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Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music with its own roots in the English, Irish traditional music and Scottish traditional music of immigrants from the British Isles (particularly the Scotch-Irish immigrants of Appalachia), as well as the music of African-American slaves. It was this tradition that A.P. Carter used and collected for the songs played and written by the Carter Family. Bluegrass songs are played with each melody instrument switching off, playing the melody in turn while the others revert to backing; this is in contrast to Old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together, when indeed they are playing together rather than solo.
| Bluegrass
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| Stylistic origins:
| Country music, Scotch-Irish Appalachian folk music, Blues
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| Cultural origins:
| Mid to late 1940s US
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| Typical instrumentsA musical instrument is a device that has been constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that somehow produces sound can serve as a musical instrument, but the expression is reserved generally to items that have that:
| Fiddle, banjoString instruments The banjo is a string instrument, derived from "banjar," an African string instrument. Some etymologists derive it from a dialectal pronunciation of "bandore", though recent research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for, acoustic guitarnylon strings. steel strings and more guide dots on the fretboard. A guitar is a stringed musical instrument played with the fingers or a plectrum ( guitar pick). The sound is produced by vibrating strings. Guitars have a body (which is hollow for acousti, mandolinA mandolin is a stringed musical instrument. Mandolins have 8 strings, in 4 pairs (or courses . Each pair of strings is tuned in unison, and are a fifth apart from adjacent pairs, giving an identical tuning to a violin (G-D-A-E low-to-high). Unlike a viol, dobroDobro is a type of steel guitar with a metal resonator set into the body. Like other steel guitars, it is typically played with a steel bar or slide, rather than by fretting the strings with the fingers. Dobro is a trade name, originally used by the Dopye, and upright bass
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| Mainstream popularity:
| very limited
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| Subgenres
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| Newgrass - Progressive bluegrass - Spacegrass - SupergrassSupergrass is a Britpop band consisting of Gaz Coombes, Rob Coombes, Danny Goffey, and Mickey Quinn. They are working on their next LP, due for release in the first half of 2005. According to the band it will have a 'funkier' sound than previous albums.
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| Fusion
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| Jam band
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| Other topics
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| Musicians
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Bluegrass as a style probably developed sometime in the 1930s. As with any musical genre, no one person can claim to have "invented" it. Rather, bluegrass is an amalgam of old-time music, blues, ragtime and jazz. Nevertheless, if any one person can lay claim to having "invented" bluegrass it would certainly be Bill Monroe. The bluegrass style was named for his band, the Blue Grass Boys , formed in 1939. Monroe's 1945-48 band, which featured banjo player Earl Scruggs, singer/guitarist Lester Flatt, fiddler Chubby Wise and bassist Cedric Rainwater, created the definitive sound and instrumental configuration that remains the model to this day. Unlike mainstream country music, bluegrass continues to rely on acoustic stringed instruments. The fiddle, banjo, acoustic guitar or folk guitar, mandolin, and upright bass are sometimes joined by the dobro (also known as a resophonic guitar or steel guitar), and a bass guitar is occasionally substituted for the upright bass.
Besides instrumentation, the distinguishing characteristics of bluegrass include vocal harmonies featuring two, three, or four parts, often featuring a dissonant or modal sound in the highest
voice; an emphasis on traditional songs, often with sentimental or religious themes; and improvised instrumental solos.
Notable artists:
Bluegrass artists use a variety of stringed instruments to create a unique sound.
The following are/were also notable bluegrass artists, despite being better known for their contributions to other musical genres:
Movies about bluegrass or featuring bluegrass themes:
American music Bluegrass music
