Bluegrass has become a subgenre of country music, yet its origins come from many influences outside of today's country music. Geographically, bluegrass has its roots in the Appalachian Mountains that covers the center of the country music industry, Nashville. Tennessee and Kentucky make up the home of where the music blossomed. Bluegrass music was partially inspired by African musicians who brought the banjo to America in the 19th century.
What is bluegrass music and what makes it different?
As for Bluegrass music, it is generally known to be mainly focused on unamplified instruments. Because of this, the sound has a closer relationship with that of folk music.
What is the origin of bluegrass?
The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Unlike mainstream country music, bluegrass is traditionally played on acoustic stringed instruments. Bluegrass has roots in traditional English, Scottish, and Irish ballads and dance tunes and in traditional African-American blues and jazz.
How many subgenres of bluegrass are there?
Although Bluegrass is not a fairly wide genre of music, it still has a few sub-genres, 3, to be price. These three subgenres are: This is used for playing folk songs with their traditional chord progressions.
Where can I find media related to bluegrass music?
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bluegrass music. Artis, B. (1975). Bluegrass. NY: Hawthorne Books, Inc. ISBN 0843904526.
What is a subgenre of country music?
In popular music, country rock is a subgenre that blends rock and country. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, rock musicians began to record country-flavored records, which spawned the genre.
Is folk/bluegrass a country?
Short answer, no. For one, everyone has a very different definition of what exactly folk music is and what bluegrass music is. It even becomes more confusing as you have bluegrass musicians that incorporate brother harmonies, country, and even pop songs into their repetoire.
Is folk music a subgenre of country?
In essence, country is one part of folk. It is a unique style of folk music. Folk music—even in its second wave—didn't stray from its pure form. Country, on the other hand, has muddied the waters between country and pop and even ventured into rock.
Is blues a subgenre of country?
Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music....Country bluesOther namesFolk blues rural blues backwoods blues downhome bluesStylistic originsBlues folk gospel musicCultural originsEarly 20th century, American SouthSubgenres1 more row
Is bluegrass the same as country?
Bluegrass is a sub-genre of Country Music with characteristics that differentiate it from mainstream Country: The instrumentation is purely 'string band' based: Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Fiddle and Upright Bass. There is more emphasis on an 'acoustic' sound.
Are folk and country the same?
The main difference is that folk music is a far more overarching term than "country music." Country music is a style of folk music, as is rap, Celtic music, bluegrass, Cajun music, old time, and the blues. Country music evolved out of the folk music tradition and continues to influence it in hindsight.
What is the relationship between folk/bluegrass and country music?
Genres in music are like branches of a tree. Each one of them parts into a number of different little limbs, but they never leave their roots. Bluegrass is usually considered a branch from country music.
How many country music genres are there?
Country music is an American musical style that incorporates elements of folk, bluegrass, blues, and rural dance music. Music historians trace its origins to the southern Appalachian Mountains in the late 1920s, particularly in eastern Tennessee and southwest Virginia.
What makes a country song country?
Country music is defined as “a style and genre of largely string-accompanied American popular music having roots in the folk music of the Southeast and cowboy music of the West, usually vocalized, generally simple in form and harmony, and typified by romantic or melancholy ballads accompanied by acoustic or electric ...
Are blues and country related?
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated with blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, old-time, and American folk music forms including Appalachian, Cajun, Creole, and the cowboy Western music styles of New Mexico, Red Dirt, Tejano, and Texas country.
Is blues and country the same?
There are stylistic differences between blues and country music, but many differences lie on the surface, while on a deeper level the two populations frequently rely on the same musical foundations.
How is country different from blues?
The country blues is music that relies on the expressive power of the voice with sparse instrumental accompaniment (usually only a guitar or harmonica), differing from the "city blues" in that it has more improvisatory freedom and a less rigidly defined structure.
What is considered folk music?
folk music, type of traditional and generally rural music that originally was passed down through families and other small social groups. Typically, folk music, like folk literature, lives in oral tradition; it is learned through hearing rather than reading.
Why do they call it bluegrass music?
Bluegrass music came out of the rural south after World War II, but its roots date back to the 1930s. The genre was named after Bill Monroe's band The Blue Grass Boys who began performing in the 1940s. Bluegrass songs were about issues important to everyday people.
What is the difference between blues and bluegrass?
Bluegrass features acoustic stringed instruments and emphasizes the off-beat. Notes are anticipated, in contrast to laid back blues where notes are behind the beat, which creates the higher energy characteristic of bluegrass.
What are the musical characteristics of bluegrass?
Bluegrass is distinguished from the older string-band music by its more syncopated (off-beat) rhythm, its relatively high-pitched tenor (lead) vocals, tight harmonies, and a strong influence of jazz and blues.
What is bluegrass music?
Bluegrass music is a genre, style, or type of music. It gets its name from the band “Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys”. As you would have guessed, this band is responsible for facilitating this type of music, hence, why they named the genre after them.
What is the difference between bluegrass and blues?
Bluegrass usually fingers acoustic stringed instruments and puts more emphasis on the off-beat timing. With blues music, the notes usually fall behind the beat. However, unlike blues music, the notes in bluegrass music are anticipated.
What is the difference between a breakdown and a bluegrass breakdown?
Two, one instrument plays the lead while all the other instruments only provide accompaniment. Breakdowns have rapid tempos, complex chord movements, and unusual dexterity of the instruments. Although Bluegrass is not a fairly wide genre of music, it still has a few sub-genres, 3, to be price.
What subgenre is "Gospel"?
This subgenre in the sense that they use electric instruments, other than strictly sticking to acoustic instruments. They also like to import rock and roll songs to spice things up. Bluegrass Gospel. Just like the genre “Gospel”, this subgenre of bluegrass music is more about the lyrics than the actual sound.
What is the sound of bluegrass?
The sound is characterized by quick plucking of the strings in tones that are high-pitched. This, combined with the “high lonesome sound” from the vocal harmonies we talked about earlier, produces this unique sound of Bluegrass music.
How many parts does bluegrass gospel have?
In relation to sound, though, you might notice some slight differences. This bluegrass gospel will often have either 3 or 4 part harmony (singing), in the form of a choral piece.
Where did bluegrass music originate?
Bluegrass music can be traced back to the 1940s, beginning in the United States of America in the Appalachian region. Although this style of music began in the United States, it still owes its roots to the United Kingdom, mostly English, Scottish, and Irish dance tunes.
What is the difference between bluegrass and country?
The one main important thing that separates Bluegrass from Country is that Bluegrass is String Band music based.
What are the two types of bluegrass?
Today Bluegrass seems to have two main types, Traditional and Newgrass . Traditional Bluegrass is more based off of the classic Bluegrass music. Meanwhile Newgrass is much more eclectic and can be inspired by other genres of music, and can also sometimes use non-traditional bluegrass instruments (such as electric guitars, electric basses, accordions, pianos, ukuleles, etc) or have Bluegrass instruments being played in non traditional ways.
What is Western swing music?
Western Swing is inspired more by the Hot String Bands of the popular Swing music, but being played with Country and Western instruments (however Western Swing bands were using instruments not often used in Bluegrass and also not yet common in Country music like Drums, Electric Steel Guitars (rather than the acoustic Dobro), Electric guitars, and even horns.
What are the instruments used in bluegrass?
The main instruments in Bluegrass are string band instruments, Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Fiddle, Upright Bass (along with the Dobro and Harmonica here and there) are what most Bluegrass bands ( both Traditional and Newgrass) very often use.
When did bluegrass music become popular?
Even after the folk revival faded in the mid-1960s, it left a loyal audience for bluegrass music. Bluegrass festivals became common, with fans often traveling long distances to see a number of different acts over several days of performances.
When was bluegrass music invented?
There are very few Scots tunes or even derivative from Scots or English tunes in bluegrass. Most of it is composed in the period dating from the 1930s by American musicians. The same is true of most of the music from the southern Appalachian area. During the two hundred or so years between the time that the Scots-Irish, German and English settlers came to that area and the 1910s or so when “Hillbilly Music” was discovered a lot of home grown music occurred. Besides, Bill Monroe was from Western Kentucky, a long way from Appalachia.
Is bluegrass considered country?
So, yes — bluegrass was originally considered a subset of country music. And a number of bluegrass stars have gone on to success within mainstream country music, like Ricky Scaggs, Alison Krauss, and Mark O’Connor, to name a few. But its outside the mainstream for most country music fans nowadays.
What is the difference between bluegrass and country?
The difference between bluegrass and country is defined not only by the types of instrumented used, but also in how those instruments are used. The composition of songs are significantly different, and very easily distinguishable once you listen to a song in each style. Country music consists mainly of dance tunes and ballads focusing mainly on ...
What is bluegrass music?
As for Bluegrass music, it is generally known to be mainly focused on unamplified instruments. Because of this, the sound has a closer relationship with that of folk music. In addition, vocal harmonies are said to be quite distinctive of this genre.
What is the sound of bluegrass?
However, Bluegrass music in general keeps to its origins and has a very specific type of sound, usually generated with a string instrument, which consists of a very quick plucking in high-pitched tones, sometimes combined with the “high lonesome sound”. It is considered to be more free regarding rhythm as well, generally related to improvisation. That last part is generally the main focus of the song.
What is the state of Kentucky known as?
Kentucky, also known as the Bluegrass state, was Bill Monroe’s place of origin. Lastly, there is no better way to see how different each genre is than by having a good reference of the most iconic composers and artists. As for examples of Bluegrass, notable examples are: Foggy Mountain Breakdown – Earl Scruggs.
What is country music?
Country music consists mainly of dance tunes and ballads focusing mainly on a steady rhythm. But with the many subgenres of country music that exist in this day and age, there is also an endless variety of paces and tones. Nowadays, people also relate country music to Pop music, as the music industry is pushing some country composers’ careers ...
What are some examples of bluegrass?
As for examples of Bluegrass, notable examples are: Foggy Mountain Breakdown – Earl Scruggs. Country Boy – Ricky Skaggs. Blue Moon of Kentucky – Bill Monroe. As for Country music, there are way more variants and the style is more eclectic, as it has had many generations of musicians along the history of music.
Is bluegrass a country song?
Bluegrass is usually considered a branch from country music . For that reason, sometimes it may get slightly complicated to tell them apart. However, while similar and overlapping in many ways, the two are still distinct and should not be confused with one another. We’ve created a comparative analysis documenting just what makes each genre stand out.
Where did bluegrass originate?
Monroe, a mandolinist displaced from Appalachia by the Great Depression, drew influences from diverse traditional canons to pioneer a new sound. His music was governed by nostalgia for a mountain home, despite the poverty and hardship he experienced there. Bluegrass found commercial success among rural transplants to cities, who related to Monroe’s longing. Over time, his voice became a stand-in for the voices of that entire cohort.
Where is bluegrass most popular?
These trends are especially true for traditional bluegrass, which is most popular in the genre’s Appalachian home . “You’re going to find your demographics to be more in the South,” Mark Freeman, the president of traditional label Rebel Records, told the HPR, pointing to the region that accounts for 42% of bluegrass listeners: “Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina.” These areas are predominantly conservative, particularly among older voters; traditional bluegrass fans, who tend to be older, are representative of that correlation.
What are the demographics of bluegrass?
Loyal bluegrass fans are often older, white, Southern, and conservative. In contrast, new listeners responsible for the genre’s growth tend to be younger, more diverse, and farther to the left politically. These demographic divisions also correlate with musical preference: older listeners favor traditional bluegrass , while younger listeners prefer experimental styles.
Is bluegrass white?
The demographics of bluegrass are also extremely white. While African American music unquestionably influenced bluegrass, industry pressures historically separated black roots, dubbed “race music,” from white “hillbilly music,” keeping black bluegrass performers out of the genre’s commercial space. Musician and activist Rhiannon Giddens’ efforts to correct this erasure are often cited, but even today, few other artists of color are elevated alongside her. The figures are stark: According to the most recent available data from the Bluegrass Radio Network, more than 95% of listeners were white, and all of the more than 50 musicians on Bluegrass Today’s Top 20 chart as of March 20 were white-presenting.
Is bluegrass a split audience?
For bluegrass musicians, pleasing such a split audience is a tall order. Having it both ways is near impossible. A contingent of the old guard dismisses progressive bluegrass and bluegrass-influenced rock/pop as opportunistic, while some devotees of the new subgenre reject traditional bluegrass as exclusionary. Besides, not all scholars agree on how the divided audience breaks down. In an interview with the HPR, Rockwell commented, “Many politically left-leaning bluegrass enthusiasts are … the most attached to bluegrass music’s most classic sounds.” Letting the disunity of listeners affect creative decisions might appear risky.
Is bluegrass music risky?
Still, ignoring audience pressures could prove far riskier. Unlike for jazz or classical music, bluegrass crowds are often devoid of wealthy potential benefactors. Without financial support, artists who annoy too many listeners in a genre sometimes off-putting to outsiders skate on thin ice. The general consensus maps musical conservatism and progressivism to their sociopolitical counterparts. Notwithstanding Rockwell’s disagreement, it may be worth it for musicians to gamble on using that paradigm to court a targeted subset of listeners.
Is bluegrass forward thinking?
These contradictions characterize the genre. Its creative sensibility is inherently forward-thinking, and yet by nature, it gestures toward the past. Perhaps the divisions in the bluegrass listening audience should thus be unsurprising.
