Swing Your Partner: My Do-Si-Do With Bluegrass

A Northern Perspective on Southern Art

I'm going to just admit I'm entering this biased. Without a doubt I am the most northern a person can get (while living in the south) and that includes bashing the music. More specifically, "twang music," which to me has remained foreign and unrelatable. So, with this in mind, I'd like also to make two assumptions about the world. One: there are many others who share my distance with bluegrass. And two: there's quite a few who don't.

To address both, the goal of this post is to expand my horizons as well as attempt to understand why so many people (mainly low country folks) are in love with this kind of music. Obviously, history and tradition play a large role, so I won't pretend like I'm "one of the chums." My plan is to chronicle (lots of notes) my first encounters with the "top" five bluegrass songs and give a sort of makeshift verdict at the end of each, which will be 100% subjective. I chose the songs based on forums and other individuals "top lists" and provided the videos for each.

Another note: to prepare myself I did a lot of research on the history of bluegrass and Deep South. If you're at all interested in the origins of the genre, I provided links at the bottom of the page that I think did a good job explaining things. But, without further ado.

Song # 1- Blue Moon of Kentucky

By: Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys

-Professionalism yet casualness (cowboy hats)

-Composure with dialect

-Sophistication of the violins

-Watched old and new recordings

-New is better even though the singer is also older

-Lined up and stoic. Smiling if anything.

-Elvis cover (one of first songs he did)

- Still very much a bluegrass song, keeping the simple percussion line.

-Beatles cover felt more controlled. Seemed like Paul adopted the southern dialect for the song.

Song # 2- Angel Band

By: The Stanley Brothers

-I prefer good "climax-hooks," yet it's still engaging

-Beginning tune is interesting and unique, then it drops for the rest of the song

-A hark to the rest. Very ode like.

-I didn't relate to the very patriotic, Christian-influenced lyrics

-Quality of voice isn't spectacular in a traditional sense

-Feels authentic = lots of drops of voice

Song # 3- Sittin' on Top of the World

By: Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon

(Performed by Doc Watson)

-Feels more rock-ish

-A lot softer, the pauses feel stronger

- Very nostalgic (general trend)

-If you don't like my peaches, don't you shake my tree (the joker)

- Floating verse, or "Maverick stanza" earliest known use was in 1914, reference to sex

-Grateful dead did a cover

-Still retained that inescapable "country tint" even on electric guitar

Song # 4- Foggy Mountain Breakdown

By: Earl Scruggs

-A breakdown is bluegrass without vocals

-Steve Martin is a musician!?

-Picks tied to three fingers

-One of Earl's innovations

-Common rural car chase scene tune

-Bluegrass breakdown originally, then turned "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"

-Banjo is prominent (one of first times this happened)

Song # 5- Footprints in the Snow

By: Flatt and Scruggs

-Very narrative driven (general theme, actually)

-Similar in many regards to most "other music" as far as balance of refrain and other stanzas

-Roommate seriously dislikes (hard to appreciate. I had thought the song was "alright" before him)

Concluding remarks: Bluegrass still seems immeasurably distant. I tried to avoid listening to it while researching (to assure authentic first responses) and only had a few slips. Mostly, it was short clips of typical banjo and mandolin riffs. But from these spoiler alerts (and my own previous and limited systems of knowledge) I didn't expect to dig it all that much. Honestly, my biases for the most part haven't faded, though, I do have a few extra things to say to qualify this.

First, I don't appreciate the music because the texture to the vocals seems too off-cuff. A big part of the "culture" of bluegrass involves gathering friends and family together for jams that are not always professional. This is obviously tolerable and I have no problem to it, but the casualness imbued in the genre aggravates me because I myself am not included in the close nit community. This is not to say there isn't skill involved with Bluegrass. If you've never seen Earl Scruggs play the banjo, you haven't seen Bluegrass. But It just seems to me like you need to be obsessed in order to belong in the countrified pow-wow.

(Scruggs)

Furthermore, I don't think I connect because of aesthetics. This is 100% my own opinion and is largely tinted by my modern-Bay Area-Classic Rock upbringings. If I ever attempted to listen to Bluegrass in the car with my parents, I would immediately be laughed at and shunned from the radio. For no good reason at all, the deeply southern appearance doesn't make me think about all-star musicians.

To make final concessions, I did enjoy a couple songs. Blue Moon of Kentucky has been stuck in my head for at least two days and doesn't seem to want to leave. But beyond just "liking" songs, I actually don't mind the instrumental musicality as much as I used to. Recently, I played a BG playlist while I studied and did homework, which didn't bother me one bit. So, score one for expanding myself? I'm on my way? Progress?

Eh. Probably not. But, on the bright side, I did learn a whole lot about the history of the banjo, which I do find engaging. Bluegrass on the whole was an integral part of the early rock and roll scene and provided music fodder for several emerging artists. Elvis Presley being chief among them. So, whether or not I prefer bluegrass should be irrelevant. Rather, do I have the ability to appreciate it for what it is historically, culturally, and musically? And the answer is yes. Most certainly. May the creaky-wanky banjo live on.