Re: Drums in Bluegrass music cover up the mandolin chop IMO.
Originally Posted by
allenhopkins
...I guess I'm hoping we avoid another tiresome debate over "bluegrass rules," which some find important in defining the genre, and others find inhibitive of some interesting possible developments. Most Cafe´people who care about such things, have already clearly staked out their positions on the subject.
Quoting myself (oh, the ego!) from Post #14. But of course, we're having this same old debate. If it's not drums, it's footwear, or harmonicas, or "nice suits" vs. jeans and tees. Never going to end, never going to be solved. Personally, I'd sorta think that playing a gig in flip-flops was a tad too informal, but not a deal-breaker.
If drums work musically (and this was what the OP's initial post was about, wasn't it?), then by all means, let's have 'em. If they bury the mandolin, or are played tastelessly, without sensitivity to the Appalachian-based "hillbilly" music that bluegrass essentially is, then let's kick 'em out.
But let's make it a musical decision, about what we like or don't like in terms of the sound, rather than whether drums conform to some carved-in-stone stereotype of what bluegrass is, or ain't. Bill Monroe broke the "rules" of pre-bluegrass string band music, and established a whole new genre. He's depicted as being accepting of other musicians and musical styles, from DeFord Bailey to Elvis Presley -- not that he wanted himself or his band to sound like them, but that he recognized their validity as other means of musical expression. His hostility was largely reserved for those musicians closest to his style, whom he thought were "stealing" his invention, and failing to give proper recognition of his innovative stature.
I think musicians can show respect and love for traditional bluegrass, and still experiment with instrumental and stylistic innovations based on that respect and knowledge. Not all bluegrass audiences, or other musicians, will agree with these innovations; not all these innovations will work musically. But let's not dismiss them out-of-hand because they don't conform to a 65-year-old archetype of "what bluegrass is." And, personally, I'd be more concerned with how a musician sounds than how he looks -- well, within reason...
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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