Bluegrass is often considered an Appalachian musical genre, and most people associate the tunes of the banjo, fiddle and other instruments to this region. However, bluegrass has roots from all parts of world, with the banjo originally from Africa, the dobro from Hawaii and a medley of musical influences from blues, jazz, folk and other … Continue reading Genres and Artists in Appalachia
Month: April 2015
What does Bluegrass look like today???
Upon reading “Bluegrass Today” by Neil Rosenberg I saw a few things that I found interesting. The first of which was the fact that it took until 1971 to have the first real book published about the genre when it had been around for so long. But I suppose that it would make some sense … Continue reading What does Bluegrass look like today???
Roots & Sprouts
I have always had an extremely high interest in new music, emerging artists, and the evolution of the sounds of a genre over time. However, in the last several months, after deciding to take a course on bluegrass music, I have redirected my attention to music, both old and new, that has come from my … Continue reading Roots & Sprouts
What is that blue avi on Twitter?
Currently the music industry seems to be in an intermediate state. The transition from vinyl to CD to streaming services has transformed just within the last half century. Today, musicians are faced with new challenges such as: not being properly compensated or for a new musician establishing roots in a musical community. Earlier this week … Continue reading What is that blue avi on Twitter? →
Some Thoughts on Other Genres in Appalachia
*** WARNING: The videos in this post may contain explicit content; NSFW; Viewer discretion is advised. *** This week’s class discussion featured some topics that one might not think would ever come up in a class covering Bluegrass music. One of those topics was the rap/hip-hop scenes and artists from the Appalachian region and “Dirty … Continue reading Some Thoughts on Other Genres in Appalachia
Thinking on Floyd Fest 2013
The summer before last I had made up my mind to go to a Festival for the full length of time. I had gotten one day passes to bonaroo in the years before, but i decided to follow that instinct … Continue reading →
Appalachian Music
Bluegrass is commonly considered the music of Appalachia. Of course, bluegrass has a very wide reach, with bluegrass bands coming from all over. And while bluegrass is expanding beyond Appalachia, Appalachian music is expanding beyond bluegrass. This week’s classes focused on music that is native to Appalachia but that doesn’t completely fit the genre of […]
What does “Genre” even mean?
In class we discussed “genres” briefly today. It kind of struck me a little differently than I expected. It brought back an old memory of mine I had long since forgotten. It reminded me of when I was a kid and I asked my father and grandfather what made country music country music. I remember … Continue reading What does “Genre” even mean?