Search Results for: bluegrass
Earl Scruggs, bluegrass banjo innovator
Earl Scruggs, born in North Carolina on January 6, 1924, taught himself the five-string banjo at the age of four and developed his trademark three-finger picking style before he reached his teens. At age 15, Scruggs was playing with a … Continue reading
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Filed under Instruments, Performers, Popular music
Earl Scruggs defines bluegrass banjo
Although the genre was yet to be named, the addition of Earl Scruggs (1924–2012) to Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys provided the crowning moment in the definition of bluegrass. Scruggs astounded everyone. His extraordinary banjo style allowed him to roll out … Continue reading
Filed under Popular music
Bluegrass jamming etiquette
A number of people attend U.S. bluegrass festivals not for the stage show, but for the informal jam sessions in the campgrounds or parking lot. The interactional etiquette that jammers follow is manifested both in the conventions that help strangers … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, North America
Bluegrass discography
Maintained since 1996 by Charley Pennell, a cataloguer at the D.H. Hill Library at North Carolina State University, Bluegrass discography lists bluegrass singles, LPs, tapes, CDs, and videos by label, performer, and album. Resources for obtaining these publications are also listed. Below, … Continue reading
Filed under North America, Popular music, Resources
Dolly Parton, from country and pop to film
The country singer, songwriter, actor, and businesswoman Dolly Parton was the fourth of twelve children in a family of sharecroppers in Sevierville, Tennessee, located in the Appalachian Mountains. Commenting on her childhood, Parton once said, “Everybody where we grew up … Continue reading
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Filed under Performers, Popular music, Uncategorized, Voice
Ora Watson, buck dancing fiddler
“I was born a-dancing” Ora Watson used to say, and indeed when she was barely old enough to stand she would try dancing on her mother’s lap at church when the music started. Watson’s father, an expert old-time musician, was … Continue reading
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Filed under Curiosities, Dance
The Smithsonian Institution’s Object of the Day, August 27, 2019: The Stinson Banjo
John H. Buckbee (manufacturer). Banjo created for Charles P. Stinson. Late 19th century. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Clark and Sarah Case Family. The Banjo at the Crossroads The banjo … Continue reading
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Filed under Black studies, Curiosities, Instruments, North America
Steve Martin, banjo ace
Steve Martin’s love of the banjo dawned when he first heard Earl Scruggs on a record in 1962, when he was was 17 years old and living in the no-bluegrass-zone of Orange County, California. Though the actor and comedian … Continue reading
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Filed under Curiosities, Humor
From oilcans to old-time
For more than 40 years—ever since Wayne Willis discovered that he could play the guitar and wanted some people to play with—Wayne’s Body Shop in Portsmouth, Virginia, has hosted a regular jam session. Just about everyone who can play old-time, … Continue reading
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Filed under Curiosities
