HISTORY OF BLUEGRASS

The roots of Bluegrass music go deeper than the early recordings of the music. It goes back to the home countries of England, Ireland and Scotland, and the immigrants who brought it with them in their memories. Making their homes in the Appalachian Mountains, these immigrants were isolated into tight communities. The songs they had heard from birth were kept untouched by outside influences. Women constantly sang, as they worked, the songs they had learned from their mothers. Whether they were in the kitchen, garden, or woodshed, the children always knew where to find them. Many of the later musicians often said they were born and raised on traditional music. The songs would range from playful and humorous, to the sad ballads about murder and death.

The instruments, also brought from the old country, were played by the men. The fiddle came along with the Scottish-Irish immigrants. Many of these fiddlers could play for days without repeating a tune. They provided the only music for the all-night dances that took place.

Traced back as far as ancient Egypt, the banjo was brought along with the slaves of West Africa. It has evolved from a primitive gourd with a neck and several strings attached, to a finely crafted, five-string instrument. In the early 1800s, the mountain craftsmen built smaller, and softer-sounding banjos, using a groundhog hide for the head of the banjo.

The mandolin was originally from Germany and Italy. It was an ornate instrument with a flat top and round back. The southern musicians referred to it as a "tater bug". In the 1890s, Gibson built the flat-backed mandolins that could stand toe-to­toe with a banjo.

The guitar is a relative newcomer to Bluegrass music. The earliest bands consisted of just the banjo and fiddle. As guitars became available from the mail order catalogs, they provided the rhythm and allowed the banjo to play more melody.