Bluegrass

Overview

"Bluegrass" chronicles the colorful story of the birth and enormous growth of one of America's most popular musical forms. Originating in the country music of the thirties and forties, bluegrass developed during the fifties and beyond into a distinctly independent form, featuring such talents as Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Ralph and Carter Stanley, Sonny and Bobby Osborne, the Country Gentlemen, the Dillards, the Lewis Family, the Johnson Mountain Boys, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, and Ricky Skaggs. But "Bluegrass" is not just a genealogy of bands or a history of the music's evolution. What makes the book so valuable is Neil Rosenberg's ability to place bluegrass in the larger context of American culture. Country music show business, the rural upland South, the urban folk revival, rock and roll, the fiddling revival, commercial gospel music, the counterculture, movie and TV soundtracks, bluegrass festivals, and local bluegrass associations are all part of the rich history Rosenberg narrates. Never before has the bluegrass story been more deftly told or more meticulously researched. -- From publisher's description.

Details

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published

1985

Pages

447

Language

EN

Categories

Music / General, Music / Genres & Styles / Country & Bluegrass, Music / Musical Instruments / General

ISBN-13

9780252002656