Homegrown Music: Discovering Bluegrass

by Stephanie P. Ledgin, Ricky Skaggs (Foreword)

Homegrown Music offers an introductory primer for newcomers to bluegrass and provides a novel perspective for fans already captivated by the music. Award-winning bluegrass writer Stephanie P. Ledgin writes about topics ranging from the music's predecessors to its innovators to contemporary figures. Interviews with legends like Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band provide candid insights and invaluable eyewitness history. Delving into instrumentation, songs, the festival experience, "parking lot picking," and other topics, the book gives neophytes and enthusiasts alike new perspectives on the music. Twenty-five photographs taken by the author and a foreword by bluegrass superstar Ricky Skaggs further enrich the guide while a special section features an extensive bluegrass resource guide to print, audiovisual, and Internet materials.

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2004

About the author

STEPHANIE P. LEDGIN is an international award-winning photojournalist, whose 40-year career has spanned publications, recordings, and museums. Lincoln Center, Smithsonian Folkways recording label, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and Sing Out! magazine, among others, have featured her work. A former NYC radio-show host, she was director of the New Jersey Folk Festival for 10 years and is a founding member of Folk Alliance International. Her most recent book is Discovering Folk Music (Praeger 2010).