In his 2001 PBS documentary about jazz, Ken Burns made the claim that it is America?s unique contribution to world music and the nation?s greatest original art form. Burns is certainly right, though some of his critics think he underplayed the importance that blues music had on its more refined, less emotional progeny.
Critic Nat Hentoff noted the “other distinctive American contribution to the world” is country music. “Jazz and country music are inextricably interrelated,” Hentoff wrote when Burns? “Jazz” was released.
The new four-CD, 105-song boxed set “Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys: Legends of Country Music” (Columbia/Legacy) would be an ideal place to start exploring that link before moving on to Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett.
But another American musical form deserves a place on the world music stage with blues, jazz and country. It?s called bluegrass.
Despite its emphasis on tradition, bluegrass is a much newer ? and still evolving ? musical style than its more well-known cousins whose origins pre-date sound recording.
Singer, songwriter and mandolinist Bill Monroe created bluegrass in the mid-1940s. Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, named for his home state of Kentucky, were already stars on the nationwide Grand Ole Opry radio program when banjoist Earl Scruggs joined the band.
Scruggs? three-finger banjo roll helped the already hard-driving band make the rhythmic leap into what musicologist Alan Lomax called “the first clear-cut orchestral style to appear in the British-American folk tradition in 500 years.”
Recently, the International Bluegrass Music Association gathered at the Nashville Convention Center ? directly across the street from the Ryman Auditorium that housed the first broadcasts of bluegrass on the Opry ? for its 17th annual trade show, business conference and fan festival.
Players and singers from around the world played at dozens of showcases and concerts throughout the week, proving that bluegrass musicians are at least as skillful as and noticeably more passionate than their counterparts in other genres.
For themost part, performers work with the style?s original instrumental tools: five-string banjo, mandolin, fiddle, acoustic guitar, upright bass and resophonic slide guitar. The thrill comes from hearing how many places each band can travel after starting from the same place.
Would you like to hear an Irish family band play a gorgeous cover of Del Shannon?s 1961 No. 1 pop hit “Runaway?” Carmel Sheerin & The Ravens have you covered. What about a black group from New York City that plays old-time mountain music? Check out the Ebony Hillbillies. Powerful, no-frills Monroe-style bluegrass? David Davis & The Warrior River Boys.
The most striking thing about IBMA week is the almost complete lack of a barrier between artist and fan, especially in the impromptu jam sessions that run long into the night after all the official business is taken care of.
Anyone with an instrument has a decent chance of trading a few licks with a musician who played for a couple of thousand fans earlier in the evening.
This year?s IBMA awards show was somewhat marred by controversy, however. A very small minority ? mostly Americans ? self-righteously objected to a segment that featured patriotic songs done bluegrass style by seven-time female vocalist of the year winner Rhonda Vincent and the U.S. Navy?s bluegrass band, Country Current. Never mind that everyone else in attendance offered a standing ovation to the musicians and to the veterans ? some from World War II ? who joined them on stage.
It is upsetting that some people have to assert their political opinions into a reasonable show of love of country and gratitude to soldiers in a time of war, but that?s how shrill and hateful some of the American left has become.
Most of us realize there are many things far more important and satisfying than rudely interrupting others with our political opinions. Bluegrass music is one of those things.
Aaron Keith Harris writes about politics, the media, pop culture and music and is a regular contributor to National Review Online and Bluegrass Unlimited. He can be reached at [email protected].
