Reply-to: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx>
The word "bluegrass" wasn't
applied to the genre until 1953-4. It was a quick descriptor for
music played ala Bill Monroe, whose band name since 1939 had been the Blue
Grass Boys. The North Carolina music of Posey Rorer, the Mainers,
Charlie Poole, the Hired Hands and others is a direct ancestor of bluegrass.
Listen to Posey Rorer's not-very-good Edison records alongside the
Monroe-Flatt-Scruggs outfit of 1946-7. The differences should be
as clear as the aforementioned difference between Jelly-Roll Morton and
Bud Powell.
Dick Spottswood
Mike Loughlin <mikel78_rpm@xxxxxxxxxxx> Sent by: Association for Recorded Sound
Discussion List <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx>
12/06/2003 03:41 PM
Please respond to Association for Recorded
Sound Discussion List
To:
ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
cc:
Subject:
Re: [ARSCLIST] Bluegrass
For my further elucidation, what is the difference
between this description
and the music Posey Rorer and the North Carolina Ramblers recorded
for
Edison in the 1920? To read Edison's rejection opinions of Rorer's
music is
pretty funny. He got pretty irate and sent Rorer quickly back to
NC. I
think two sides out of eight takes were issued. Every part of this
description fits Rorer's music. I am not saying he created bluegrass
music
either, but I think Monroe created the name "bluegrass"
but certainly not
the music.-Mike Loughlin
>For everyone's elucidation, bluegrass is the name given to the branch
of
>country music that Bill Monroe created in the mid-1940s on Columbia
>records & the Grand Ole Opry. Normally the instrumental components
>include virtuoso mandolin (a la Monroe), banjo (a la Earl Scruggs),
>fiddle, guitar and string bass. Vocally, voices are pitched
high, and
>choruses are sung using something close to hymnbook harmony. Topically,
>the subjects stay close to death, mother, Jesus, and dysfunctional
love.
>Sentiments of alienation from home, God, a loved one etc. are common.
>
>Artists closely associated with bluegrass since the 1940s include Bill
>Monroe, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Jim
& Jesse,
>Mac Wiseman, the Lewis Family (gospel), the Country Gentlemen, and
the
>Osborne Brothers. Current bluegrass (and near-to-bluegrass) acts
include
>the Isaacs (gospel), Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss, IIIrd Tyme Out, Blue
>Highway, Nickel Creek, Rhonda Vincent. Recently Dolly Parton
has recorded
>memorably in the bluegrass idiom.
>
>Dick Spottswood
_________________________________________________________________
Shop online for kids’ toys by age group, price range, and toy category
at
MSN Shopping. No waiting for a clerk to help you! http://shopping.msn.com