The History of Bluegrass Music

The history of bluegrass music began when immigrants from Ireland combined the sounds of jazz and blues with traditional music of their homelands. Bluegrass music is typically played with stringed instruments such as the banjo, fiddle, or guitar.

Bluegrass was developed around the mid 1940's following World War II. Sometimes the music is accompanied by a vocalist and Bluegrass music was generally used for dancing in country areas. This form of dancing is commonly known as buckdancing. Bluegrass music is not the same as folk music, but it does sometimes get confused with it.

Traditional bluegrass is played using a simple combination of chords and is also only played with acoustic instruments. The melodies and lyrics of traditional bluegrass makes the sound very repetitive and rhythmic.

Progressive bluegrass was developed in the 1960's and 1970's and is considered to be a new age form of traditional bluegrass. This is because the music has a more wild style of chord progression involved. The progressive melodies are more of a rock oriented sound and the lyrics are more intricate as well.

Bluegrass gospel is a sub-genre of the original bluegrass which focuses on Christian themed lyrics. There is more harmony and lyrical complexity associated with this type of bluegrass. They also make use of choir singers in the background that add a very distinct sound to this form of bluegrass music.

Neo-traditional bluegrass music began in the 1990's. This type of bluegrass has a specified lead singer with a backup band. There are few rules followed in this genre unlike the traditional bluegrass music.