Bluegrass

Roots

Appalachia was settled largely by Scottish, English and Irish immigrants, whose ballads, jigs and reels shaped the region's music; Scottish-derived fiddle tunes such as "Soldier's Joy" are still bluegrass standards. The banjo came to America through the African slave trade, and African American blues and jazz fed into the style. Bill Monroe himself described bluegrass as blues and jazz with "a high lonesome sound".

Bill Monroe and the first bluegrass band

Bill Monroe formed the Blue Grass Boys in 1939, and his band of 1946 to 1948, with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, fiddler Chubby Wise and bassist Cedric Rainwater, is often called the original bluegrass band. Scruggs's three-finger banjo roll, developed around 1945, suited the music's fast tempos. The Stanley Brothers' 1948 recording of "Molly and Tenbrooks" is often taken as the moment bluegrass became a distinct style. The name itself came into use later, probably in the late 1950s, and was established by the time bluegrass festivals began in 1965.

The sound

• Breaks: instruments take turns playing the melody and improvising while the others accompany.
• Drive: a strong off-beat, with notes pushed slightly ahead of the beat for energy.
• Harmony: two to four voices, often with a high tenor on top, the "high lonesome sound".
• Songs: rural life, lost love, coal mining, hard times and railroads.

The instruments

The classic line-up is fiddle, five-string banjo played three-finger style, mandolin, guitar (mostly rhythm, often flatpicked) and double bass, frequently joined by the dobro.

Branches of bluegrass

Traditional bluegrass follows Monroe's late-1940s model. Progressive bluegrass, or newgrass, began with bands such as The Country Gentlemen around 1960 and later brought in electric instruments and songs from pop and rock. The International Bluegrass Music Association was founded in 1985 and gives annual awards.

Not sure how it differs from old-time music? See our old-time guide.

Artists to start with