BlueGrass Music (A Rant)

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 6 Dec 2003 1:47 am

Ralph Stanley is a legend and was in either the 2nd or 3rd bluegrass band ever to exist.

IF he is pushing towards 80 pretty hard and still wants to get up and sing.. well he has earned the right to do his best, and maybe take a shot at a high note he might not make.

Some one said , if country music had stayed with it's roots we would be swamped with fiddles etc.

Well if it had,
Bluegrass would never have existed either.

It was a hybrid sound from country people moved to the industrial northern cities, and mostly created to be heard well over that one microphone going out on the radio, or one or 3 mics in a studio.

Aferwards it became an on the porch acoustic phenominon.
Now it is considered a roots country, but it has roots much deeper still.

It is also a familly pursuit and no one ever tells grampa he's too deaf to sing...
since he taught the whole family how to do it in the first place.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 06 December 2003 at 02:43 PM.]

Charles French · Post by **Charles French** » 6 Dec 2003 5:46 am

For instance Ralph Stanley's vocals on the GOO lately have been excruciatingly out of tune. When we put these performers on a pedastal to the point that non-fans are exposed to them, then this is not a good way to win new fans.

I don't think this comment will win you any fans either. Age will take it's toll on us all. Evidently you have no appreciation for this form of music or the great contribution Mr.Stanley has made and continues to make.

cf

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 6 Dec 2003 6:15 am

as much as Lloyd Green and Buddy Emmons are my idols for my steelin`...

same amount of respect and excitement I have for Dr.Ralph Stanley when it comes to bluegrass music in my book.I wish I can play steel like Buddy and Lloyd and I also wish (in my dreams) I could play my Stelling as good as Mr. Stanley plays his Stanleytone.

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HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 6 Dec 2003 6:18 am

I don't think this comment will win you any fans either.

I'm still a member of the David Donald fan club, and entitled to all rights and privileges thereof....

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 6 Dec 2003 2:40 pm

Howard your too kind, LOL.
I'm in your fan club too.
Sometime we will definitely hoist a few Brooklyn Lagers and toast to steelers past and present.

Ah, I miss NYC I used to go walking along the Hudson in Tribeca in the summer evenings,
and listen to the rats chirping under the loading docks.
Dem's w's de deys![This message was edited by David L. Donald on 06 December 2003 at 02:45 PM.]

Post by **b0b** » 6 Dec 2003 3:58 pm

Moved to the 'Music' section of the Forum, because it's not about 'Steel Players' anymore.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 6 Dec 2003 4:38 pm

Bill Monroe's original band did not include an accordion, that was a little later, but before Flatt & Scruggs.
A 'Bones' player actually predated the accordian player, but back in the late 1930s and early 1940s Bill wasn't playing exactly what became defined as Bluegrass, proto-Bluegrass would be closer. The banjo wasn't much of an instrument in the group until Earl Scruggs joined in 1945.

I thought that Jimmie Rogers had a dobro type steel player on a session before the Louis Armstrong session, wasn't the Louis session in 1929, like two years into Rogers' career?

This is a pretty dumb topic though, ya'll dig Bluegrass or you don't, then if you do you have certain bands and periods of the genre you prefer over another.
As a style, it's progression relied on it not going to far beyong the traditional sound, once Bela Fleck and others took it as about as far as it would go, it became New Acoustic Music or World Music, the most extreme of the latter was probably when they did jam albums with acoustic players from different cultures and styles.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 8 Dec 2003 2:27 am

I love the bluegrass instrumentation on almost any type of music.

There is a live set of Stephane Grapelli and David Grisman at Berklee College Theater with Tony Rice on guitar and it is smokin.

But there are strict rules for actual bluegrass, that can be streched a bit.
The best example for me is Bela Fleck's DRIVE album.
An album I can't be without. I am on copy 5, they keep disappearing.

And 5 years later there is a reprise after the Flecktones of the same band, and EarlScruggs as a special guest.
So if Earl thinks it's right, it is right.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 08 December 2003 at 02:36 AM.]

Piney Woods · Post by **Piney Woods** » 11 Dec 2003 10:21 am

R.E. The original post:
1. I disagree with a lot of your criticism, but God bless America..
2. It sounds like the changes you recommend would make the music something other than bluegrass; the beauty is, that's how we got great music like bluegrass (and jazz, and western swing, and honky tonk...).What the heck is a purist, anyway? To paraphrase Danny Barnes (formerly of the Bad Livers), if you want to be just like Bill Monroe, create your own style of music and write a bunch of great tunes!
Great post--it's provoked much interesting discussion. I prefer "traditional" bluegrass (Monroe,Stanley,Martin,McCoury,etc.) but it has become a big-tent style.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 11 Dec 2003 5:53 pm

The Bad Livers float my boat... in good corn liquer too.

Dan Barnes has got that right fo sho.