Primer: Bluegrass

(hahaha! i just made up blu-metal. i'm gonna try to use that as much as i can now)

Flatt & Scruggs -- Earl Scruggs is the Charlie Parker of the banjo.
The Osbourne Brothers -- These guys are my parents favorites.
Del McCoury & The McCoury Brothers -- Del is a decade or two younger than most of the artists mentioned, but he is a great musician and still actively tours.

ha! totally!

* Buck Owens

There's some new-ish band that does an absolutely stomping version of "Ruby" ("honey are you mad at your man?") but i have no idea who; i heard it on the radio

I'm looking over the list I posted above and I'm realizing it's really not a good primer for bluegrass, so I thought I might explain why I listed those folks. When my father was teaching me to play guitar (primarily in the finger-picking, bluegrass style), he would play me loads of records so that I could learn to play different styles and songs. All of those people I listed above are artists I spent a lot of time with when I was first learning to play bluegrass, so even though some of them (like the Carter Family and Bob Wills) have nothing to do with the genre, in my monkey brain they are closely associated. And really Ed, I don't think you could go wrong with any of them. It's great music!

Monroe formed the band in 1939 I believe, after he left the Monroe Brothers (an act with Charlie Monroe, who together were extremely successful). The Bluegrass Boys sort of codified the instrumental lineup of bluegrass and much of its sound. Numerous major figures from bluegrass history passed through this band, sort of a rough equivalent of James Brown for funk (and Monroe was an equal taskmaster). What I'd consider the archetypal bluegrass sound is that of the Bluegrass Boys with Flatt and Scruggs--the mid-late '40s. Flatt and Scruggs went out on their own in the late '40s and formed the Foggy Mountain Boys; later they would go on to perform the theme tune to The Beverley Hillbillies and generally become the most visible bluegrass performers. The other band in the Great Bluegrass Triumverate is The Stanley Brothers--Carter and Ralph--who were from the mountains and sound it. The Stanleys were directly influenced by Monroe and indeed both played in his band for a spell.

That's the Official Version, or at least some version of it. In reality there was a whole subset of country music moving in the direction of what we now know as bluegrass. Monroe can be compared to D. W. Griffith here. Some orthodox film histories have Griffith credited with "creating" modern film language. When in reality he was just one of many innovators who were learning from each other. Someone like Wade Mainer, who had been leading bands with and then without his brother J.E. since the mid-'30s, had a band whose solos and instrumentation and speed sound an awful lot like bluegrass. Unfortunately because of the power of the Official Version, it's a lot easier to find Monroe/Flatt and Scruggs/Stanley Brothers reissues than anything by Wade Mainer, the Bailey Brothers, etc. etc.

Some of my favorite LPs in the world are from a series of 10 records on Rounder entitled The Early Days of Bluegrass. The material on these records dates from the mid-'40s through the mid-late '50s. There is a wide variance in style and some of it would not even be identified as "bluegrass" by some, but it illustrates the more traditional end of country music of that decade. The performers on these records were often taking Monroe's cue, but they were also his contemporaries, making their own contributions to the emerging genre.
I find all of it at least as exciting as the canonized stuff, probably moreso.

So those LPs are out of print. Where can you find great bluegrass on CD? Here's some leads:

- A box set on Proper called Bluegrass Bonanza can be had for about $20. It features a disc of 1930s country that set the stage for bluegrass; a disc of material by the Monroe Brothers and then Bill and Charlie solo; a disc split between the Stanley Brothers, the Bailey Brothers, Coon Creek Girls, and other mountain acts; and then a bunch of stuff by the Bluegrass Boys and Flatt and Scruggs. It's not the ideal overview at all, but it's the best available on CD I think.
- A double-CD on Rounder (the major roots music label of the last 30 years) called Hand Picked: 25 Years of Bluegrass on Rounder Records has a lot of material recorded by bluegrass greats later in their careers, as well as glimpses at many of the directions bluegrass took in the 60s and 70s, from socially conscious stuff like Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard to the more traditionalist end of "newgrass" e.g. J.D. Crowe.
- Bill Monroe's 16 Gems covers the major hits of the Bluegrass Boys from their classic period.
- The Stanley Brothers have a number of great reissues. Earliest Recordings on Revenant has their sides from the tiny Rich-R-Tone label; Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers is the stuff they recorded immediately after, and is probably the place to start; and Angel Band is the next step, their stuff from Mercury. But you can't go wrong with most of their LPs and collections on King (their next label), especially the gospel LPs.

Oh that's one thing I should add: bluegrass, in its original incarnation and to a small extent now, has a lot of religion in it. Unlike more "modern" country music, which banished overt religiosity for the most part or at least segregated it from popular chart hits by various means, most bluegrass bands had many Christian songs in their repertoire and many performed religious material exclusively. This is particularly evident in the pre-1950 period. This ties bluegrass to country past (prewar country wasn't afraid of Victorian religious-moralistic sentiment, only the moralistic part of which really survived into postwar country in a big way) and really distinguishes it from country present.

The Carter Family, Bob Wills, Louvins are of course great but have nothing to do with bluegrass. We can start a prewar country thread if you like. Wills was the main figure behind Western Swing which really couldn't be more different from bluegrass (although some people managed to bridge the gap). Carter Family were a major recording act in the '30s and '40s whose instrumentation is much more sparse and arrangements much less severe than bluegrass; also the harmonies are much different. Although I've no doubt they influenced many a bluegrass outfit. The Louvins have much affinity with bluegrass but their production/arrangements tie them in as much with modern country (drums, electric guitars, etc.) as does their choice of material, excepting their "traditionalist" records. Really they are the inheritors of the brother team tradition (Blue Sky Boys, Karl and Harty, etc.) rather than a bluegrass tradition.

(most exciting thing I've heard in ages: my dad's best friend just got hired to run the promotions department at rounder. my pop said to make a list of what i might want!!!)

I'll request Rinzler when I talk to my pop this weekend!

http://www.ibiblio.org/hillwilliam/BGdiscography/lp/images/Rounder1017.jpg

Also, Ed, you should check out two CDs I totally forgot to mention, the first of which was arguably the very first bluegrass LP:

http://www.folkways.si.edu/images/40038.jpg

http://www.folkways.si.edu/images/40037.jpg

(both on Smithsonian Folkways).

Really there's a ton of stuff (although as I suggested above there's a lot of music not represented on CD) so just dig in.

Ha Tracer I worked at the Ralph Rinzler Memorial Archives for a summer! (He died way too young.) He started out playing with the Greenbriar Boys, a number of CDs on Vanguard have that material.

For CDs produced by Rinzler and featuring Bill Monroe and Doc Watson (who was mentioned upthread I think), see Live Duet Recordings 1963-1980 on Smithsonian Folkways.

Monroe doesn't leave me cold at all! I just think his role in the formation of this music needs to be reassessed!

Also, I'm pretty sure Dock Boggs recorded "Oh Death" before the Stanley Brothers. I could be wrong though.

http://www.mamut.com/homepages/Norway/3/5/geirjenssen/2002%20n009%2006%20bala%20400b%20pp.jpg

Quite apart from the supposed qualities or demerits of the soundtrack (and IMHO, it's pretty good), this is a good Coen Brothers movie. If you liked Big Liebowski, you'll probably like this one too.

hey there - for those not aware, I am going through some weird shit right now where the most soothing music is bluegrass, particularly well-produced stuff from the mid-60s onwards. unfortunately, there is not a lot of this stuff on filesharing sites (afaict). If anyone has some shit they can share with me I would really appreciate it thx

shakey,
do you listen to records?
i have some records i can send you, if you are not particular about what you receive. lots of obscure-but-good seventies bluegrass records taking up room in my house.

I do!
that is exceptionally generous of you to offer

you can send me your address -- dr.carl.sagan at gmail
and i will get some stuff out to you probably tomorrow!

anything to help a man in his time of need, besides it helps me get stuff out of the house.

try this: Bill's Blog
This website hasn't been updated in a while, but I found some good stuff on it.

whoops. didn't do it right. here's a second try: Bill's Blog

here, let me just type it: http://marines12.blogspot.com. sorry for all these mistakes.

Don't think he's mentioned on this thread, but check out John Duffy and his Country Gentlemen. Not mindblowing or trailblazing, but so good...

many thx banjoboy!!!

broken links tho :(

got ian's records, quite a goldmine. I'd never heard of a single one of these people.

this is awesome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_t50zUQ3H4

I don't really know where mountain/hillbilly music ends and bluegrass begins, but how great is this clip of the Dillards with Maggie Peterson on Andy Griffith?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQtXEb7C30o

wow. what an eerie sounding tune to choose

"We need a fire against the cold" is some dark shit given this was such a meat and potatoes American sitcom.

both those clips are great!

I have been watching a lot of Jimmy Martin youtubes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y-nOKkS-PE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn8jgiD7wNM

great fifty-odd minute documentary full of killer jams and passionate hillbillies.

awesome

love the dude tuning down his banjo during his solo

Jimmy Martin just seems like the coolest chillest bro

fun vid.

Damn, been meaning forever to explore BG properly, or not properly considering the genre outliers mentioned above. Anyway, dumb question -- is proper bluegrass the stuff that would soundtrack a hillbilly chase scene, ie fast tempos, and slower paced stuff falls under old timey?

nah, there's plenty of bluegrass ballads....

I just listened to the bluegrass station on Pandora and loved it. Have there been any better anthologies since Amatuerist's post in 2003?

bluegrass is (generally) post-war and focuses more on instrumental solos and highly-melodic breaks. old-time music is of an earlier vintage and the musicians tend to play the melody in unison. in bluegrass, the solos are often high-speed variations on the basic melody.

I've been getting into Mac Wiseman lately, and his discography is...weird. he was possibly the first bluegrass star to stray from the formula and court a mainstream audience — for a brief and occasionally awkward period in the late '50s, his label marketed him as a pop-rock/pop-country singer, although a lot of those sides went unissued until decades later (on Bear Family's Teenage Hangout compilation). there's an interesting article on nodepression about that phase of his career and about how purists have effectively erased his pop-leaning material from history, memorializing him as a bluegrass traditionalist even though he never really was one to begin with. this is good stuff, imho:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN7kR35oxNg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPmsM3p3ELE

his first foray into gospel (on his 1959 LP Beside the Still Waters) is less surprising, but it contains some of his finest vocal performances, with a tasteful lack of the gloopy strings/organs/backup choirs that mar a lot of other country gospel records:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvLbnxBNJxs

Good streaming on Saturday night (and shows are archived for a while, I think): Tuscaloosa Public Radio's "Bama Bluegrass: and "Bluegrass Breakdown" (the second show originates in Nashville). Both got good range and deep stash.
http://apr.org/

neat!

Bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley died Thursday night after a battle with skin cancer, according to a Facebook post by his grandson, Nathan Stanley.

Dr. Stanley was 89 years old and a member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. After receiving an honorary Doctorate of Music from Lincoln Memorial University in 1976 (and another from Yale in 2014), he was known to fans worldwide as "Doctor Ralph."

http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/06/23/ralph-stanley-bluegrass-legend-dead-89/86038242/

A Facebook friend posted this. Apropos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjPeeUpdK1U

Got one of those 8 Classic Albums box-CDs of the Stanley Brothers for a great price. Excellent winter driving music. This one feels almost sinister.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seaDfe_mtEE

I learned recently that that extra beat in Clinch Mountain Backstep (above) makes the tune "crooked" - which is kind of a catchall term for tunes that don't quite follow standard form. Usually means an extra bar, extra half bar, extra beat or something like that, but occasionally can be standard pulse/bars but with an odd or offbeat change.