What is Bluegrass???

**G7MOF** · Sep-22-2011, 3:02pm

Where does the phrase Bluegrass come from, and what does it actually represent?
I tend to play a lot of jigs and reels, but quite recently I've been listening to a lot of BG and was just wondering where its routes came from?

**terzinator** · Sep-22-2011, 3:23pm

I know a lot of folks diss wikipedia, but it's got a fairly nice introductory piece on bluegrass origins and characteristics...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegrass_music

(I'm sure there are readers of it who will debunk half the above article, but until then, well...)

**sunburst** · Sep-22-2011, 3:24pm

Bill Monroe's band was called "the Bluegrass Boys" because Bill was from Kentucky; the Bluegrass State. Eventually, people started to refer to the kind of "country" or "hillbilly" music that Bill Monroe's and other bands played as Bluegrass Music. That's where the term came from.
As for what Bluegrass music is...

**Ed Goist** · Sep-22-2011, 3:24pm

Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis) is a cool season, perennial ground cover; forming a beautiful, high quality, dense sod when grown in pure stands. Grass color ranges from bright green to deep bluish green. It is named for the eastern US state of Kentucky, where it is the prominent grass cultivar.

Being famous for this grass, Kentucky took it's name for their motto "The Bluegrass State".
Because Bill Monroe's band was from Kentucky, they took the moniker "Bluegrass Boys".
Because Monroe's band was called the Bluegrass Boys, the type of music they played came to be called Bluegrass.

Hence, the evolution of the term is something like this:

The State of Kentucky ---> The grass Cultivar Poa pratensis is named 'Kentucky Bluegrass' ---> State of Kentucky takes motto "The Bluegrass State" ---> Bill Monroe names Kentucky-based band "The Bluegrass Boys" ---> Genre of music they play comes to be called Bluegrass.

**mandopete** · Sep-22-2011, 3:27pm

Wow! 3 posts and this thread hasn't gotten locked down yet.

Are we civil or what?

**johnhgayjr** · Sep-22-2011, 3:29pm

Bluegrass (n) - see below.

**sunburst** · Sep-22-2011, 3:29pm

Originally Posted by mandopete

Wow! 3 posts and this thread hasn't gotten locked down yet.

Are we civil or what?

Three simultaneous posts, if you notice. Hard to get in an argument when everybody is talking at once!

**mandopete** · Sep-22-2011, 3:33pm

Maybe this thread should get moved to the jazz section just for grins.

**Ed Goist** · Sep-22-2011, 3:35pm

I propose we start a new section for this thread, the Taxonomy/Etymology section.

**Skip** · Sep-22-2011, 3:36pm

One time a guy bluegass in my face and I slapped him !!

**catmandu2** · Sep-22-2011, 3:41pm

I believe it came from a line in a Rolling Stones (jagger/richards) song:

"...and all the girls they said (hoo-hoo)...and me and Mr Jimmy blew toot on the grass, grass..."

Other theories have it that it's a bastardization of "brew glass."

**SternART** · Sep-22-2011, 4:16pm

Nice version of Kentucky Mandolin! I like how a coupla minutes in, Bill went up for a few quick harmonic notes as accents.........then repeated them at the end...... as a tag. He was in fine form there!

**Skip** · Sep-22-2011, 4:34pm

Now you know the rest of the story

**Mandolin Mick** · Sep-22-2011, 5:19pm

Where do Bluegrass' roots come from? From Heaven ... literally!

**allenhopkins** · Sep-22-2011, 7:29pm

When I was "fronting" a bluegrass trio, I used to tell the story that an old-time banjo player, dissatisfied with the sound of his instrument, glued a brass tone ring onto its shell. The improvement in sound was so great that the picker went on to be a star; when asked to explain his sudden improvement, he'd talk about how he'd "glued the brass" ring on, and after awhile, "glue/brass" got corrupted to "bluegrass."

Our audiences didn't believe it either.

**mandroid** · Sep-22-2011, 7:37pm

+1 with Ed G, Ground covering in Kentucky,
something the horses nibble on, waiting for The Derby start.

**Willie** · Sep-22-2011, 9:00pm

See, That proves what I have been saying on here for about two years...."MOST OF THE PEOPLE ON HERE DON`T KNOW WHAT BLUEGRASS REALLY IS"....You know it when you hear it but can`t describe it worth a hoot....

A never ending opinionated argument.....

Willie...(I know what bluegrass is but I`ll never tell)

**MikeEdgerton** · Sep-22-2011, 9:20pm

The cafe has 24076 members and after 16 or so posts you can determine that the majority of people on the cafe don't know what bluegrass is.

**Mike Bunting** · Sep-22-2011, 10:23pm

Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton

The cafe has 24076 members and after 16 or so posts you can determine that the majority of people on the cafe don't know what bluegrass is.

Truth.

**almeriastrings** · Sep-22-2011, 11:17pm

Originally Posted by Ed Goist

The State of Kentucky ---> The grass Cultivar Poa pratensis is named 'Kentucky Bluegrass' ---> State of Kentucky takes motto "The Bluegrass State" ---> Bill Monroe names Kentucky-based band "The Bluegrass Boys" ---> Genre of music they play comes to be called Bluegrass.

Ko-rect... now (being a fully paid up members of the Bluegrass Po-lice ) we can start telling you what it isn't! As Bill once famously pointed out, there is a lot of stuff out there that "ain't no part of nothing".

**mrmando** · Sep-23-2011, 12:47am

Just to nitpick ... Bill's band was the Blue Grass Boys, not the Bluegrass Boys.

**Bertram Henze** · Sep-23-2011, 3:20am

That grass is as blue as a blue chip pick...

**demotlj** · Sep-23-2011, 5:06am

After years of reading the endless debates on this forum about the definition of Bluegrass, I smiled when a book I recently bought -- "Bluegrass Jamming on Mandolin" - devoted a page to answering the question "What is Bluegrass?" and listed these definitive characteristics:

1. To be a bluegrass group, it must include a banjo played in bluegrass style (3 finger style)
2. The singer pitches his or her voice at the top of their range to produce the "high lonesome sound"
3. Bluegrass pickers usually stand while playing (as opposed to Old Time players who sit)
4. Bluegrass players take turns playing breaks

I guess if you're writing a book, you can be that definitive but the above characteristics are obviously violated all the time. #3 alone leaves out a lot of bands with elderly players who can't stand anymore or amateurs who haven't gotten around to purchasing a strap!

Laurie

**grassrootphilosopher** · Sep-23-2011, 5:10am

Bluegrass Breakdown by Robert Cantwell is a Book about Bluegrass that sums it up quite nicely how Bluegrass is put together musically. It´s worth the read even though the approach is a little bit academic.

**Ivan Kelsall** · Sep-23-2011, 5:42am

I know,i'm 48 years into it,but i ain't tellin'. If you seriously wish to learn all about Bluegrass music & it's origins,read the book "Bluegrass - a History" by Neil Rosenberg.
Ivan