Bluegrass music is a style of American country music. It developed in the regions adjoining the Appalachian Mountains in the Southern United States . A typical bluegrass band includes acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle (violin), mandolin, and bass. Bluegrass groups also sometimes feature a kind of steel guitar called a dobro. Bluegrass music often features complex vocal and instrumental solos and elaborate harmony singing .
The history of bluegrass music.
Bluegrass music may originate from traditional English, Irish, and Scottish folk music brought to America by immigrants during the 1600’s and 1700’s. It was originally called hillbilly, mountain, or folk music and was primarily performed on fiddle, acoustic guitar, and mandolin. In the late 1920’s, when talent scouts for early record labels listened to music in rural Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, they found many groups and family bands performing this music. Among the first such artists to be recorded were Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, which included the influential guitarist Maybelle Carter. Many of these musicians were also influenced by the music of African Americans, including jazz and blues. With the gradual introduction of the banjo, which many musicians first heard in traveling minstrel shows, the music slowly took its present form, primarily as an instrumental showcase for musicians.
One of the first radio stations to play what would later be called bluegrass was WLS in Chicago. In the early 1930’s, its “National Barn Dance” program brought national attention to mandolin player Bill Monroe. Monroe combined the songs he heard from African American musicians in the Southern United States and the fiddle playing of his uncle with a high-pitched, mournful singing style called “the high lonesome sound.” Bill performed with his brother Charlie as the Monroe Brothers. The group featured close harmony vocals, supported by Charlie’s rhythm guitar and Bill’s mandolin solos.
The Blue Grass Boys.
In 1939, after the Monroe Brothers dissolved their partnership, Bill founded the Blue Grass Boys (later the Blue Grass Quartet), with his mandolin as the lead instrument. The Blue Grass Boys harmonized around Bill’s voice and, in the minstrel show tradition, added humor to their shows. The humor was handled for several years by the sad-faced banjo player David “Stringbean” Akeman. In 1939, the Blue Grass Boys appeared on the influential Grand Ole Opry program on the Nashville radio station WSM. They recorded such bluegrass standards as “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (1946), “Molly and Tenbrooks” (1947), and “It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” (1947). The popularity of the group eventually gave the music its name.
The Blue Grass Quartet featured several virtuoso (skilled) musicians, including the banjo player Earl Scruggs and the singer and guitarist Lester Flatt. The duo added the jazz-influenced Western swing style to bluegrass. Western swing combines country music with big-band jazz. Flatt and Scruggs left the group to form the Foggy Mountain Boys with other former Blue Grass Quartet members. The group recorded a number of classic bluegrass songs, including “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (1949) and “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” (1951), which displayed exceptional instrumental improvisation.
Other influential bluegrass innovators were the Stanley Brothers, featuring lead singer and guitarist Carter Stanley and his brother, banjo player and singer Ralph. Among the duo’s most famous recordings was their version of “Man of Constant Sorrow” (1951).
Bluegrass music today.
Bluegrass music struggled during the early days of rock ‘n’ roll. It resurfaced during the folk music revival of the 1960’s, prompted by the popularity of such groups as the Kingston Trio, who sang many old mountain ballads. A style of bluegrass called “newgrass,” or “progressive bluegrass,” brought more jazz innovation to bluegrass later in that decade.
Traditional bluegrass remains popular today, particularly in the Southern United States. A number of contemporary performers with bluegrass roots, including Béla Fleck, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, and Gillian Welch, have become immensely popular. The Coen Brothers movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, featuring bluegrass music, was an enormous hit in 2000.
