The Bluegrass Sound:
The sound of bluegrass music is deeply rooted in the fabric of America. Mountain ballads, blues, jazz, ragtime, western swing, minstrelsy, reels, breakdowns, quadrilles, white gospel, black spirituals, old-time country music, city music elements of all these and more have been absorbed into bluegrass, and have taken on new life there.
Today’s bluegrass banjo has its origin in the gourd banjos brought to America by slaves. The basic banjo 3-finger roll echoes the adaptation of complex African village drum rhythms to the much simpler European 1 2 3 4 count. The phrases a bluegrass fiddler plays may have originated in the cool green Scottish countryside centuries ago or with a blues player on the simmering streets of Memphis during the 1930’s.
Today there are many bluegrass sounds, some fairly traditional, others quite contemporary. This album spans a range of styles, featuring some of the most versatile, influential, and honored musicians in bluegrass.
Bluegrass The Origins:
Roots music has long flourished in America, created mostly by brilliant musicians who did not have the benefits of affluence, high social status, or extensive formal education.
In 1946 there was one bluegrass band in the world, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Today thousands of men and women around the globe play bluegrass. The contributions of many have helped shape this wonderfully rich and varied American art form.
Most people rightly associate the historical roots of bluegrass with earlier folk ballads and fiddle dance tunes from the British Isles, notably Scotland and Ireland. Equally important, however, are the blues scales, slurs or “bent notes, “syncopations, and sophisticated rhythmus which African slaves and their descendants brought to American music via the blues, ragtime, and jazz. Removing either the European- or African- derived components would render bluegrass totally unrecognizable.
Two major sources for the ideas Bill Monroe introduced into his new music were his fiddling uncle, Pendleton Vandiver (Uncle Pen), and African-American musician Arnold Schultz, a remarkable blues guitarist and friend, with whom Monroe played as a youth.
Likewise Earl Scruggs contributed a stunning innovative approach to the banjo originally an African instrument incorporating elements of black and white musical traditions. Earl Scruggs set the standards for bluegrass banjo and his ideas continue to permeate the music today.
Jack Tottle
“The Bluegrass Sound” Copper Creek Records CCCD-0165
www.coppercreekrec.com