Re: Classic Bluegrass
OK: I guess I'm one of the people who's at least interested in listening to the musicians who have bluegrass roots and backgrounds, but sometimes try new things (successfully or unsuccessfully). From my point of view, you guys can like what you like, dislike what you don't like, and it's no skin off my nose in any case.
What prompts the responses that you obviously don't like, is when someone will bring up a question like, "Is there a place for drums/harmonica/electric guitar/whatever in bluegrass," and the answer is, "No! That's not bluegrass! There's only one way to play bluegrass, and that's the way Bill Monroe (Flatt & Scruggs, Stanley Brothers, Jimmy Martin, Osborne Brothers, Jim & Jesse, Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Carl Story, etc. etc.) played it in 1956! Everything else is punk rock, folky-dokey, hippy-dippy nonsense that's 'no part o' nothin'!"
So I pipe up and point out, "Hey, didn't Flatt & Scruggs record with drums and harmonica at times? Didn't Jimmy Martin use a brushed snare drum with his live band? Didn't Bill Monroe make an LP with Grady Martin on electric guitar? What about Wilene Forrester, the 'Blue Grass Girl' with her accordion?" And then people say I'm trying to tell them they're narrow-minded and should like all these non-standard forms of bluegrass.
That's not true. You don't have to like 'em, and it's pretty clear that you don't. What I disagree with is the idea that anyone can "excommunicate" someone from the "bluegrass congregation" because they do practice those forms of heresy.
I enjoy jazz, but I don't particularly like "free jazz" with minimal melody and harmony. I like classical music, but don't like atonal, dissonant "modern" composers. I love rock 'n' roll, but '70's bubblegum, not so much. However, I'd never try to say, "That's not jazz! That's not classical/rock/whatever!" I'd just say, "That's a form of jazz, classical music, or rock that doesn't appeal to me."
Everyone is free to like/dislike whatever kind of bluegrass, or any other music, he/she chooses. I would be the last (well, at least the second-last) to try to impose my tastes on others. There are plenty of bands that play "classic" bluegrass, if that's all one wants to listen to. There are other bands that try some different things, some of which work and some of which don't. I might find those bands interesting, too. You guys don't have to.
Remember, when Bill Monroe came out with his brand of music, there were certainly people who thought it was 'way too "far out," as compared to the Skillet Lickers or Charlie Poole. Think of Frank Proffitt's quote: "I'd like to be able to play banjo like Earl Scruggs -- and then not do it." Yesterday's avant garde is today's "classic," and tomorrow's "old hat." I like 'em all.
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
Bookmarks