Also in the Gems of Bluegrass series

Gems #1224 "Bill Monroe tributes. For regular users, piece for June 9-15, 2012. Others use anyti... (00:07:44)
From: Philip Nusbaum

Today it is commonplace to acknowledge the extent of Bill Monroe’s contribution to bluegrass music: The instruments used, their function in a band, and the way singing is ...

Gems of Bluegrass #1223 Anthems (00:08:03)
From: Philip Nusbaum

Bill Monroe’s band was called the Bluegrass Boys after his home state of Kentucky. It was considered part of country music, and bands that adopted Monroe’s style were ...

Gems of Bluegrass #1222 "Early Bluegrass and Loss" (00:05:15)
From: Philip Nusbaum

We know that bluegrass music is blue. The most obvious examples are the seemingly limitless number of songs about lovers breaking up. But in bluegrass, especially the old ...

Gems of Bluegrass # 1221 "Bluegrass is Jazzy. But What Does that mean?" For regular users, May 19... (00:07:23)
From: Philip Nusbaum

In the early twentieth Century jazz and country music both had bad reputations among members of the music establishment. For one thing, with a lack of proper sheet music, ...

Gems #1220 Is Bluegrass Folk (00:06:21)
From: Philip Nusbaum

If you think that folk music means singer with guitar, then bluegrass is not really folk. But before you slam the door on the idea of bluegrass being folk, consider that to ...

Gems of Bluegrass #1219 Constructions, Deconstructions and Reinventions (00:10:53)
From: Philip Nusbaum

A recent Gem of Bluegrass addressed the recontexting of bluegrass songs. Take a bluegrass song or bluegrass approach and combine it with ideas from outside bluegrass, and you ...

Gems of Bluegrass 1218 Hidden Challenges of Playing Bluegrass (00:07:27)
From: Philip Nusbaum

When you play bluegrass or any type of old time music, you rely on your ear. Sure, some of the music written down, but if you rely solely on written music, you deprive ...

Gems of Bluegrass #1217 Bluegrass paradigm Change (00:08:28)
From: Philip Nusbaum

One of the great things about bluegrass is that it is always changing, always evolving. The 60’s was an era with a lot of change, and it may be happening again.

Gems of Bluegrass #1216 Recontexting (00:09:33)
From: Philip Nusbaum

We know that bluegrass evolves over time. But what causes the evolution? Usually we think it’s caused by the little changes made by players. But where do players get these ...

Gems #1215 Bluegrass and the House of the Rising Sun For regular users, piece for April 7-13, 2... (00:08:34)
From: Philip Nusbaum

The House of the Rising Sun. It’s an old time song that’s been kept alive by a lot of singers. Why do singers like it? It might be that it sings of a life gone wrong in no ...

Related Pieces

Intro and Outro

The old bluegrass caught the end of the part of human history where the group could be regional. Early bluegrass was a southeastern folk style. Membership in the bluegrass community was something like a birthright. But today, people elect to be part of many music communities, no matter where in the world they live. Either way, bluegrass is the music reflecting the values of a particular group.

But that is not exactly what most people mean when they question whether bluegrass is folk or country. They are asking whether bluegrass belongs to the world of Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette and Alan Jackson, or the world of Woodie Guthrie, Joan Baez, Ani DeFranco. It’s not really a yes or no answer

Maybe play some folk revival inspired bluegrass, such as any Dylan song done by a bluegrass band (Country Gentlemen doing Girl From the North Country or It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Josh Williams' Close the Door Lightly When You Go, Alternate Routes' Hello In There for example.