Haddock Bluegrass 101 ･ﾟ✧

If you don't know anything about bluegrass, this should be enough to get you through the rest of my blog.

Some people will be angry at my uneven treatment of artists below, but I've tailored it to the favorite topics I'll be yakking about elsewhere.

Old-Time (Pre-1945)

Old-time is an old style of country music that preceded bluegrass. Some old-time songs go back hundreds of years. Characteristics of old-time include fiddle-centricity (fiddle hogs the melody), instruments all playing together (as versus taking turns playing solos), and a cyclic sound of playing the music over and over and over and over.

In the Beginning (1945-1948)

✨Bill Monroe ✨(1911-1996) is regarded as the Father of Bluegrass. He was a mandolinist, vocalist, band leader, and prolific songwriter. He founded his own band, the Blue Grass Boys, in 1938, and by 1939 was performing on the widely-heard country radio program, the Grand Ole Opry.

Monroe performed a combination of old-time pieces, modern songs, and autobiographical compositions. Monroe's band style began developing. He brought the band up to breakneck speeds. He treated the mandolin like a fiddle, a strong solo instrument. He had instrumentalists trade virtuosic breaks (solos). The rhythmic pulse of the band shifted from heavy downbeats to a light-footed bounce between downbeat and off-beat. His band solidified into a specific five-instrument combo, each instrument with its own role: mandolin, guitar, banjo, fiddle, and string bass. Vocals were loud, high ("high lonesome"), with multi-part harmony.

When Bill Monroe hired banjo picker 😭 Earl Scruggs 💖, that night's radio performance on the Grand Ole Opry is frequently considered the shot heard 'round the world, the date bluegrass began: December 8, 1945. Scruggs played in a regional banjo style which required the right hand to play both melody and accompaniment at the same time through the use of finger movement patterns called rolls. Scruggs's solo-capable banjo picking was so distinctive that it has since become one of the most salient features of bluegrass (to Monroe's chagrine).

The lineup at this time is considered the seminal bluegrass band, and any bluegrass nut worth her salt can name all five members: Bill Monroe (mandolin), ♪♫ Lester Flatt ♪♫ (guitar), Earl Scruggs (banjo), Chubby Wise (fiddle), and Howard Watts "Cedric Rainwater" (string bass). This popular band stuck together until early 1948, when Flatt, Scruggs, and Watts decided to form their own band.

The birth of bluegrass is, of course, more controversial and complicated in actuality, as I discuss elsewhere.

First Generation Bluegrass (1945-1958)

As Flatt & Scruggs were met with increasing success; as bands like the 💕 Stanley Brothers 😍, with Carter and Ralph Stanley, began imitating the banjo style, sounds, and repertoire of Monroe's band; Bill Monroe found himself being imitated by bands of all calibers. Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, and Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys are considered the three heavy-hitters of first generation bluegrass (1945-1958). Other important early bluegrass acts include but are not limited to Reno & Smiley, Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman, the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Carl Story, and Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper.

Early bluegrass band dynamics could be jealous, territorial, and competitive rather than friendly. As this had not grown into its own genre, there were frequent accusations of copying each other. Bill Monroe had early tensions with the Stanley Brothers; the two-decade discord between Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs is legendary.

It didn't help that most bluegrass bands started as offshoots from Monroe. Sidemen from the Blue Grass Boys would leave, form their own band, and take with them some of the sound they'd gotten from Monroe. So, so, so many musicians served time in the Blue Grass Boys. Meanwhile, Bill Monroe wasn't finding the explosive successes he had in the 1940s.

Flatt & Scruggs became members of the Grand Ole Opry, had their own TV show from 1955-1969, performed as the first headlining bluegrass band at Carnegie Hall in 1962, and played the theme song of (and appeared once a season) on the Beverly Hillbillies (the USA's #1 watched TV show in the early 60s), rocketing them into the most popular and well-known bluegrass band. Much of their success has been attributed to their ground-breaking manager, Louise Scruggs, who is also attributed as the first female country music manager of Nashville. Flatt & Scruggs also introduced a new instrument, dobro, played by Josh Graves - so now bluegrass had six acceptable instruments.

Folk Revival (1960s-1970s)

In the latter half of the 1950s, rock-and-roll came into its own and the public began shirking country in favor of rock. Country musicians suffered with lowered audiences. In an attempt to maintain public relevance, record companies began producing a sappier, more pop-oriented country sound, known as the Nashville Sound. However, the Nashville Sound's stark contrast with bluegrass lent to bluegrass being dropped from radio.

However, in the 1960s and 1970s, the Folk Revival sparked new interest into bluegrass. Though it had been created as commercialized show-music with folk influences, bluegrass was reinterpreted by the next generation as authentic and conservative folk music. With the creation of bluegrass festivals by Carlton Haney, fans could gather together and hear many bluegrass bands at once. Bluegrass became popular not just with old-time Southern crowds, but young, Northern, urban hippie crowds - and with fan bases across the globe. Bluegrass fans found a penchant for having jams on festival grounds. Bill Monroe got a new wave of popularity again and became dubbed the Father of Bluegrass by bluegrass historian and new manager Ralph Rinzler. The subculture of bluegrass and the distinction of bluegrass as its own cousin from country music was finalized.

The new wave of bands that arose from the Folk Revival was second generation bluegrass. They pushed bluegrass into new sounds, beginning the rift that goes to this day of traditional versus progressive bluegrass. Second generation acts include the Country Gentlemen, J. D. Crowe and the New South, Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley, and New Grass Revival. I don't concentrate as much on second and later generation bluegrass on this website, though they're fantastic, too.

Folk music, more broadly, was in vogue in the 1960s and 1970s. Flatt & Scruggs split in 1969 because of it: Lester Flatt wanted to pursue more traditional bluegrass sounds, whereas Earl Scruggs wanted to explore new, in-vogue sonic territory. Lester Flatt formed the Nashville Grass; Scruggs, with his sons (Gary, Randy, and Steve), the Earl Scruggs Revue, at the forefront of country rock. I'm bringing these boys up because, as Flatt & Scruggs are my favorites, they will be talked about FREQUENTLY throughout this site.

New generations were fostered. Lester Flatt brought in just-under-fourteen-year-old Marty Stuart to play mandolin and guitar in the Nashville Grass. Ralph Stanley (Carter passed away in 1966) brought in teenagers Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs.

Today, essentially all first generation bluegrass stars have passed away. However, it hasn't been long. Memories of the first generation of bluegrass are spoken constantly by audience members who were there. Oral history is alive. And we are lucky that, with bluegrass's longevity, more and more of this is being put into written works. My goal is to learn both what's on the page, and what has never touched the page, as thoroughly as I can.