree that yodeling was used in the Central Alps by herders to call their animals or to send messages between Alpine villages. The high and low sounds of yodeling later became part of the region's local traditions and music. The earliest written record of a yodel dates to 1545, where it is described as "the call of a cowherd from Appenzell." Music historian Timothy Wise writes:
Yodelers performed on British stages often during the 1800s. In a journal entry from June 4, 1830, Sir Walter Scott wrote, "Anne wants me to go hear the Tyrolese Minstrels, but I cannot help thinking their yodeling sounds similar to the noises made by a donkey." In Europe, yodeling remains an important part of folk music from Switzerland, Austria, and southern Germany. The Swiss Amish in the United States still practice yodeling today.
In 2025, Switzerland’s yodeling was recognized by UNESCO as an important cultural tradition.
Yodeling around the world
Yodeling is found in many places around the world, including the Solomon Islands, Hawaii, Madagascar, the United States, Romania, Bulgaria, and parts of Africa. While it is often linked to the Swiss Alps and Austrian Tyrol, music experts believe that yodeling began thousands of years ago with ancient African hunter-gatherer groups.
In Scandinavian folk music, a vocal style called Kulning (or Laling in Norwegian) is used to send messages over long distances, especially in mountainous areas. This technique is connected to the tradition of moving animals between places. Each person’s cry could be unique, helping others recognize them. Kulning is similar to yodeling in Switzerland and Austria. A musical piece called Hjalarljod has roots in yodeling. Kulning combines shouting and singing and is related to another style called lokk. It was used by people in forests and mountains to call animals, communicate with shepherds, or share messages with others living nearby.
In Persian classical music, singers use a technique called tahrir, which involves quickly moving between nearby musical notes. This is similar to Swiss yodeling and is used to decorate long musical phrases. Tahrir is also found in Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Turkish, Armenian, Afghan, and Central Asian music, as well as in some Pakistani and Indian traditions.
Among the Kurdish people in Iran, a vocal style called Hoore[h] is used. This style mimics the sounds of birds like quails or partridges and is practiced by certain tribes. It is closely related to true yodeling.
In Georgian music, yodeling is part of a technique called krimanchuli and is used in complex group singing. Similar yodel-like sounds are also found in the shamanistic traditions of the Sakha people in Siberia, the Inuit of Greenland, and the Saami of Scandinavia. In Ireland and Scotland, hints of yodeling-like sounds can also be heard. Among the Sakha people, yodeling is important for communicating with nature and asking for life to continue.
In Central Africa, the Pygmy people use yodeling in their intricate group singing. The Shona people of Zimbabwe sometimes yodel while playing the mbira, a traditional instrument. The Mbuti people of the Congo use yodels and whistles in their songs. These groups rely on hunting and gathering, and they use yodeling to call each other while singing about hunting or harvests. In 1952, a music expert named Hugh Tracey recorded their songs, and these recordings are now available on CDs.
In Romanian folk music, yodeling appears in forms like hăulit and "horea cu noduri." "Horea cu noduri" is often used to express sadness. This style involves a special way of singing called "doina," which uses a rough vocal technique. The "knots" in the name refer to the vibrations made by tightening the throat muscles.
Many Hawaiian songs use a vocal style called ka leo kiʻekiʻe, which involves a high-pitched voice. This style highlights the change between different vocal registers. Sometimes, singers repeat this change to create a yodel-like sound. This technique developed from a mix of traditions, including early Hawaiian chants, Christian hymns, and the songs and yodeling of Mexican cowboys called "paniolos" who arrived in Hawaii in the 1800s.
Yodeling came to America in the mid-1800s and spread through traveling entertainment shows.
Technique
Human voices have two main ways of singing, called the "head" and "chest" voices. Most people can sing lower pitches using their chest voice and higher pitches using their head voice. Falsetto is a way of singing that uses higher pitches without support from air, which makes it sound different from head or chest voices. The area where the two voices overlap, called the passaggio, can be hard for singers who are not trained. Skilled singers can control their voices in this range and switch between registers easily. Yodeling is a style of singing where a person changes registers quickly, often several times in a few seconds and at a loud volume. When singers switch between registers in their passaggio range, it creates a unique sound. For example, in the famous song "Yodel – Ay – EEE – Oooo," the "EEE" is sung using the head voice, while the other parts are sung using the chest voice.
Bart Plantenga, author of Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World, explains the technique:
Good places for Alpine-style yodeling are those with echoes. Ideal natural locations include mountain ranges, lakes, rocky gorges or shorelines, and high or open areas with one or more distant rock faces.
Yodeling in the United States
Yodeling is believed to have been first brought to the United States by German immigrants in Pennsylvania during the early 1800s. As these settlers moved south through the Appalachian Mountains and into the Deep South, they met other groups, including Scots and Irish immigrants, Scandinavians who practiced a type of yodeling called kulning, and African enslaved people who used "field hollers." Frederick Law Olmsted described field hollers in 1853 as "long, loud, musical shouts" that rose and fell and included falsetto.
In 1839, the Tyrolese Minstrels toured the United States and sparked a popularity for Alpine music. During the 1840s, many German, Swiss, and Austrian singing groups traveled across the country, performing a mix of singing, yodeling, and "Alpine harmony." The success of these European groups inspired the creation of American family singing groups. The most famous was the Hutchinson Family Singers, who performed harmony and yodeling. Minstrel shows imitated the Hutchinsons' yodeling, calling it "Tyrolesian business." In 1853, Christy's Minstrels parodied the Hutchinson Family by performing a version of their song "We Come From the Hills With Tyrolean Echo."
Other American minstrels also performed yodeling in the United States. Tom Christian was the first American yodeling minstrel, appearing in Chicago in 1847. Yodeling recordings were made in 1892. In 1920, the Victor recording company listed 17 yodels in their catalogue, many by George Watson, the most popular yodeler of that time. In 1902, Watson recorded the song "Hush-a-bye Baby," which was later recorded in 1924 by Riley Puckett as "Rock All Our Babies to Sleep," the first country yodeling record. Earlier, in 1897, Watson recorded "Sleep, Baby, Sleep," which Puckett later recorded in 1927 as the second country yodeling record. "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" was also the first song ever recorded by Jimmie Rodgers in 1928 during the Bristol sessions. Rodgers later became known as the father of both country music and American yodeling by blending yodeling with southern African-American blues.
In the 19th century, traveling minstrels in the United States performed yodeling. In 1920, the Victor recording company listed 17 yodels in their catalogue. In 1928, Jimmie Rodgers combined Alpine yodeling with African American work songs, blues, and traditional folk music to create "Blue Yodel No. 1." This song became an instant hit, making yodeling popular nationwide. A black musician who lived near Rodgers in Mississippi noted that both black and white musicians began to copy his style of singing.
When sound films became available in the 1930s, the film industry produced many movies to satisfy the public's interest in American cowboys. The "singing cowboy" became a popular character in Western films, often portrayed in B-movies of the 1930s and 1940s. The shift from Rodgers' "blue yodel" to the "cowboy yodel" involved changes in rhythm and lyrics, moving away from Southern blues-style songs. Some yodels included more Alpine-style yodeling. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, both skilled yodelers, were the most famous singing cowboy film stars. Yodeling remained popular through the 1940s but became rare in country and western music by the 1950s.
The American minstrel show included comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, after the Civil War, by black people in blackface. These shows traveled the same routes as opera companies, circuses, and European entertainers, performing in places from grand opera houses to small tavern stages. When the Tyrolese Minstrels toured the United States in the 1840s and introduced Alpine yodeling, four unemployed white actors created a parody of their performances. Calling themselves Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, their show was very popular. Most historians consider this event the beginning of minstrelsy in the United States.
Performers
Entertainer J.K. Emmet (1841–91) was likely the most famous yodeler of his time. He made recordings, but he died before the recording industry became well known. Many later yodelers recorded songs he had written or popularized, such as "Sleep, Baby, Sleep." In the 1910s, the disc record system became the most popular way to play music.
Most music historians believe the first country music record with yodeling was "Rock All Our Babies to Sleep," sung by Riley Puckett, a blind singer from Georgia. In 1924, his recording was one of the top songs of that year. Another early yodeler was Emmett Miller, a performer in minstrel shows, also from Georgia. In the 1920s, Miller recorded "Lovesick Blues," which later became a hit for country singer Hank Williams. Bob Wills, known as the King of Western Swing, and others were influenced by Miller. Miller's version of "Lovesick Blues" is available on YouTube with a picture of him in blackface.
In the early 1920s, African-American Winston Holmes started a record label called Merritt Records and performed himself. His singing included bird calls, train whistles, and yodels. He worked with blues singer Lottie Kimbrough in the 1920s. In 1923 and 1924, black performer Charles Anderson recorded eight songs for the Okeh label, showing the songs he had performed in vaudeville shows over the previous decade. Five of these songs were yodels: "Sleep, Baby, Sleep," "Comic Yodle Song," "Coo Coo" (an adaptation of J.K. Emmett's "Cuckoo Song" with a 60-second high note), "Laughing Yodel," and "Roll on Silver Moon," a sentimental ballad similar to Jimmie Rodgers' Southern songs.
The Singing Brakeman, Jimmie Rodgers, is credited with creating the American version of Alpine yodeling, called the blue yodel. While working on the railroad, Rodgers learned blues techniques from African American railroad workers called gandy dancers. He blended these styles with traditional work songs, blues, hobo songs, and cowboy songs to create his unique sound, known as the "Blue Yodel." His first blue yodel, "Blue Yodel No. 1" (also called "T For Texas"), was recorded in a church in New Jersey. When it was released in February 1928, it became a national hit and caused a rush of people buying records.
A black musician who lived near Rodgers in Mississippi said that after hearing Rodgers, many people, both black and white, began to copy his style: "Everyone who could play a guitar started yodeling like Rodgers." In 1930, Rodgers recorded "Standing on the Corner" (Blue Yodel No. 9) with Louis Armstrong on trumpet and Armstrong's wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong, on piano. Rodgers died in 1933. Many musicians who came after him said he influenced their singing style and careers.
Although today’s idea of cowboys may not be completely accurate, the American cowboy was a real part of history. In the past, the American West had open ranges with thousands of cattle that needed to be watched, branded, and driven to slaughterhouses. Music historian Timothy Wise wrote that radio, phonographs, and films helped spread the romantic image of the cowboy. Yodeling became a key part of this image. The change from Rodgers' blue yodel to the cowboy yodel involved changes in rhythm and lyrics, with some songs using Alpine-style yodels. Roy Rogers, singing with the Sons of the Pioneers in 1934, sang about a "sweet Tyrolean maid" in "A Swiss Yodel."
Jimmie Rodgers was the first to write and sing a cowboy yodel, "The Land of My Boyhood Dreams," in 1929. At that time, he had moved to Texas, and a photo of him wearing a cowboy outfit appears on one of his recordings with the Carter Family. Other country singers, who were called "hillbilly" singers, adopted the cowboy image to avoid the negative meaning of the hillbilly label. A Georgia radio station in 1934 listed "cowboy Roy Lykes," the "Yodeling Fence Rider" from Texas, as a performer. Lykes was described as a real cowboy who wore cowboy shoes to feel like one. Many old cowboy songs used a beat that sounded like a horse’s trot.
The most famous singing cowboys are Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, known as the King of the Cowboys. In the 1930s, Rogers helped form the group the Sons of the Pioneers, who created romantic songs about the American West with three-part yodeling. These songs formed a new style in early country music that was different from the music of "hillbillies."
Canadian Wilf Carter (Montana Slim), called the "Father of Canadian Country Music," began singing in the 1920s after seeing a Swiss performer named "The Yodeling Fool." Carter developed a yodel with a Swiss sound, sometimes called an "echo yodel" or a "three-in-one."
Elton Britt is also considered an early cowboy yodeler. In 1934, he recorded his signature song, "Chime Bells." Like many others, Britt was inspired by Jimmie Rodgers' records to learn yodeling. He became known for his ability to yodel for a very long time, a skill he learned by swimming underwater for minutes at a time.
Jack Guthrie, the cousin of Woody Guthrie, performed in the 1930s and 1940s. Known as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy," his style was influenced by Jimmie Rodgers and his work as a rodeo performer.
Goebel Reeves, known as the "Texas Drifter," claimed to have taught Jimmie Rodgers to yodel, but this is unlikely. Reeves was from a middle-class family but chose to live as a hobo. His song "Hobo's Lullaby" was later covered by Woody Guthrie and his son Arlo.
Zeke Clements, called "The Dixie Yodeler," acted in "singing cowboy" Western movies and provided the voice of Bashful, the yodeling dwarf, in Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Yodeler Hannes Schroll was the voice of Goofy’s sound effect in Disney cartoons. "Yodelin' Slim Clark" from Maine performed for 70 years. Yodeler Don Walser from Texas became famous in 1994 at age 60 and received a lifetime award in 2000. Jimmie Davis, who was governor of Louisiana, was also a successful country singer who yodeled.
Don Edwards (born in 1939) is a cowboy singer, guitarist, and yodeler. He recorded albums, including Saddle Songs and Songs of the Cowboy, which are in the Library of Congress. He sang on the soundtrack of the 2005 film Grizzly Man and was named one of the top cowboy songs by the Great American Country network.
Notable performers
Jimmie Davis was a singer, songwriter, and served two terms as the governor of Louisiana. He began his music career by singing on a local radio station, and his early songs were influenced by the style of country music singer Jimmie Rodgers. Like Rodgers, Davis was inspired by African-American blues music. He used the unique language and themes from blues music to write songs such as "Tom Cat and Pussy Blues" and "Organ Grinder Blues." During his first run for governor, his opponent tried to use some of his older songs against him by playing them at a rally. However, the crowd liked the songs and began dancing to them. On a weekend fishing trip, Davis and Hank Williams worked together to create the song " (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle " for Williams.
Cliff Carlisle was a famous singer in the 1930s and helped introduce the Hawaiian steel guitar into country music. He often recorded songs that included themes and metaphors related to everyday life, which became a common feature of his music.
Hank Snow was a well-known country singer in the 1950s. Before becoming famous in Canada, he had been performing for many years and was known as "The Yodeling Ranger." He admired Jimmie Rodgers and learned to yodel by listening to Rodgers' records. He even named his son Jimmie Rodgers Snow.
Tommy Duncan was a singer for the group "Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys." He was skilled at yodeling. Bob Wills is recognized by music experts as one of the co-founders of Western Swing, a musical style that blends country and jazz.
In 1949, Hank Williams recorded his first hit song, "Lovesick Blues," which had originally been recorded by Emmett Miller in 1928. Williams performed his version of the song, replacing the jazz musicians with his own country band but keeping the yodel from Miller's recording. His version became very popular and reached number one on Billboard's music charts. Singer Patsy Cline later recorded her own version of "Lovesick Blues" in 1960.
Bill Haley, the lead singer of Bill Haley and the Comets, is known for his song "Rock Around the Clock," which became famous after being used in the movie Blackboard Jungle in 1955. Before this, Haley and his band performed Western Swing music and were known for their yodeling. They used different band names over the years, including the Down Homers, the Texas Range Riders, and the Saddlemen. In the 1940s, Haley won the Indiana State Yodeling Championship. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, did not share this fact with his fans.
Kenny Roberts was a member of the Down Homers and taught Bill Haley how to yodel before Haley joined the band. Later, Roberts appeared on children's television shows, where he performed while yodeling and jumping high in the air.
Otis Dewey "Slim" Whitman performed for over 60 years. He avoided sad songs and instead sang about simple life and love. His style, called "countrypolitan," combined country music with a more refined singing style. Pop singer Michael Jackson listed Whitman as one of his favorite vocalists. Members of the Beatles, George Harrison and Paul McCartney, said Whitman influenced them. In the movie Mars Attacks!, a teenager uses Whitman's song "Indian Love Call" to defeat aliens.
Janet McBride began yodeling as a child in Maine. She continued singing and recording for over 40 years. She has performed in the U.S. and in Austria. In 1991, she was named Female Yodeler of the Year by the Western Music Association.
Jewel Kilcher, a Swiss-American singer, yodels and is known for her version of "Chime Bells." She learned to yodel from her father, who learned it by listening to Jimmie Rodgers.
Mike Johnson is an African American yodeler who blends styles from Jimmie Rodgers, Swiss yodelers, and cowboys. In 2007, 114 of his songs were added to the Library of Congress's permanent music collection.
Leon Thomas, a jazz singer known for working with Pharoah Sanders, sometimes yodeled during his performances. He learned to yodel by listening to African Pygmy singers. His style influenced other musicians like James Moody, Tim Buckley, and Bobby McFerrin.
Kerry Christensen, from Idaho, has been performing since he was three years old. He yodels in both Western and Alpine styles and plays the accordion, zither, and alphorn. He is also skilled at imitating chickens.
Taylor Ware, who was 11 years old, competed on America's Got Talent. She taught herself to yodel at age seven using an audiotape and a book. Alyse Eady, who was Miss Arkansas 2010 and a finalist in the Miss America 2011 pageant, yodeled and performed ventriloquism in the song "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart."
According to Bart Plantenga, author of Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World, some unexpected yodelers include the Muppets, Shakira, Goofy, Bill Murray, Gene Wilder, and South Korea's former Miss World Ji-Yea Park.
The musical The Sound of Music, created by Rodgers and Hammerstein, includes a yodeling song called "The Lonely Goatherd." Mary Martin performed it on Broadway in 1959, and Julie Andrews sang it in the 1965 film version. Gwen Stefani yodeled in the 2006 song "Wind It Up." The lead singer of the band the Epoxies is also known for yodeling. Soul singer Aaron Neville said he was inspired by Gene Autry's yodeling to develop his unique singing style.
In a TV sketch on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Brad Pitt and Jimmy Fallon yodeled while standing on top of New York City skyscrapers. Subtitles explained what they were saying to each other. After some conversation, Pitt asked Fallon if he wanted to try a "double yodel," which Fallon said had never been done before. The sketch ended with both men yodeling together in harmony.
In April 2018, an 11-year-old boy named Mason Ramsey was seen yodeling the Hank Williams song "Lovesick Blues" in a Walmart store in Illinois. His performance became popular online, with videos of it receiving over 25 million views. This led to renewed interest in Hank Williams' 70-year-old recording of the song. In March, Rolling Stone reported that Spotify's Viral 50 chart ranked "Lovesick Blues" at number three in the U.S. and number four globally. The number of views for the "Yodeling" Wikipedia article increased from a few hundred to over 5,000 per day.