One of things that makes bluegrass fun is arguing about it. It excites passions in people, and the urge to defend one’s own passions is strong – especially around a lantern on the ground in the middle of a circle of jammers in the middle of the night.
People love to stake out a claim, plant a flag and dare anyone to disagree.
Just as in the visual arts, bluegrass has its schools, and while some may profess to like multiple aspects, their hearts to land pretty squarely in one place or another. There are Monroe people, Ralph Stanley people, Jimmy Martin people, Larry Sparks people, Del people (McCoury and/or Williams!) and so on.
Once you’re past the list of iconic founders, creators and purveyors of bluegrass, it’s time to move onto the various subgenres – there’s “classic” bluegrass, of course, and “newgrass” and “jamgrass”. This is where the real fun begins. There are those for whom any straying from the holy works of the pantheon of classic bluegrass styles is anathema.
Oh, and let’s argue about proper instrumentation in a bluegrass band. No banjo? Can it be bluegrass, then? No mandolin? Is it still bluegrass? No fiddle? Can that be bluegrass? What about that guy on that electric bass? Can that be bluegrass? That band over there – why, they’ve got a guy on pedal steel – that ain’t bluegrass is it?
Most of us take a “Potter Stewart” approach to defining bluegrass – they know it when they hear it.
For myself, my favorite bluegrass is what most would call classic bluegrass – Monroe, Stanley(s), Jimmy Martin, and those who have proven to be able to render it with the classic tone and feel – Vern and Ray, High Country, the Earls of Leicester.
But I have also heard bands that had very non-traditional approaches that made what still seemed like bluegrass to me. Similarly some bands with classic bluegrass instrumentation play something that is not convincing bluegrass to these old ears. This doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. It also doesn’t mean I liked all of it.
The most important thing to remember is: there is no wrong answer here. There’s no such thing as “pure” bluegrass. From its onset, bluegrass borrowed from an amalgam of musical idioms. Art cannot – will not! – be boxed in. Folks conveniently ignore, or forget how many bluegrass records by their heroes featured drums, accordion and harmonica.
Truly, we are ALL mutts in this kennel – go ahead and bark, but don’t forget to wag, too!
