After all, new music is and will always be welcomed to our soul!
Over the years of growing up, one thing that really shows true human spirit is our capability to accept and infuse new things and traits in our brains. With this in mind, we want to keep new music revelations happening to us as a small step towards achieving that impeccability in our learning process.
Some of you may know this genre, but to most of you it’s a chance to get to know what bluegrass music is.
A Brief History of Bluegrass Music
Bluegrass music was brought into Appalachia, Eastern United States by the immigrants from Ireland, Scotland and England in the 1600s. The settlers wrote songs about day-to-day life in farms or hills about love, life, loss and changes. Back then, the music was called “country music“. Bluegrass music is a sub-genre of Country Music and it is played on the fiddle, five-string banjo, guitar, mandolin and occasionally the harmonica or jaw harp. Each instrument plays a role in crafting a melody while the other parts involve jamming around it in tunes called ‘breakdowns’. Over time, bluegrass incorporated elements of Jazz in it.
Credits: mvtimes.com
Recognition
In the 1960s, the concept of the “bluegrass festival” was first introduced and the relatively smaller audience shifted to the crowds. You can surf through the whole list here. The invention of the radio in the early 1900s and the availability of music broadcasting and bluegrass festivals helped bring the music out of obscurity, right from the mountains to mainstream people. The triple-platinum soundtrack for the Coen Brothers movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, played a huge role in attracting an audience.
Subgenres
You can see the diversity of the genre with artists ranging from the classics who are here to stay like Bill Monroe, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Old Crow Medicine Show and the Stanley Brothers to the new ones who hold the audience in a grip with their electrifying bluegrass airtight harmonies and phenomenally sharp arrangements.
1. Traditional bluegrass – Musicians like Bill Monroe play folk songs with acoustic instruments.
2. Progressive bluegrass – Groups like Cadillac Sky and Bearfoot blend rock and roll or other genres with electric instruments. Listen to the former lead singer and fiddler of Bearfoot, Odessa, and you will fall in love. Remember this song from Grey’s Anatomy’s season 11?
3. Bluegrass gospel – This genre uses Christian lyrics and soulful harmonies.
4. Neo-traditional bluegrass – A relatively newer genre of Bluegrass, popularized by bands like The Grascals and Mountain Heart, they have more than one lead singer.
Billboard Top Bluegrass albums Chart
You didn’t think bluegrass wouldn’t have a special place on the Billboard charts, did you? For the first week of January, the top ten albums to check are:
Let us know if you have any genres dying to be explored. We’re all ears.