Bluegrass, Newgrass, Old-Time, and Americana Music

by Craig Harris, Pete Wernick (Editor)

A colorful and comprehensive history of bluegrass and old-time Appalachian music from its legendary roots to today’s Grammy-winning stars.With simple instrumentation—banjo, guitar, and base—a great variety of musical traditions converged to create the “old-timey” music of Appalachia. Over time, that mountain sound evolved into numerous genres and subgenres that continue to thrive today. Now musician and roots music historian Craig Harris takes readers on an anecdotal journey through this distinctly American music. From the Grand Ole Opry and the historic Bristol Sessions to contemporary festivals and the reemergence of Bluegrass in popular culture, Harris combines extensive research and never-before-seen photographs with more than ninety exclusive interviews. Bluegrass, Newgrass, Old-Time, and Americana Music is chock full of anecdotes about Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Del McCoury, Doc Watson, Alison Kraus, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and more.

544 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 23, 2018

Reviews

[Dan Graser · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a huge fan of folk/traditional music of America, though one completely oblivious to its origins and key players, this is the perfect book to fill that void. If you are unfamiliar with the key players in the development of bluegrass music throughout the 20th century but also the fundamental differences between bluegrass, newgrass, old time, Appalachian, hillbilly, and various subgenres of what we lazily label, "Bluegrass," then this is the book for you. Craig Harris is at all times an informed and cogent guide through the maze of virtuosos, ensembles, band shifts, genre-blending, and key developments. Upon completion of this work you will have a wonderful context for where the key performers of today are coming from and where the music is likely to lead. Given the immense popularity of recent mashup format recordings like the Goat Rodeo Sessions and also the breakaway solo and radio success of figures like Chris Thile, Craig Harris' work here is essential to understanding the history behind these potent and uniquely American genres of music.

[S Elgin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining and fairly enjoyable book to read. It definitely touches on many of my favorite musicians and really shows what a small circle the bluegrass family is when you read how many of my favorite musician have played with others of my favorite musicians growing up and as they developed their careers. Definitely, heard many stories I already knew, but just as much info was news to me and I really enjoyed that. The only downside on the book and the reason I took away a star was how many times I would be reading and then have to go back a page or two to see who the heck they are talking about. Many times, the author would have changed who they were talking about half a page back and it wasn't very obvious or because the names come so fast and furious and the author would have mentioned 4 different people in the past 2 paragraphs it would be confusing who is currently being discussed. I know, it could be tedious to mention the subject of the anecdotes name too many times during a story, but they definitely could have done more to avoid some confusion