Bill Monroe’s great mid-1940s band set the standard for bluegrass bands in more ways than one, but perhaps the most basic was the band’s instrumental lineup. The five bluegrass instruments were the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and bass fiddle. Bill … Read More
This week, a little more about Bill Monroe and one part of the background of bluegrass. In shaping his music, Bill incorporated several strands of the music he heard as a boy and a young man. The strand I will … Read More
Last week’s post argued that Bill Monroe is rightfully called the “Father of Bluegrass,” although there were other country string bands active during the early 1940s, and other musicians, especially banjoist Earl Scruggs, played an important part in the creation … Read More
Bill Monroe Bill Monroe is known as the “Father of Bluegrass.” To my knowledge, bluegrass is the only musical genre whose existence is largely attributed to one person. Jelly Roll Morton claimed to have invented jazz, and W. C. Handy … Read More
This column is the first of a series about bluegrass music. My goal here is to talk a bit about the history of the music and some of the people who helped make bluegrass what it is today. One can … Read More
When Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs parted company in 1969, they left a vibrant legacy of recorded bluegrass. Both came to prominence in the mid-1940s as members of the most famous edition of Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, … Read More
One of the most exciting young bands today is the Foghorn Stringband, a quartet based in the Pacific northwest. They cover a lot of stylistic ground. Although most readily characterized as an “old time string band,” they draw the material … Read More