by Jennifer Berkowitz

Bluegrass is a lens to discover the rich musical and social heritage of the American south and has been a driving force in 20th century music. The origins of bluegrass music are traced through it's pioneer Bill Monroe whose influence has directly impacted artists who were key players in shaping entire genres, from Elvis Presley and The Beatles to Jerry Garcia. Monroe's unique style that came to be known as bluegrass also inspired new and old strains of Country, Honky Tonk, Western Swing and Rock n Roll genres. Today, bluegrass is still an American cultural export and can be heard around the world.

The term "bluegrass" refers to an ensemble form of an acoustic string-band originated by mandolinist Bill Monroe in the early 1930s. Traditionally made up of the fiddle, five string banjo, mandolin, lead guitar, upright bass, and sometimes the dobro (Hawaiian or steel string guitar), each instrument maintains the unique sound and style that defines bluegrass music: the guitar and string bass provide rhythm, while the fiddle, five-string banjo, mandolin, lead guitar, and dobro play the melody and serve as the backup for vocalists who typically sing in a high pitched manner creating a "high lonesome sound." Historically, bluegrass ensembles were mostly male, and vocals were often performed in duets, trios and quartets. The bluegrass sound is distinguished by tightly arranged harmonies and rapid rhythms, played in 2/2 or 4/4 time, and song arrangements that incorporate solos, where featured instruments improvise on the melody of the song. Bluegrass has a wide range of influences, borrowing stylistic and technical elements from old-time mountain music, country, blues, jazz, swing and hillbilly music. For example, elements of jazz and classical music can be heard in the bluegrass fiddle and mandolin while ragtime and blues melodies can be heard in the sound of the banjo. Additionally, the ensemble string band form as well as the instruments themselves played an important role in shaping bluegrass music.

Musical influences of the time suggest that African American musical traditions were a precursor to bluegrass music. Born in 1911, Bill Monroe grew up listening to gospel, southern church music, and rural Appalachian "hillbilly" or "old time" country music - a marriage of African American musical ideas and European folk traditions. Hillbilly was also a form of theater where musicians wore matching outfits which drew from minstrelsy. Minstrelsy not only introduced the African instrument - the banjo - to Americans in the 19th century, but the string band ensemble which came to incorporate mandolins, fiddles, banjos and guitars along with blown jugs and other percussion instruments. Also notable is that Monroe was also influenced by another fellow guitar player, Arnold Schultz, a black musician who played the thumb styled guitar

In 1938 Bill Monroe started "The Blue Grass Boys," named after his home state, Kentucky (a.k.a. the bluegrass state). With his innovative mandolin style, Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys - unbeknownst to them - gave birth to the genre that a decade later was known as "bluegrass". Each member pioneered unique instrumental styles that would become benchmarks for the defining characteristics of bluegrass music. Although The Blue Grass Boys saw a number of members throughout its history, the archetypical combination of musicians that defined the bluegrass sound was from 1945 - 1947, which featured Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Howard Watts, and Chubby Wise. Monroe himself set a high standard for musicians, his fast tempo and unconventional keys called for virtuoso mastery of the guitar. While guitarist Lester Flatt wore a thumbpick and finger pick on his index finger and used open string chords and bass runs, Earl Scruggs drew on banjoist Snuffy Jenkin's style but introduced a more evolved "three-finger banjo" technique that has become synonymous with bluegrass banjo because of its syncopation and rhythm.

Additionally, bassist Howard Watts (Cedric Rainwater) introduced the 4/4 rhythm that would be an important influence on the bluegrass sound, as was the fiddling of Chubby Wise, who borrowed musical ideas from Black musicians. Also noteable is bluegrass pioneer Bessie Lee Mauldin who played bass with the Bluegrass boys later on and Sally Ann Forrester who played accordion and sang with the Bluegrass Boys during WWII. Both women paved the way for other women in bluegrass. Other players who would emerge were banjo player Don Reno, guitarists Doc Watson and Clarence White, and banjoist J.D. Crow. The pre-war Martin D-28 is also considered to be the standard in bluegrass as is the 1934 D-28. Doc Watson often used a Gibson J-35, until about 1964 when he adopted a dreadnought - shaped Martin D-28 which came out in 1931.

The term "Bluegrass" became a recognized genre more than ten years after Monroe started the Blue Grass Boys. Monroe's style had caught on, and bands like the Stanley Brothers surfaced in the late 1940s, imitating Monroe's unique stylistic elements. At the same time disc jockeys faced new audiences, a large number of whom migrated from Appalachia and the southern highlands to urban centers like Washington D.C. and Detroit. Fans requested "old time" and "bluegrass" songs, implicating Bill Monroe's music and banjo music fashioned after Earl Scruggs. By 1955, there was evidence of commercial interest in the "bluegrass" label, which both validated and promoted it as a unique genre. In advertising, record companies and stores ran national campaigns using the label "bluegrass," and a number of bands emerged with the word "bluegrass" in their name in order to convey authenticity and integrity to fans.

At the same time, industrialization and the introduction of Rock n Roll posed a threat to the country music industry. The creative innovation in this period spawned a philosophical split in fans' definitions of bluegrass that persisted through the 1960s and is still pervasive today. Bluegrass acts like Rusty York and Willard Hale adapted more popular styles into their repertoire to respond to changing popular tastes. Scruggs and Flatt also started to innovate bluegrass music the late 1950s with their new band The Foggy Mountain Boys. Their incorporation of the dobro which was used to mimic the sound of the blues slide guitar proved to be an important innovation in bluegrass. However, traditional bluegrass continued to enjoy success from older, more conservative fans who did not like the new "black sounding" music. Furthermore, young southerners who had migrated to cities found themselves in new, racially diverse social landscapes and embraced bluegrass as a comfortable "down home" framework of identity.

Paradoxically, black culture reacted to what they perceived as "white" Rock n Roll with soul music. Despite social reactions, bluegrass helped to shape Rock n Roll. Elvis, for example, who grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry, could sing a number of Monroe's songs. And while most musicians were skeptical about the new popular music, Monroe's helped Presley adapt his "Blue Moon over Kentucky" for popular audiences to keep certain instrumental elements of bluegrass alive.

Bluegrass history took another interesting turn when it was "discovered" within the folk revival happening in the east with young, educated, middle class people who looked at bluegrass as the latest genuine expression of "authentic" America with its acoustic, non-commercial sound. Both Pete and Mike Seeger played important roles in guiding bluegrass into the folk revival. Pete, who was one of the only people outside of country music at this time using a banjo, was a fan of Scruggs and made his legendary banjo style popular with young folk enthusiasts. In 1957 Mike Seeger produced a Bluegrass LP that gained wide distribution, highlighting Scruggs style, and in 1958 another album called Mountain Music Bluegrass Style was released by Folkways. Included was a 12 page brochure on the history of bluegrass and a hierarchy of instruments used. The mandolin that Seeger highlighted was a pre-war Gibson model F-5, used by Monroe and the banjo was the old-Gibson Masterstone model, with the flat-head tone ring, as used by Scruggs. Additionally, manufacturers capitalized on the rising interest in bluegrass instruments as both Scruggs and Pete Seeger designed exclusive banjo models for Vega.

Groups such as The Osborne Brothers and The Country Gentleman gained exposure across college campuses while Bill Monroe was ushered into the folk music festivals by Ralph Rinzler - an important musician and businessman at the time. Rinzler was also responsible for folk's rediscovery of Doc Watson on one of his "field trips" to the south in search of "authentic" folk music.

Mike Seeger's involvement with the bluegrass "New Lost City Ramblers" during this time would also impact bluegrass's involvement in music festivals. Wider audiences were being introduced to the music, and a number of re-issues were produced to accommodate the interest in "old-time" music. Festival organizers caught on to the interested college market and bluegrass festivals became big business through the early 1970s. Road trips also became a part of young educated culture and young folk enthusiasts traveled by car to bluegrass festivals that were held in the Southwest, Southeast, and Midwest. Derogatory words like "hippie" and "redneck" surfaced at these festivals and testify to the clash of cultures experienced during the bluegrass and folk movement.

At the same time, a number of bluegrass bands were dissolving and changing stylistically at the urging of record companies who were shopping for more commercial sounds. Modern translations of bluegrass took form, adopting the label "newgrass." Newgrass acts like The Bluegrass Alliance, The New Grass Revival, The Seldom Scene, J.D. Crowe, and the McReynolds Brothers incorporated traditional bluegrass styles with new elements taken from rock, such as the use of electric pickups for acoustic instruments.

The blending of styles that came out of bluegrass was also important to the birth of country rock and folk rock, which blossomed through the seventies and still continues to be a strong tradition. The philosophical split still exists today, and although the debate about the definition of bluegrass continues, its fans continue to be the dominant force in preserving the music as an American art form.