What a good question! It was a lot easier to define bluegrass in 1950 when it was still in its "pure" form. Since then, a lot of other influences have come to bear and (as with other genres) it has become diffuse. I think high singing, five-string banjos and occasional rapid tempos are still essential elements, but these days it is easier to say what is not bluegrass than what is.

Well, I'll venture an answer which will display both my age and prejudices. It is a style of music originated by Bill Monroe which features mandolin, banjo, guitar, and sometimes upright bass, dobro, and fiddle. The music features harmony singing; sometimes with solos by the various voices. Sometimes the vocals may be done without instrumental accompaniment ( a cappella). It also features various breaks (solos) by each instrument. Not every instrument has to do this in every song/tune. I think many gospel, folk, country, rock, classical, march, Broadway musical tunes, etc. can be arranged in the bluegrass style. That's my opinion and I know that some will agree and some will disagree with it.

Anyone want to define "folk music?" Just kidding.

On the late lamented bgrass-l, Bangs Tapscott said (and I may be paraphrasing slightly), "You cannot play the bluegrass music without the five-string banjo." So perhaps that is a good place to start.

I think it amounts to who you ask and what age they are what definition you'll get.

I pretty much prefer the traditional bluegrass songs and instrumentals; i.e., banjo, guitar, mandolin and bass with first 3 playing breaks where appropriate. It can contain gospel, old time country, pop, rock-n-roll and just about anything else that has those 4 instruments in it and a good lead, tenor and bass singer.

I don't care for bands with electric bass guitars (although acoustic-electric is okay), piano, drums, harmonica or pedal steel. Dobro/resonator is okay.

Just my take, ask someone else and they'll have a different definition.

In other words, you can't define bluegrass simply, it's just not simple.

That member should have said “traditional bluegrass repertoire,” because I suspect he wanted to cut out the modern songs that have been “bluegrassed,” but don’t come from the pre-1969 bluegrass song and tune book.

Did Bill Monroe ever give an answer to that question?Ralph Stanley called his "Old time mountain style" bluegrass

Take the tune, Lonesome Road Blues, also called, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad or I Ain't Gonna be Treated this Way, and many others: The song is catalogued as a traditional American folk song. When Earl Scruggs plays it is bluegrass, but it has been done by Woody Guthrie, Elizabeth Cotton, Grateful Dead, Delaney and Bonnie, Canned Heat and many more. Folk, Bluegrass, folk-rock, blues? I think playing style defines musical genre more than anything.

If the original band was called "Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys",
and if the original band had an accordion player,

then why not agree that any AUTHENTIC Bluegrass band must ALSO have an accordion player?

(I didn't photoshop her in. That's Wilene "Sally Ann" Forrester.)

Here's more info:

https://accordionamericana.com/2015/12/01/wilene-sally-ann-forrester-accordionist-first-woman-musician-in-bluegrass/

@staleytone-“Did Bill Monroe ever give an answer to that question?“

I heard he did. He described it as “contemporary music arranged for guitar, banjo, mandolin & bass.
Fiddle & dobro optional & desired.”
I can’t find confirmation, but it’s been my go-to definition. Remember, those “classic” bluegrass songs were new & contemporary when they first came out.

Bluegrass music is a lot like obscenity; you can't define it, but you recognize it when you encounter it.

I agree with Mr. Corcoran that the inclusion of the banjo is a necessary condition for the music to be considered Bluegrass. If Earl Scruggs had been hired by Roy Acuff, instead of Bill Monroe, we'd all be playing Smokey Mountain music now.

Any definition of a musical genre will have uncertainty around the edges.

IMNSHO, there's no such thing as a "bluegrass song"; rather, there are bluegrass treatments of songs.

In England there are a lot of bluegrass police who cant define what they are policing, to them it just depends on if they like a song or not.
Most of them preferer to not have a banjo in the band and they sound like boring lefty folk bands.
Its very rare to hear classics like cripple creek, shorting bread , hot corn cold corn etc because people here think their ability is above these classics that's why the scene is dwindling.
Its also rare to hear a banjo intro to a song. Saying that, there are a lot of outstanding bluegrass banjo pickers here ( whatever bluegrass is).
SPBGMA jams is what does it for me

To refer to the late bgrass-l once again, a recurrent topic was WIBA -- i.e, What Is Bluegrass Anyway?

quote:

---

Originally posted by NNYJoe

@staleytone-“Did Bill Monroe ever give an answer to that question?“

I heard he did. He described it as “contemporary music arranged for guitar, banjo, mandolin & bass.
Fiddle & dobro optional & desired.”
I can’t find confirmation, but it’s been my go-to definition. Remember, those “classic” bluegrass songs were new & contemporary when they first came out.

---

I heard an interview and Bill answered 'The way I want to play it, makes it Bluegrass'.

In reality it's the same as with Classical music: tell someone you're playing Classical and they still won't have a clue as to what it will sound like.  Look up: Monteverdi and Stockhausen.

Anyone but Bill Monroe proclaiming what is or isn't Bluegrass is adding artificial boundaries.

Even I can be guilty of that at times.... If you play your Bluegrass, I'll play mine

Definitions can change depending on context. Perhaps a bit of context can help the definition. In the context of a public jam circle, when someone says to "keep it bluegrass", what are they trying to say? That type of statement usually doesn't come out of thin air, so what prompted it?

In this context, I would guess that "bluegrass" means: 3-4 chord songs in the key of G/A or C/D that have typical verse/chorus structure, simple lyrics to sing, and will generally be familiar to people that enjoy country/bluegrass/string-band type music. Also what it specifically excludes, is any type of jazz-influenced music with funny chords and changes, original tunes that don't follow standard bluegrass chord progressions, and slow tempo singer-songwriter folk songs focused on singing with minimal instrumental accompaniment.

To me, that's the root of the issue and that's what is being discussed any time "define bluegrass" comes up in the context of an open jam. And in my experience, the type of people that try to split hairs over that definition, are the exact type of people that play the 'jam killers' and try to use the jam circle as their own personal open mic night

Wasn't it Alan Lomax who called bluegrass: folk music in overdrive?

Acoustic instruments - 5 string banjo, fiddle, mandolin, dobro, guitar , bass, usually with harmony singing if it’s not an instrumental.

In your case, it's however your group decides to define bluegrass.

quote:

---

Originally posted by corcoran

On the late lamented bgrass-l, Bangs Tapscott said (and I may be paraphrasing slightly), "You cannot play the bluegrass music without the five-string banjo." So perhaps that is a good place to start.

---

Bluegrass didn't start with a banjo. Bill Monroe called it country music. I believe Dave akerman was their first banjo player (clawhammer) but I could be wrong. Earl joined Bill's band when he was 21; this was in 1945.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Texasbanjo

I think it amounts to who you ask and what age they are what definition you'll get.
...
Just my take, ask someone else and they'll have a different definition.

In other words, you can't define bluegrass simply, it's just not simple.

---

I think that Sherry pretty much nailed it.

In the intro to Jeff Oster's Next, the great producer/musician Nile Rodgers said:

Every generation
is gonna have their take
on what's goin' on

I believe that this is very true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAPlSFOyCCU

Digression:

Per wikipedia, "...[Nile Rodgers] has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide."  Seems like it might be worth listening to what he says, even though he has no background in bluegrass/roots/folk music (as far as I know).

He worked with Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Grace Jones, Diana Ross, Thelonious Monk...  You may not recognize or respect their music, or Nile's music or career, but the man's been around.  He knows stuff.  Sometimes when I listen to a musician play, or listen to someone talk, I wonder what it would be like to know what they know, the experiences they've had.  I've met a few people in my life who caused me to think to myself, "I shouldn't say anything, I shouldn't ask any questions.  I should just listen to whatever they have to say and try to learn and understand whatever it is they have to offer this evening."  I've never met Nile, and likely never will, but he's probably be on that list.

Rodgers said that his stepdad was a "...beatnik PhD, whose observations had angles that would make Miles Davis contemplate his cool."

A jam that issues such a directive takes on a huge responsibility to be ready to fight over many many many songs!

I would say bluegrass songs for a jam, are songs that have been recorded by a bluegrass artist. Then someone has to define bluegrass artists.

Which reminds me of the old chestnut: A guy goes to a pet store and sees a sign that says Male parrots $500, female parrots $50. He asks "why" and the store owner says that's just how the parrot market works. He asks if there is any visual or intelligence or trainability difference between the two? The owner says I'm a parrot expert and there's no difference. The shopper asks how can he tell a male from female then. The owner says Well I dump this little can of worms on the counter top, and the male parrot eats the male worms, and the female parrot eats the female worms. The shopper asks "how do you tell which worms are male or female????? Owner replies, "Don't ask me, I'm just a parrot expert."

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjonz

 

Bluegrass didn't start with a banjo. Bill Monroe called it country music. I believe Dave akerman was their first banjo player (clawhammer) but I could be wrong. Earl joined Bill's band when he was 21; this was in 1945.

---

The band existed already but many say that the genre named after the band was created when Earl Scruggs joined the Blue Grass Boys in December 1945. Pete Wernick pointed out that, while Bill Monroe had had a banjo player occasionally before Earl Scruggs joined the band, he never went without one after Earl Scruggs left the band.

quote:

---

Originally posted by RB-1

 

Anyone but Bill Monroe proclaiming what is or isn't Bluegrass is adding artificial boundaries.

 

 

---

I'd argue that even Bill Monroe proclaiming what is or isn't bluegrass is adding artificial boundaries.

Discuss.

;^)

And so do I.....

quote:

---

Originally posted by corcoran

On the late lamented bgrass-l, Bangs Tapscott said (and I may be paraphrasing slightly), "You cannot play the bluegrass music without the five-string banjo." So perhaps that is a good place to start.

---

Tony Rice answered this in 1979 when he released Manzanita.