Many think of bluegrass as
very old music that hasn't changed much over the years, but actually, that is not the case. While
the roots of bluegrass date back to Appalachian mountain music, Irish fiddle
music, and early American blues from the 1800s and even earlier, bluegrass
music itself dates back only to the 1940s. It was then that Bill Monroe and his
Bluegrass Boys produced the first true bluegrass music, featuring the
three-finger banjo style of Earl Scruggs, the fast-picking mandolin of Bill
Monroe, and the characteristic 'high lonesome' harmony singing that launched
bluegrass music. This new music was an integration and transition from earlier
forms of mountain music, Irish fiddle tunes, and blues into something new,
which became almost instantly popular.
Bluegrass
music continued to evolve and change almost immediately upon its birth. Bill
Monroe introduced the accordion to his band in the 1940s, which was played by a
woman, Sally Ann Forrester. Soon thereafter, the dobro was added to the
bluegrass arsenal of instruments, although Bill Monroe never used one because
he reportedly didn't like it ('...that ain't no part of nothin!'). As is often
the case in a growing family, even the father couldn't control his offspring!
The 1950s saw the rise of electric
instruments Ñ with Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and other rock
'n' rollers Ñnearly causing the death of bluegrass. It seemed that no one at
the time, except the truly faithful, wanted to hear the old acoustic music and
listeners deserted it in droves for the newer, brasher rock 'n' roll. Flatt and
Scruggs and other bluegrass bands experimented with electric guitars during
this period, trying to hang on to a share of the listening audience, but the
going was tough.
The folk music revival in the 1960s
re-emphasized 'legitimate' and 'authentic' music, played acoustically. Although
bluegrass was not at the forefront of the folk music revival, Clarence White
(the White Brothers and the Kentucky Colonels) and Doc Watson performed at the
seminal Newport Folk Festival in the mid-1960s, introducing new audiences to
the pyrotechnics of their state-of-the art flat picking and the driving appeal
of bluegrass music. However there was still no mainstream means for presenting
regular bluegrass music, so times were tough for those in the business.
Then, in the late 1960s a bright young man
dreamed up the idea of the 'bluegrass festival' and once again bluegrass music
experienced a major transition. Festivals popped up like weeds around the
country, attracting large family audiences to their multi-day events. A whole
new market for bluegrass bands and bluegrass music was created as bands began
to travel and perform on the festival circuit.
The 1970s and 1980s saw even more
transition and change when 'newgrass' became prominent, spearheaded by the New
Grass Revival, a band that featured more complex melodies and chord
progressions. Formed by a then 19-year-old Sam Bush in 1971, the original
members of this important band included Sam Bush on fiddle and mandolin,
Courtney Johnson on banjo, Curtis Burch on resonator/dobro, and Ebo Walker on
bass.
Bluegrass
music began to branch out during the 1990s and early 2000s with prominent
groups forming in Canada, Europe, and Japan. This period also witnessed the
progression of bluegrass to an unparalleled height of technical prowess in
instrumentation as well as the rise of a handful of nationally prominent super
groups like Alison Krauss and Union Station and Nickel Creek. The music also
experienced the ever-present pressure from young people who wanted to do it
their way and break new ground, and that resulted in what is often called
'progressive bluegrass' although traditional material still remained popular.
These
days the Internet, the declining cost of home recording equipment, MySpace,
YouTube, and other new technologies are changing the music business and
changing bluegrass music along with it in important ways. Many small labels
currently produce bluegrass CDs. The Internet supplies vast resources for those
interested in bluegrass music unheard of even 20 years ago, including
instructional materials, videos, lyrics, and slow downers. No longer do large
record labels have control over what music is recorded and released to the
public, since even small bands can produce and release their own music at
reasonable prices. It has become easier and easier to learn to play and enjoy
bluegrass as well as to be selective about the music one purchases, i.e.,
getting that one song for the iPod instead of having to buy a whole album and
listening to satellite radio. As a sign of the times, 2007 was the first year
that more music was sold via download than on CD!
It
remains to be seen what the next transition in bluegrass music will be, but I
think we can rest assured it will be influenced by technology as far as how we
listen to our bluegrass and by some of the hot young players who will continue
to innovate and dazzle much as father Bill Monroe did back in the 1940s.
Bluegrass will remain tradition bound and there will always be popular bands playing
it the way Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs did, but there will also be the
innovators and pioneers who take us in new directions, and that's the way it
should be.