About the MusicMicro histories are not intended as a comprehensive look at the subject matter. They serve as a starting point for an exploration of music that may be new to you and to show musical connections.
The roots of Bluegrass music lie far away from America as is the case with many forms of music. Settlers from Ireland, England and Africa brought their dance music and ballads with them and began planting the seeds for this “American” roots music.
Country music, or “Mountain Music” got its start as the early settlers moved out into Kentucky, Tennessee, the Virginias and the Carolinas. They wrote songs of daily life, which mainly centered around farming and the hill communities. The advent of the phonograph and radio brought country to everyone. It was no longer a product of the south.
Stars like Jimmy Rogers, The Carter Family
and the Monroe Brothers were instrumental in furthering country music by making singing a more important aspect of the genre than just the music. In 1938 the Monroe Brothers split up allowing Bill Monroe a chance to go out on his own. As a native of Kentucky, known for its blue grass, Monroe called his band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. His unique sound was the foundation of Bluegrass music as a genre.
Monroe’s sound was characterized by his use of traditional acoustic instruments coupled with distinctive vocal harmonies. This included duet, trio and quartet harmonies as well as shouts and Monroe’s own distinctive solo vocals. The musical accompaniment was mandolin, banjo, fiddle, guitar and bass. Once again the choice of instruments drew from many countries: the guitar from Spain, the fiddle and bass from Italy, and the banjo from Africa.
Some scholars of Bluegrass music say that the classic Bluegrass sound came to the forefront in 1945 when Earl Scruggs, a banjo player from North Carolina joined Monroe’s band. His innovative three-finger picking style has since become known as “Scruggs style” playing. The 1945 lineup of the Blue Grass Boys also included Lester Flatt (guitar and vocals), Chubby Wise (fiddle), and Howard Watts, aka Cedric Rainwater (acoustic bass).
Flatt and Scruggs eventually left the Blue Grass Boys and formed their own band, The Foggy Mountain Boys. A characteristic of their sound was to include the resophonic guitar or Dobro. The Dobro was invented in the United States by immigrant musicians from the Slovak Republic, the Dopyera Brothers. The brand name Dobro comes from a combination of that phrase. Burkett H. “Uncle Josh” Graves began adapting Scruggs Style playing to the Dobro. During his tenure with Flatt and Scruggs (1955-1969) the Dobro became a standard of Bluegrass band formats.
Until 1969 Flatt and Scruggs were highly instrumental in promoting Bluegrass across America with their appearances on television and by appearing at schools and colleges across the country. Scruggs wrote and recorded one of the most famous Bluegrass instrumentals, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, which was used in the film Bonnie and Clyde. Flatt and Scruggs were also frequent guests on the popular 60s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. They recorded the show’s theme song The Ballad of Jed Clampett which was #44 on the charts in 1962 and a #1 hit on the country charts. They also had another Billboard chart hit with Pearl Pearl Pearl which was about a character on the program.
The 1950s saw people referring to this style of music as “Bluegrass”. Bands began forming across the country, and Bill Monroe was acknowledged as the Father of Bluegrass music. Monroe passed away in 1996. In 1997 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because of his influence on popular music today. He is also a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor.
The 1960s saw the birth of the Bluegrass festival. A North Carolina man, Carlton Haney, is credited with producing the first weekend long Bluegrass Festival. It was held at Fincastle, Va in 1965.
The 2001 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
brought Bluegrass to popular attention, showcasing artists such as Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, Soggy Bottom Boys and more. Bluegrass music today reflects a variety of influences from many musical sources like Jazz, Celtic, Rock, and Gospel.
About the InstrumentsBluegrass music is characterized by the use of four main instruments: dobro, banjo, fiddle and mandolin.
Dobro
Dobro is a trade name for a style of resonator guitar. This is an acoustic guitar which features one or more metal cone resonators instead of the traditional wooden soundboard. These guitars came about in order to get more sound in dance orchestras which typically featured louder horns and percussion. This problem was solved with the advent of electric amplification.
The Dobro is a single inverted cone design. It was developed by the Dopyera Brothers. The name comes from their name, as well as the word for “good” in the Slovak language. The Dobro was the third design made by John Dopyera, the inventor of the resonator guitar. The Dobro was created to deal with the problem of expense to manufacture of resonator guitars. The single cone Dobro was cheaper to produce and made it affordable.
In 1993 Gibson acquired the name “Dobro” and began to restrict the use of the word as a trademark issue. Until this time, the word was used generically to mean any single inverted cone resonator design. The Dobro is played either standard guitar style, or lying flat in the lap.
Mandolin
The mandolin evolved from the lute in Italy during the 1600 and 1700s. As the instrument spread around Europe, it took on many different shapes and names.
Early mandolins were called Neapolitan mandolins because they originated from Naples. They featured an almond-shaped body and a bowl shaped back. At the end of the 1800s a new style with a violin-inspired construction became popular. This style is credited to Orville Gibson, a luthier from Michigan who founded the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Limited in 1902. By the 20th century the mandolin had become popular in Celtic, bluegrass, classical and jazz music.
Some contemporary mandolin players include Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Ian Anderson, David Gilmour, David Bowie, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Chris Thile (Nickel Creek) and Robin Williamson (Incredible String Band).
Fiddle
The first question a lot of people ask is what’s the difference between a fiddle and a violin? Basically, the difference in term refers to the way it is played and not necessarily the instrument itself. Even classical players like Itzak Perlman refers to his instrument as a fiddle. In Bluegrass playing, sometimes the bridge of the violin is less curved than the bridge of an instrument used for classical playing. This reduces the movement of the right arm in playing. Some people say the difference in violin and fiddle is danceability. Fiddling was made for dancing. Fiddling also may include a fair amount of improvisation, while classical violin will not be improvised.
The violin itself is a four stringed instrument played with a bow. It is a member of the viola family which includes the cello. The double bass is sometimes included in this family but many scholars dispute this.
The earliest fiddlers were horsemen of Turkey and Mongolia. They played two stringed upright fiddles strung with horsehair and played with horsehair bows.
As the instrument spread through China, India and the Middle East, it spawned the Chinese Erhu, the Middle Eastern Rebab and the Indian Esraj. By the mid 1500s, the violin had spread throughout Europe.
The oldest documented four stringed violin was made by Andrea Amati in 1555. The instrument was popular with both nobility and commoners. Some of the most famous violin makers (luthiers) included Armati, Stradivari, Gagliano, Guadagnini and Stainer.
The violin and fiddle are used throughout many genres of music. Some contemporary fiddle players include Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs and Doug Kershaw.
Banjo
The banjo has its roots in Africa. Early slaves in Appalachia and the south fashioned banjos modeled after instruments they had known in their homeland. The word banjo is thought to come from a Senegambian term for the bamboo used in the instrument’s neck. Other scholars credit the name as coming from the Kimbundu term “mbanza”.
The banjo has had a central place in traditional African American music and was used extensively in minstrel shows of the 1800s. The African American influence is seen throughout country music with their innovations in playing both the banjo and the fiddle.
Some modern-day African American musicians have shied away from playing the banjo because of its slave connotations. In a recent interview, bluesman Taj Mahal indicated that he would not play the instrument for many years. Today he is known widely as a banjo player.
Banjos come in different forms with either four, five or six strings. Bluegrass music uses the five-string resonator banjo. Contemporary pieces for the banjo have been written by musicians like Bela Fleck, Beck, Sufjan Stevens and others.
is the odd man out. I find Shelley Duvall’s portrayal of Wendy thoroughly annoying. She’s like an automaton, stomping through the scenes in an expressionless monotone. And yet, from the opening long shot of Jack Torrance driving to the overlook punctuated by the Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind soundtrack, my attention is all there. Perhaps it’s all the creepy minor characters. Even thinking of the twins intoning “Come play with us, Danny” gives me a shiver.
and Independence Day, the attraction is two-fold: actors and message. In both movies, the good guys triumph by laying some whoop-ass on aliens who dare to mess with Earth. Both feature Will Smith who is particularly adept at this kind of movie. He’s a perfectly believable action hero while at the same time tempering the characters with a wise-cracking sense of bravado. 
also features Jeff Goldblum, who is good at pulling off the brainy yet baffled hero of the day. Independence Day features a rousing morale building speech by the president which is a highlight of every watching. The president then jumps into a plane and goes to fight the bad guys. Maybe the appeal here is a secret wish to have a president of that fearless caliber.
is an odd time travel movie with a big cast: Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, James Farentino, and Katherine Ross. Even after multiple viewings, the final scene is the grabber. While a minor cult classic, the movie explores a classic paradox (which Martin Sheen’s character outlines at one point) of what would you do if you had a chance to change a horrific historical event. And what would be the consequences?
. Perhaps it’s the novelty of Helen Mirren doing a bad Russian accent. Or perhaps it’s the underlying theme of triumph through ignoring political borders. 2010 is often touted as the movie that explains a lot of what was going on in 2001: a Space Odyssey, but it doesn’t. I don’t think anything can explain 2001. 
. It’s just a sweet little comedy with thoroughly likable characters and an equally enjoyable cast. The combo of Sandra Bullock, Nichole Kidman, Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest make a family of witches seem perfectly normal. And any movie that touts love and family conquers all evil can’t be all that bad, can it? 
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