Re: [ARSCLIST] Fw: [ARSCLIST] Bluegrass

["Steven C. Barr" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

See end...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Loughlin" <mikel78_rpm@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> >From: Dick Spottswood <dick@xxxxxxxx>
> >Reply-To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> ><ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx>
> >To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> >Subject: [ARSCLIST] Fw: [ARSCLIST] Bluegrass
> >Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2003 18:14:10 -0500
> >
>
>    The Posey Rorer Edison Recordings, Including the rejected ones are not
> only not "not so good" they are stunning  and obviously ahead of their
time
> for not only Edison, but for the entire country in the 1920s.   Have you
> heard all of the recordings, and if so where?  They are not "ancestors" of
> bluegrass, they are bluegrass music,   which part of the your description
> don't they fit?-Mike
>
>
> >Anyone care to correct or add to my response?  Thanks, Dick
> >
> >----- Forwarded by Dick Spottswood/dick/AmericanU on 12/06/2003 06:16 PM
> >-----
> >
> >
> >Dick Spottswood <dick@xxxxxxxx>
> >Sent by: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
<ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx>
> >12/06/2003 05:52 PM
> >Please respond to Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> >
> >         To:     ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> >         cc:
> >         Subject:        Re: [ARSCLIST] Bluegrass
> >
> >
> >
> >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
To my ears (and I have to admit to having a very incomplete collection of
early roots c&w on disc) what I hear on "bluegrass" records...Monroe, Flatt
& Scruggs, and other later players in the genre...sounds very much like
what I hear on the few vintage Gennett et al sides I own. There are
differences...but nothing like the Powell vs. Morton comparison cited...
more like the better among today's "dixieland" bands vs. Morton groups...
or current "unplugged" blues players vs. 20's country blues. In fact,
I would suspect that "bluegrass" was inspired by oral-tradition folk
songs and styles which originated in rural Appalachia...which was also
probably influential in early country music once southern folk artists
began to be recorded.

Like country blues, the record companies that recorded the early country
music had no idea what they were recording, or how to evaluate it...they
just knew that when they put it on record it sold! I've always felt that
the record industry dealt with traditional blues and country just like
they dealt with other forms of ethnic music...they just recorded it, and
if an artist's records sold, they had him/her/it cut more of them. This
meant there would have been two different groups of buyers of bluegrass
music/records...folks who had grown up with the traditional music it
was based on, and newcomers to the genre who just enjoyed listening to it...
Steven C. Barr