The Origins Of Bluegrass Music

The origins of Bluegrass Music are nearly four hundred years old, and developed as a result of political, economic, and social events. Accordingly, a chronological approach, from back porch amateurs to professional musicians, from barn raisings and medicine shows, to records, radio, and movies, this brand of music has spanned the world, as well as the centuries.
Not everyone agrees on what "Bluegrass" is. Purists believe that Bluegrass must be played on unamplified instruments. Although most people recognize the music when they hear it, what exactly is Bluegrass? Musicologists offer the following definition: Bluegrass is polyphonic vocal and instrumental music played on certain unamplified instruments, based on music brought over from the British Isles to Appalachian regions, and refined by additions of Negro and urban music styles. A Bluegrass band typically consists of a five-string banjo, a guitar, a fiddle, a Dobro guitar or mandolin, and a bass fiddle. Lead vocal parts are rendered in a high pitched style, with chorus harmonies added by a "high tenor", sung a third or fifth above the lead, and a lower baritone and or bass vocal lines. This definition might satisfy the purists, but some exceptions expand upon it, adding drums, electric guitars and basses. Some people object to such expansions, but often, if a band sounds "bluegrassy", it is included as a Bluegrass group.
The easiest way to think of Bluegrass, is as country music's equivalent to Dixieland Jazz. Against a solid or syncopated rhythm, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and Dobro alternate solos, and when not in the forefront, they supply counter melodies or additional rhythms. The subtleties of the music, and the virtuosity of its practitioners became apparent to a generation of people from both inside and outside the rural tradition. The spontaneity and effortlessness of professional groups was the result of hours of rehearsing singly and as a group, to capture the exact sound that the musicians wanted to present.
The word bluegrass is a relatively recent term. Before 1940, string-band music was rough hewn. A special sound began to crystallize, and Bill Monroe began to draw from sources outside of country music. Monroe added elements of blues, ragtime, and jazz, to develop subtle flexibilities of accent and tone. Monroe's group, called the"Blue Grass Boys", made refinements to the emerging style, and their music was an immediate success. It took about a decade for the name to be applied to the musical style, but people noted that other bands played "like the Blue Grass Boys", and soon the word Bluegrass became the generic term for any band that played that down home pickin' and singin' music.
The lyrics, whether story-telling ballads, hymns, or expressions of lost romantic or family ties, came out of the tradition of songs heard for centuries throughout the south. The music itself, satisfies the same urges as wearing blue jeans, going barefoot, and joining a friendly gathering. When a Bluegrass band launches into a break-neck number, it needs no explanation. It is just plain ol' foot-stompin', good time music, no matter where you hail from.