Bloggrass

For this entry I am going to review the internet presence of bluegrass music. I will discuss the presence of Australian bluegrass websites among international sites, along with blogs centred around bluegrass, and any definitions of the genre that I can find on these websites.

Australian bluegrass is represented primarily by two websites, www.bluegrass.org.au and www.australianbluegrass.com, which proclaims itself as THE Australian bluegrass blog. Both of these websites appear to be designed primarily for delivering the latest news of bluegrass events around Australia. www.bluegrass.org.au sports a calendar of upcoming events, of which users can add their own bluegrass related events, from festivals to instruments for sale, and this appears to be its main feature and use, otherwise providing only links to other related webpages and blogs. The single other major Australian bluegrass site, www.australianbluegrass.com, is also predominantly concerned with upcoming events and news, and also providing a well organized list of links and information for those new to the genre.

Outside of Australia, unsurprisingly regularly from America, bluegrass websites are more numerous. However, once again, these sites are primarily blogs, focusing on upcoming events, album releases and news updates, rarely providing definitions of bluegrass music. It appears the largest of these is www.theblugrassblog.com, an America-centred site which provides several updates a day, for those needing to know the latest from the bluegrass world. This website is similar to its Australian counterparts in being primarily concerned with recent bluegrass activity, as opposed to a history of the subculture. Only within the FAQ section of this site, however, is there any kind of information relating to cross-subcultural comparisons. The related question asks “How do you define what is and isn’t bluegrass?”, however they’re answer does not provide any open and shut conclusion, merely stating that they will, in all probability provide information on what some might not consider to be bluegrass. We are also provided with a few examples of music which may be contested as un-blugrass; predictably, country and folk are mentioned, but we are also given “old time” and “newgrass”, the former of which was mentioned in my first entry by Ralph Stanley, a definitive forefather of bluegrass, as he attempted to define his own music.

Ultimately, the most informative website on finding a definition of bluegrass style music was, dare I say it, Wikipedia. We are given a, however arguably unreliable, history of bluegrass and a rough guide to bluegrass instrumentation and vocal styles. All of the few references used with the article are also from book sources, citing no information gathered from the numerous internet sites based on the genre because, as I have discovered, these sites provide only news relating to bluegrass and little on the genre itself.

Maybe the lesson to be learned from this review of major local and international bluegrass sites is that this genre is centred around the live performance, the seeing-is-believing aspect, which bluegrass listeners may feel is needed for full appreciation. Once again, though not entirely unexpected, no clear definition of the bluegrass genre is attempted by any of these sites, which, as occurred in my previous entry, where I myself had issue with an attempted definition, is fraught with danger and contention.

Bluegrass, U.S.A.

The purpose of this entry will be to discuss references to bluegrass subculture in Stephen Sweet's 1996 journal article, “Bluegrass Music and its Misguided Representation of Appalachia”, and any relevant ideas I have which spin off from what is brought up by Sweet.

Sweet (1996) begins by defining the term “bluegrass”, among others, he sources Archie Green as saying that Bluegrass is a “term used to describe the people and culture” (p.38) from the Appalachian region of Eastern U.S.A., adding that bluegrass music is often thought of as indigenous of this area. I do however, disagree instantly with his definition of bluegrass style music, principally with his suggestion that banjo playing in bluegrass music primarily utilises the Scruggs style of picking, rather than any other styles such as clawhammer or strumming. Although Sweet (1996) has a source for this in a book by Robert Cantwell, through my experience and research of the bluegrass genre, I have not encountered anything to give me the impression that Scruggs style holds the monopoly. I would argue that the style of banjo playing is unimportant. Although it is quite often, as said by Sweet (1996), to be in a fingerpicking style, I don't think this is as crucial to the bluegrass sound as he suggests, and through my experience, some songs may even be performed without banjo altogether, while still being able to be considered bluegrass music.

The main content of Sweet's (1996) article pertains to the analysis of bluegrass song lyrics for a sociological understanding of Appalachian people. Sweet intimates that during his study of bluegrass lyrics, songs most often direct the audience's attention away from change. It is this sentimentality for the “good ol' days” (Sweet, 1996, p.43) of country life that I believe attracts a lot of people to the subculture, and consequently why they are seen as hillbillys. The song lyrics, ironically, position the audience to be the commonly stereotyped 'backward thinking' fans of bluegrass, who are in fact craving exactly what they are ridiculed for.

Longing for the olden days up in the hills gives an insight into the type of deviation away from capitalist culture bluegrass fans conduct. Bluegrass lyrics are promoting the traditions of “hunting, farming and trading” (Sweet, 1996, p.39) in juxtaposition to the capitalist society which corrupted and stripped away the Appalachian region, leaving depression, poverty and “exploitation by absentee-owned coal companies” (p.40). Bluegrass fans look to the music as an escape back to happier times, but this is not supported by the modern thinking, capitalist ideals promoted as “progress”.

Of course not all of the participants of the bluegrass subculture hail from the Appalachian region of North America, but this article provides an interesting insight into the lives of a large segment of bluegrass subculture. Bluegrass subculture revolves around looking back to better times, the listeners and performers channelling the past as a way to temporarily forget their current situation. Pining for a return to happiness, much like the blues, makes the songs appear depressing, but really, within bluegrass society, I believe it is a way of venting frustration and some sort of passive-aggressive defiance to mainstream society.



Bibliography:

Sweet, Stephen. (1996). Bluegrass music and its misguided representation of Appalachia. Popular Music and Society, 20(3), 37-51.

"Down From The Mountain" movie review, Research Entry #1

For this entry I am going to review and analyse the Concert DVD Down from the Mountain (Doob, Hegedus and Pennebaker 2001). This film centres on the musicians who performed on the predominantly bluegrass soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Coen 2000), who congregated for a concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, famous in the bluegrass and country world as the home of the Grand Ol Opry. The concert and accompanying documentary, which interviews the performers and observes them rehearsing and preparing for the concert, features most notably Ralph Stanley, Gillian Welch, Allison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, The Fairfield Four, The Cox Family, The Peasoll Sisters, The Whites and John Hartford, who acts as master of ceremonies.

The interviews with the artists revolve predominantly around the genre of bluegrass, how they became bluegrass performers or fans and their first exposure to the genre. Ralph Stanley, one of the forefathers of the genre, shows his disapproval for the naming of his style of music as bluegrass, favouring to call it “mountain music” or “old time mountain style”, referring to the hills of Virginia where he was raised, as the source of the style. This is also supported by comments from a singer from the Fairfield Four, who insists that the only source for good, GOOD, music is the country churches of the south, interestingly linking bluegrass not only to gospel music, but to the religious ideologies of the performers and audience of southern United States of America. T Bone Burnett, the musical director of both O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Coen 2000) and Down From The Mountain (Doob, Hegedus and Pennebaker 2001), attempts to give musical direction to a guitar player by telling him to play it faster, “like a Rock and Roll song”, but the musician can only respond with confusion, leading T Bone to question “you can’t relate to Rock and Roll?” This, I think, is a crucial insight into the world of a real bluegrass fan. There is nothing else. They don’t listen to other music; their approach to it is much like an approach to religion, they’ve got their beliefs, no need to even look around for a potentially better or more rational belief.

The entire concert is performed without amplification, a determining factor of bluegrass music along with orchestration, which is also adhered to with banjos, fiddles, mandolins and guitars being a part of nearly every song. The concert is recorded in an obligingly minimalistic way, with the performers all singing into old-fashioned microphones. We are also introduced to a notable number of family bands, The Cox Family, The Whites and The Peasoll Sisters, showing the traditional, family-oriented content and style of the bluegrass subculture. The taste of this music and the playing of it is passed down through the generations, capable of doing so because of its ageless style and content, in observing a performance of bluegrass music, what would have been witnessed 40 years ago would be much the same as a modern performance. Gillian Welch even describes the subject matter of most bluegrass lyrics to be seemingly everyday issues, but often leaning towards the heavier, darker, more depressing issues of everyday life such as death and loneliness.

This concert provides a fantastic insight into the views of the biggest fans of bluegrass there are, the performers themselves. From their “Tenessee Tuxedos” (white shirt with blue overalls) to their orchestration and performance, the bluegrass performers all intermingle with each other backstage, discussing their love for each other’s performance and the bluegrass subculture in general. It is a once in a lifetime event in the bluegrass world to have all of the superstars of the genre come together on one stage, providing an amazing performance, which is further enhanced by the documentary accompanying it.

Bibliography:

Down From The Mountain. Dir. Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker. Mike Zoss Productions, 2000.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? Dir. Joel Coen. Touchstone Picture, 2000.

Bluegrassignment

Hello Blog-reader,

My name is Vin (A.K.A Vinnie) and this blog is going to rock your bluegrass socks with some interesting research on the bluegrass genre.