bluegrass music question/help needed

Where can I take fiddle lessons?

What is a "crooked" tune?

What are some alternative tunings?

Should I put a fine tuner on my 'A' string.

What's a Fake Book?

Pauline

Wow....great ones! There are many on there that I'd like to know the answer to, too!

Here is the column that went out yesterday - to give you an idea of what types of things I am looking for....

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Dear Dr. Earl,

A friend of mine told me that they used to play clawhammer banjo in bluegrass. I told him that made it old-time, not bluegrass, but he said that when Bill Monroe first started the Bluegrass Boys he had a clawhammer banjo player. I think he’s been hitting the jug a bit too long. We’ve got a bet going…so I hope you can help me with this one. If I win, he has to carry my bass to all the jams for the next month. If he wins, well….it has something to do with an accordion, and I’m not going there!

So what is it? Clawhammer or Bluegrass Banjo in Bill’s band??

Signed,
Not Playing Accordion

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Dear Not,

I hope you’ve brushed up on your accordion-playing skills. I hate to tell you this, but when Bill first started the Bluegrass Boys he did indeed have a clawhammer banjo player, namely Dave "Stringbean" Akeman. At the time, Earl Scruggs and the bluegrass style banjo were still unknown, although Earl (and also Don Reno) had begun experimenting with the three finger "roll" pattern. I probably should also break the news to you that the early Bluegrass Boys even had an accordion player! That's right, Wilene (nicknamed "Sally Ann" by Bill Monroe) Forrester, wife of fiddler Howdy Forrester, played accordion and sang tenor with the Bluegrass Boys, overlapping briefly with Earl and Lester.

Now, the question is, were the Bluegrass Boys, before Earl and Lester arrived, playing bluegrass music? Of course, it would be a long time after Earl and Lester joined with Bill and then subsequently left before anyone really started using the term "bluegrass" to describe the music we all love. But, it is the doctor's opinion that even before Earl and Lester joined up, Bill had already started defining the "bluegrass" sound. If you listen to those early recordings, you will hear a certain drive in the music (provided by the string bass and driving mandolin and guitar rhythm) which had not been present in the string band music preceding the Bluegrass Boys.

Also, the early Bluegrass Boys featured instrumental "breaks" which were uncommon at the time. Not to mention the strong, crisp vocals. No doubt, when Earl and Lester arrived, the electricity *really* started to flow and forged the unmistakable bluegrass sound we know today, but it was already "bluegrass" before that. You see, there are a lot of elements that combine to make up the bluegrass style, and those elements aren't always required in exact doses. As much as I hate to say it, especially in print where it might survive for posterity, the banjo alone does not make music "bluegrass". And, (if you repeat this, I'll deny it), but bluegrass can even exist without the banjo….although with some difficulty and only in small doses. (Egads, I can’t believe I said you can have bluegrass without a BANJO!)

Gee, I wonder if we should go back to our roots and start bringing in accordion players for our festivals?

Nah.

We sure have some fine bluegrass festivals down in the Savannah TN area, folks don't seem to need much of a reason just enjoyment...

Bloogrssgrl, thanks for the link to gangstagrass .com. I ended up stayin in there and listening to every single song! # 16 was my favorite, but also enjoyed #2, 3, 4, 12,17, and 22. It's not the music that I'd want to have playin when the preacher comes callin though! Ha Ha (Lyrics are pretty rough)

3or 4 years ago, I won an all expense paid trip for 4 to Fan Fare in Nashville, and one of my fondest memories (besides everything) was of Neil McCoy comin on stage and rapping the theme from the Beverly Hillbillies. Too much fun! (Plus I got to visit with my mom, aunts and uncles who all live in Nashville)

wonder how many younger gen this will hook on bluegrass!? my parents did not like blue grass any way shape or form, when they heard the ballad of jed clampett come on they groaned that their son loved every second of it! real glad the gal i married took up the banjo! stringbean was another that sealed my fate!

__________________
àigeach carnaid
chaora dhubh
"Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."

cruachan

Summerdaze, was that the World of Bluegrass fan fest that you went to? We are there every year for the entire week. Love it!!!!! What part of Ohio are you from?

Ford Major...I had to laugh. My son-in-law HATES BG music - he's into hip-hop. Ugh. When my grandson was young, we got him a "barney banjo" and it became his favorite toy, much to my SIL's dismay.

Does your wife play BG style, or frailing/clawhammer?

About 16 years ago, when my son was 13, we went to a local RV park near Glen Rose, TX that was known for it's bluegrass groups that would play there on impromptu stages which usually consisted of 10-20 people sitting around in a circle around the campfire each with their own instruments. Plenty of guitars, banjos, mandolins, dobros, etc. The music usually began by one picker starting up a tune and the rest joining in. Everyone got a turn.

My son, who was then loving country music but leaning towards rock and classic rock (thanks to me I guess), was absolutely fascinated by this. He thought it was the greatest thing he'd ever seen. He begged to stay late without the rest of us, so he could enjoy the music into the early morning hours. This began his love of playing the guitar, and he became quite a good guitar player. Today, his musical taste has evolved into more of a popular rock and progressive rock type of music, his interest in music was created by his fasination with those banjo and guitar pickers gathered around just having lots of fun. It was the pure joy they experienced by playing, that was so contagious that it spread to everyone watching. That's what bluegrass is to me - listening to folks who obviously LOVE what they're doing. They aren't into the commercial end of it; they don't care if it's extremely popular on the radio, etc. I don't know that any other type of music has that going for it.

Ditto - what Steve said. You will NEVER see any other genre of music that is so open to the public and down to earth. If you go to any other music concert, you'll see the artists whisked onto the stage, do their thing, and then whisked off. If you are lucky, you can get a backstage pass to get a glimpse of them up close.

In bluegrass, you'll probably see the artists hanging out jamming with any one that wants after the show. Definately hanging around the campfires at night-time. Heck, Rhonda Vincent and I were talking brownie recipes just before she went on-stage in Louisville KY a few years ago! I just attended a "house concert" a couple months ago in someone's living room. Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike were playing. We later ate with them, shared family stories and pictures, and I beat a couple of the guys in a game of air-hockey later. <grin>

Bluegrassers are very down-to-earth, common people.

cc-rider, flatlands of Ohio, huh? That's funny, but (sigh) I feel ya! I sold a house in southern Ohio 1/2 way between Rio Grande and Gallipolis. Loved it there. And also lived up north in Morrow county.(No hills, but pretty and lots of Amish up there.) I currently, (really heavy sigh) TEMPORARILY live west of Columbus. I moved there for a job and then promptly got laid off. Which direction in Ohio are you? I'm guessing it's NOT down south, Ha Ha!

Although there was plenty of bluegrass to be had that week in Nashville, the nightly 4 hour concerts at Fan Fare were C/W. Between all the daily AND nightly concerts, I figured we saw 80 some performers. Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Tanya Tucker, Billy Ray Cyrus, Keith Urban, Martina McBride, Montgomery Gentry, Joe Nichols, just to name a very few. There were more concerts on the waterfront with some of the older c/w stars and some bluegrass here and there. It's not called Fan Fare anymore, they changed the name, which really upset Billy Ray. He did a 10 minute rant onstage about the upcoming name change.

There used to be a place in Ohio that played bluegrass and you could camp out all weekend. I wanta say Legend Valley, but I might be mixing that up with something else. I remember going to that a few times. Never got any sleep from everybody pickin' all night, but it sure was fun!

jen plays BG style! she has tried clawhammer but just cant get too like it! i like all kinds of music but bluegrass i find the most soothing! was watching a show with doc ralph on RFD tv awhile back and it ended off a great day!

__________________
àigeach carnaid
chaora dhubh
"Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."

cruachan

Oh my! I'll bet you knew my teacher friend, Vig, then!!!!! That's where he lives. My BF owns some land near Centerpoint, address is Patriot, though. Vig takes care of it for us. Such a small world!

The Fan Fare that you attended was different than the Fan Fest I was thinking of. Fan Fest is during World of Bluegrass week. It's a week-long trade show followed by a 3 day fan fest frenzy! BG 24 hours a day!!!!

There are still lots of places in Ohio where they have camping weekends with bluegrass music. Ottawa, Ohio used to have a festival 2 or 3 times a year, but quit having bands several years ago. That didn't stop the "fans" from showing up, same time, same place, every year for a decade afterwards!!! They just camped and played music 24/7 for the weekend. I think they stopped last year, but that's because the owner sold the campgrounds. Otherwise, I'm sure they'd still be showing up!

Aint that the truth?

I have sat and talked with Bill Monroe many times. It was just so common to see him at Bean Blossom sitting next to the stage.

I have spoken to Alison Krauss many, many times. She played a concert several years ago in Indy, and she is still as friendly as she was years ago. She hung out after the show outside her tour bus.

It was cool when Del McCoury's band would play a BGF, because they often hang out in the camp grounds. Ron and Mike Bub came and hung out at my campsite!

Unfortunately, I haven't been to a festival in 5 years or so. I miss it.

When I was a single man, my goal was to attend 15 festivals a year, and several years, I attended more than that.

This has been a great thread!!!

Clove

Yeah, it IS a small world, fer sure. I didn't know him well, coz I just wasn't at my place very much, but he struck me as a real nice fella. And I did enjoy hearin 'em play on that rare occasion when I came home and he happened to be home at the same time!

Clovis, that's really cool!!!! Isn't Mike Bub just the most "common" person you've ever met?

I remember one time we were jamming in our hotel room at IBMA (because I had a hammered dulcimer and wouldn't take it in public) and Del McCoury and his wife came in!!!! They had just got back from the award show (where Del's band won a large number of awards again) and were heading up to their room and heard the music.

A couple years ago at a local festival, we taught a workshop for teachers on how to incorporate bluegrass music into the curriculum. One of the activities that we did was to have each teacher make a "bucket" bass. They had a ball. LOTS of these teachers had never heard of bluegrass before, and by the time the day was over, they were playing banjo (clawhammer-style), had made a bucket bass, and learned BG instrumentation from the Cherryholmes family, and vocal harmonies from Kentucky Blue. Plus got free admission for the festival and contact-hour certificates for their teaching profile. All for free. We saw those bucket basses at campsite jams all night!!!! Somehow or other, someone from a band from England that was playing there (Coal Porters), got ahold of one of them and played it all night. They thought that was the coolest thing.

Anyway..... love the music, can you tell????

Turkey Trot Waldron Ar. any one. I am not a musican but I sure like to listen

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:cool: :angel: TRUTH & MERCY
www.dixieflowersoap.com
www.mollyjogger.com
Big D Farm Blog

Hey....I'm in the processing of locating bluegrass bands that can showcase at Nashville during the World of Bluegrass on September 28 or 29th. (We only do two nights this year). It would be a 25 minute set. The band doesn't get paid, and has to pay all their own expenses, but it is a GREAT opportunity for up-and-coming bands. The audience will be other artists, record labels, associations, event producers, DJ's, etc. The bands that we feature usually get gigs because of their exposure. If you know of any "lesser-known" bands, I'd love to talk to them about it! We try to feature bands that aren't well known. They have to be GOOD. Ready for national exposure or touring....not some "garage band" that plays at the local Moose on Friday nights.

Would appreciate it if you could pass this along if you know of anyone! I'm going to re-post as a separate thread, too.

Thanks!
CC