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The Dead South. Is it?


gitmo

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As an old 70's & 80's rocker, I find it interesting how much I've taken to Bluegrass, and especially what I'll call neo-Bluegrass. This was my latest find. I also find it interesting to see how much these guys tour Europe.

 

[video=youtube_share;NehPWvOos8E]

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Bluegrass is an art that will never die. While not an internationally popular form of music, many bluegrass performers are also gospel performers such as the Isaacs and do travel around the world. However, most bluegrass is localized in GA, KY,AL,IN.NC,TN. There are very close knit circuits, mainly at small venues that are wildly popular. Bluegrass is very closely tied to the Christian church and many bluegrass songs reflect that. Likewise, much of gospel music is popular in bluegrass circles with many bluegrass versions of popular hymns. How's that for talkin in circles?

 

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Bluegrass is an art that will never die. While not an internationally popular form of music, many bluegrass performers are also gospel performers such as the Isaacs and do travel around the world. However, most bluegrass is localized in GA, KY,AL,IN.NC,TN. There are very close knit circuits, mainly at small venues that are wildly popular. Bluegrass is very closely tied to the Christian church and many bluegrass songs reflect that. Likewise, much of gospel music is popular in bluegrass circles with many bluegrass versions of popular hymns. How's that for talkin in circles?

 

Bluegrass is "Roots Music" in the truest sense. It has roots in traditional music that immigrants brought with them. As their communities grew, so did their music. That it is also tied to the church is not at all surprising, given the immigrants' ties to their religions. Some of the music was dance music, some of it was hymn-based.

 

The instruments played also evolved as people either crafted instruments themselves or perhaps gained enough wealth to purchase what would become a cherished family heirloom. Stringed instruments such as guitars and fiddles were popular for their portability as well as not taking up much space in often crowded living quarters. African slaves gave us what we now know as the banjo.

 

Ultimately, the music spoke less about the lands they left behind and more about the lives they'd made in the new world which were primarily agrarian or "country" or "mountain" lifestyles. They had the root of their music and wrote about the things they knew and lived every day - family, success and/or failures, loves and lost loves, their religious beliefs, etc. It all comes together in the wonderful musical soup we now call "Bluegrass."

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