Anyone like bluegrass music?

I'm always so curious to see who all likes bluegrass music. 99.9% of my friends do not, so it's hard to find people to go to festivals with. I also get weird stares at stoplights & intersections if I have it on the car.

It's something I was raised with - my mom's family is from the mountains, and my dad played banjo in a moderately successful bluegrass band from about ages 7 to 15. He also plays bass & banjo in another bluegrass band with my brother these days. Every year the weekend after Memorial Day, we go to Graves' Mountain Bluegrass Festival. It's at a beautiful lodge/camping area in Syria, VA and we've been going since it first started in 1992.

I'm doubtful I'll find any fans, but as I said I'm always curious!!!

I'll take some Flatt and Scruggs with a side of Bill Munrow and Union Station. Throw in some Ricky Scaggs and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band while you're at it.

If your friends like rock music, it all generated from a combination of bluegrass, blues and country. If they start looking, they will find the guitar solos in bluegrass and blues, drims in all three genres, and the beginnings of electric guitar fuzz in a couptry blues classic called Don't Worry About Me. Have them listen to Cark Perkins, Hank Sr, Marty Robbins, Flatt and Scruggs, Waylon Jennings (one of the original Crickets) and even Buddy Holly and Bill Haley. it is all there. If they like The Beverlyhillbillies and Dukes of Hazzard themes......they like bluegrass.

It's hard NOT to like bluegrass! Most people won't seek it out, but when it comes along, they all tap their toes. I hear a lot of bluegrass in Uncle Walt's Band, a wonderful acoustic trio best known in the Carolinas and Austin, Texas, back in the '70s and '80s... I loved those fellas so! Now, how about rockabilly? I hear a lot of connections there...

Carl Perkins and many others were rockabilly, first generation and Elvis and the Everly Brother were the most widely noted. It seemed to reach it's biggest peak in the late 70s and early 80s when disco was the thing. Think Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Eddie Rabbit, Johnny Paycheck (although he came from blues and reverted before his death), Garth Brooks, Brooks and Dunn, the Allman Brothers and the list is endless. The crossover between rock and country was huge in those years. Some, like the Allman Brothers, reverted to country blues, others back to bluegrass, some disappeared.

In the whole scope of the 50s and early 60s, many of the top artists were mostly country blues that crossed over to pop/rock: Conway Twitty, Sonny James, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, and of course Buddy Holly and Bill Haley, although, if I recall, he came from big bands as did Bobby Darin and a few others. Also on charts (assorted) were Sinatra, Martin, Como, WIlliams and oddly, Robert Mitchum (Little Ole Wine Drinker). Ray Charles and Dion sprang directly from Blues, and Dion's latest works show that. Then there were the duets, trios, quartets, quintets and chorurses that sprang from big band and swing as well as folk music. The curse of manufactured music also began there with the likes of Phil Spector, and all of these people with manufactured groups had stables of writers: Carly Simon, James Taylor, Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, Bobby Sherman and other notable writers came from these formula writing groups. If you listen to late 50s and early 60s pop groups, you can just about pick out who wrote what,

I am rambling again, love music and music history and the evolving of three main genres into rock, then hard rock to metal. I still don't get rap and hiphop and manufactured pop though...........

I remember going to a debate tournament in high school, I ended up staying in a room with a few other girls... one of them brought along one of those super old-school tape players with speakers built in and played bluegrass the. whole. time.

As a musician I can appreciate all forms of music, but...

My husband and I enjoy all music.
My older brother had a bluegrass band back in the 80's called Lost In The Mail.

My husband is a big fan of Hayseed Dixie, who started out as a bluegrass AC/DC cover band, but they have a lot of original stuff too.

I love bluegrass.

I love watching Andy Griffith when the Darlings come to town, or when he is sitting on the front porch picking his guitar.

Many years ago I sang with a bluegrass band and played guitar.

Emmylou Harris was a fave of mine, and that evolved into liking bluegrass. One of my fave cd's is the O Brother Where Art Thou.

Pure, clean, honest music IMO.

I love country too. My fave time for country was the 80's and 90's.

I love some bands that have a bit of a blue grass feel to them! I think my favorite may be Holy Ghost Tent Revival though. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Esp. LIVE!
Being from East TN, its pretty hard to not end up around blue grass. And over the past few years I have really started to enjoy it!

Growing up I had such pedestrian tastes, but working at a record store right after college and then having a boyfriend into bluegrass, I found my music tastes expanded. I found bluegrass to have a wonderful texture and sound. I can't really listen to pop music now.

Like Carol said; I'm one who doesn't seek it out but it doesn't bother me to hear it. It's not common to hear it on here; but when we go to TN to visit DH's family it's all over. LO seemed to like it a lot when we were there last.

I like Bluegrass, but its not something I could listen to day and night. I like a little bit sprinkled in with everything else.

I guess I was wrong!! Glad to know there are some bluegrass fans out there!

Awesome posts sk_pacer!!! I agree. I'm a big Buddy Holly fan and it's incredible how many people he influenced. I've tried many times to introduce my friends to bluegrass but with a lot of people, they hear the twang of the banjo and tune it out immediately.

Originally Posted by sk_pacer

The curse of manufactured music also began there with the likes of Phil Spector, and all of these people with manufactured groups had stables of writers: Carly Simon, James Taylor, Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, Bobby Sherman and other notable writers came from these formula writing groups. If you listen to late 50s and early 60s pop groups, you can just about pick out who wrote what,

I am rambling again, love music and music history and the evolving of three main genres into rock, then hard rock to metal. I still don't get rap and hiphop and manufactured pop though...........

Click to expand...

Hm, while I agree with you to an extent about manufactured music, I've gotta say that even though I love Pete Seeger, I also love James Taylor.

Also, I'm a big fan of rap and hiphop. Seems weird, I know. Simon & Garfunkel, bluegrass, and rap! that's me! If you haven't, you should do some reading on the history & development of rap. I have an awesome book that just came out this year I believe called The Anthology of Rap, which is a collection of annotated lyrics, treated as literature instead of song. Many find the content offensive or objectionable, and that's fair, but it's honest to its core - and hey, at least they're writing their own songs!

I can listen to just about anything and enjoy it, but I have to agree that most pop music, Britney Spears and Katy Perry and the like, is just the product of a money machine meant to sell digital downloads. Same for a lot of new country, actually. I'm a big fan of 80's & 90's as well as certain artists like Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, etc., but a lot of the new stuff is just cringe-worthy self-referential "I'm so country, I love America and I'm singing about cars and God and sweet tea" - drives me nuts.