Modern country music is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Among the dozens of directions and styles that have formed it, there are old and new, modern and obsolete, forgotten and revived. Among the latter, almost lost, but restored in our time, belongs bluegrass – one of the key directions of country and American folk music, which equally influenced the formation of both movements.
The origin of the name bluegrass
Surprisingly, the word “bluegrass” began to be used to refer to the corresponding musical movement almost two centuries after its inception. It is believed that only in the second half of the 1950s bluegrass got its name from the name of the band of one of the founding fathers of the current movement Bill Monroe – Blue Grass Boys, which included other legendary bluegrass musicians – Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt.
Monroe and his musicians were originally from Kentucky, also called the “Bluegrass State,” because bluegrass, a grassy plant that locals called “blue grass,” was a common sight in the wide fields of the state. In the 1940s and ’50s the Blue Grass Boys had no competition. No one else played similar music, and their colleagues considered it a “unique style” – not a separate movement. The situation changed only when other bands began to play a similar style.
Ralph Stanley, bluegrass legend and one of today’s best-known bangers, recalls:
“Yeah, Bill Monroe was the first. It wasn’t called bluegrass then, just ‘old Appalachian hillbilly music. So later on, when they had the idea of organizing a bluegrass festival in 1965, everybody got together and started asking awkward questions, like, “What’s the name of the show?” So they decided, since Bill was the first, came from Kentucky, and his band was called the Blue Grass Boys, let’s call it bluegrass.
Bluegrass: instrumentation, vocals and lyrics
As one of the most conservative subgenres of folk and country music, bluegrass has retained an authentic sound; as a consequence, the instruments, lyrics, and sound have generally changed little since the genre’s inception.
For example, the subject matter of the lyrics has remained virtually unchanged since the 18th century – both then and in the 21st century, bluegrass singers in their songs describe the daily lives of the people among whom they themselves live. The most popular themes: lost love, unpleasant life changes (invasions of strangers, loss of jobs, disasters and natural disasters), life in the middle of nowhere and without money, love of home.
The main differences brought to bluegrass over time, however, are probably in the musical component. For example, there are so-called “breakdowns” – segments of a composition where one of the ensemble’s instruments plays the leading role and all the others are accompanists. This is in stark contrast to the old technique of having all the musicians play at the same time. As for the instrumentation, it was not too rich at first – fiddle, mandolin, guitar, other stringed instruments. It was only after the tunes reached black musicians that the banjo was added to the existing “orchestra,” resulting in the “canonical” instrumental lineup that is still observed today.
Generally speaking, the “correct composition of a bluegrass band” is a topic of eternal disputes in the music community. Adherents of traditional bluegrass take Bill Monroe’s formula – mandolin, fiddle fiddle, banjo, double bass – as their standard. Their opponents see nothing wrong in adding accordion, harmonica, piano, electronic instruments (first of all, electric guitar and bass guitar), though in this case the departure from the cherished traditions is obvious. Amidst this strife, the unity of bluegrass singers with regard to vocals is particularly pleasing. “Proper” bluegrass harmony is two, three or four parts; baritone in the background and lead vocals a little higher, passing into tenor at key moments of the composition. However, in the case of female vocals, this scheme may vary.