Overview
In an earlier lesson, we encountered a number of subgenres of country and western music that became popular during the 1940s, such as the country crooner and honky-tonk. In this lesson, we will focus specifically on the genre of bluegrass. Bluegrass music had had devoted followers since its earliest days, but during the 1960s, more and more people came to listen to and appreciate the music. The folk revival movement, coupled with mainstream exposure in Hollywood films, introduced a new generation of listeners to bluegrass.
Objectives
- Identify three key figures of bluegrass: Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, and Lester Flatt
- Examine the three musicians and the key characteristics of bluegrass music, such as instrumental techniques, instrumental combinations, and the connections between bluegrass music and earlier types of hillbilly music such as the string band
Conclusion
In the 1930s and early 1940s, Bill Monroe combined his experiences in and knowledge of religious music, blues, and hillbilly music to develop a new genre of music, one that would eventually bear the name of his band, the Blue Grass Boys. With Earl Scruggs on banjo and Lester Flatt on guitar, Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys ushered in the genre of bluegrass music, inspiring many imitators. Scruggs and Flatt left Monroe's group in the late 1940s to start their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys. While none of these artists ever stopped playing, interest in their music was renewed during the folk revival movement of the 1960s. In the next lesson, we will consider other types of music that were popular during this folk revival.
