Genre of American roots music and sub-genre of country music
Bluegrass
A bluegrass band
Stylistic origins
Country
English folk
Scottish folk
Irish folk
Appalachian music
old-time music
African-American music
string bands
blues
jazz
Cultural origins
c. 1940s, Kentucky, Tennessee, Appalachia, Southern United States
Subgenres
Progressive bluegrass
traditional bluegrass
Fusion genres
Jam band
Regional scenes
Czech Republic
Other topics
Musicians – Hall of Honor
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States.[1] The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys.[2] Like mainstream country music, it largely developed out of old-time string music, though in contrast, it is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments and also has roots in traditional English, Scottish and Irish ballads and dance tunes, as well as in blues and jazz.[3] It was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genre as "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's a part of Methodist, Holiness and Baptist traditions. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."[4]
Bluegrass features acoustic stringed instruments and emphasizes the off-beat. The off-beat can be "driven" (played close to the previous bass note) or "swung" (played farther from the previous bass note). Notes are anticipated, in contrast to laid-back blues where notes are behind the beat; this creates the higher energy characteristic of bluegrass.[3] In bluegrass, as in some forms of jazz, one or more instrumentalists take a turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment; this is especially typified in tunes called breakdowns.[5] This is in contrast to old-time music, where all instrumentalists play the melody together, or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment.[5] Breakdowns are often characterized by rapid tempos and unusual instrumental dexterity, and sometimes by complex chord changes.[6]
^"Bluegrass | music". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
^"Bluegrass Music - Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
^ abSmith, Richard (1995). Bluegrass: An Informal Guide. a capella books. pp. 8–9.
^"Bill Monroe: The Father of Bluegrass" Archived 2016-11-21 at the Wayback Machine, billmonroe.com, retrieved 17 January 2017
^ abMills, Susan W. (1 January 2009). "Bringing the Family Tradition in Bluegrass Music to the Music Classroom" (PDF). General Music Today. 22 (2): 12–18. doi:10.1177/1048371308324106. S2CID 145540513.
^"A short History of Bluegrass Music". Reno & Harrell. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
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