Double Bass Why isn't Bluegrass more popular?

[misterbadger]

+1 what MT Spaces said - nice rant! Couldn't have said it better myself. Bluegrass is quite popular here in northern California - I could jam or hear live music every night, and have more than a dozen festivals within easy driving distance.

Let's face it - for those of us who aren't the Gagas or Timberlakes of the industry, the music biz is brutal. Orchestras teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, jazz clubs closing - it's not genre-specific. We've become a culture that feels it can live without the arts as we become obsessed with having big piles of money so we can buy the cheapest possible goods.

Glad to hear somebody else has a tough time singing and playing bass - I'm learning to sing baritone, and the bass line just falls apart when I attempt it. Hoping that experience and practice will make it work better...

 

[turf3]

I wish you all would quit picking on my accent. OK, it's not exactly my accent; I grew up in Texas. But the older members of my family who were from Missouri (pronounced Missourah) and Kansas had a lot of that sound in their voices. When I hear those old recordings of Sara Carter (yes, I know, not bluegrass), it sounds like someone I must have known. Maybe my great-grandmother, who was a country woman all her life, and who I barely knew. I can't consciously remember what her voice sounded like.

I could talk about the nasal duck quack of upper Midwesterners ("We'rrrrrrre frommm Miiiichigannnnnn") or how about the way New Englanders can't ever seem to decide what to do with the Rs? (Go pahk the caaa, then we'll get some pizzerr"), etc., etc., etc. Maybe rather than trying to say that everyone who doesn't sound like some vanilla variety of a TV announcer is ignorant, hicky, a rube, etc., maybe we should accept (even celebrate) regionalisms for what they are, the last survival of real life (where people lived near the land and worked with their hands) in our corporate monoculture where everyone has to consume, live, and think exactly the same way.

 

[bassdude51]

It's a genre of music. It fits a niche. Not for the masses. (for me, Blue Grass is the heavy metal of country music done on acoustical instruments! I LOVE IT!)

 

[Itzayana]

My feeling is that Bluegrass has no groove, no soul.
It is music that you listen to but doesn't have much feeling.
Kind of like marching band music.
Ever see anyone dance to bluegrass?
A genre developed by uneducated white hillbillies.
Somebody pass me that jug o' moonshine while I tune up my tub bass.

 

[turf3]

Hey "Itzayana"

Didn't anybody ever point out to you that opinionated ignorance is a no-no?

I am inclined to take your statements one by one and demolish them, but on second thought I do believe "that exercise is left for the student".

Have a nice day.

 

[bkbirge]

My feeling is that Bluegrass has no groove, no soul.
It is music that you listen to but doesn't have much feeling.
Kind of like marching band music.
Ever see anyone dance to bluegrass?
A genre developed by uneducated white hillbillies.
Somebody pass me that jug o' moonshine while I tune up my tub bass.

Feelings are great. We should all validate feelings with the same level of importance as facts.

But then again, I think the OP has his answer in the above post though perhaps not the way Itzayana intended.

 

[Biggbass]

not sure where the OP is getting the impression that bluegrass music suffers from a popularity issue, but bluegrass music is hugely popular with it's targeted fan base and most classic country fans. It may not have an audience as large as hip hop, or pop, or rock, but from what I've seen around my end of the USA, it is probably more popular among the older demographic mass audience than one would suspect. Especially the newer generation bluegrass from artists like Allison Krause and Ricky Skaggs.

 

[10cc]

Bluegrass is like the blues, after a few songs you have pretty much heard everything that is going to be played the rest of the night. It's fun at first, but then it's just redundant. If you are the bassist on a blues or bluegrass gig, God love you. You're in for a long night. Trust me, I am speaking from experience.

This is true. Also for me it is hard to believe a bluegrass or blues band if the members are not age correct for the period of their music. My father in law has been born and raised on bluegrass and has held down banjo duties for a long time now. Those guys could give a hoot about the popularity of the music. As far as the scene, well for them the scene is every tues. night in some old barn where they won't let you in with short pants on. Hahaha

 

[jake3]

I think bluegrass is pretty popular, but then again mandolin is my other instrument and I follow the scene a little. You should go to www.mandolincafe.com if you want to see an active bluegrass population. And I like a lot of the music, both the traditional and the "newgrass."

That said, it's not my favorite music to play on bass, given the high percentage of the old 1-5.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

My feeling is that Bluegrass has no groove, no soul.
It is music that you listen to but doesn't have much feeling.
Kind of like marching band music.
Ever see anyone dance to bluegrass?
A genre developed by uneducated white hillbillies.
Somebody pass me that jug o' moonshine while I tune up my tub bass.

When you display ignorance as broad as a barn door expect to have some holes blasted through it.
Hole #1

 

[bassdude51]

My feeling is that Bluegrass has no groove, no soul.
It is music that you listen to but doesn't have much feeling.
Kind of like marching band music.
Ever see anyone dance to bluegrass?
A genre developed by uneducated white hillbillies.
Somebody pass me that jug o' moonshine while I tune up my tub bass.

The politically correct term is Appalachian American (not hillbilly).

Oh..... Blue Grass has soul! And feeling and one can dance to it.

I agree it's not for everyone but it is honest to God American music just as rock n roll and jazz is too!

 

[hennessybass]

Mumford and Sons is not bluegrass. Not even close. They have a banjo in the band, and that's about as far as the connection goes.

It's a very specific genre of music. Like saying I wonder why western swing isn't more popular? It is in some places, and I bet most people don't even know what western swing is... not country music, western swing. Western swing is country, and so is bluegrass, but they are both their own thing.

Bluegrass is a very specific sub-genre of music. You have to have to develop a specific skill set to play bluegrass as well as have a deep knowledge of bluegrass music, melodies, changes, etc... Not many people get that far. A little like jazz too that it is about solos played over standards.

 

[Dave Martin]

Mumford and Sons is not bluegrass. Not even close. They have a banjo in the band, and that's about as far as the connection goes.

It's a very specific genre of music. Like saying I wonder why western swing isn't more popular? It is in some places, and I bet most people don't even know what western swing is... not country music, western swing. Western swing is country, and so is bluegrass, but they are both their own thing.

And one of the joys of western swing (like the best bluegrass) is that folks exposed to it for the first time can fall in love with it. I work with a western swing singer - and the majority of the shows we do are not in Texas or Oklahoma, where folks are typically familiar with the genre; they're in Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, the Carolinas, the Northwest - even Canada. Yet swing, like great bluegrass, can gather new fans who were, until then, have never heard it.

 

[hennessybass]

And one of the joys of western swing (like the best bluegrass) is that folks exposed to it for the first time can fall in love with it. I work with a western swing singer - and the majority of the shows we do are not in Texas or Oklahoma, where folks are typically familiar with the genre; they're in Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, the Carolinas, the Northwest - even Canada. Yet swing, like great bluegrass, can gather new fans who were, until then, have never heard it.

+1 - it's a specific genre that you are not likely to get into unless you grew up around it or had someone else expose you to it, and even then, you have to have interest and dig on your own. I think that's why it's not popular.

I think when most folks hear "bluegrass" there are few things that pop into their heads... dueling banjos and maybe a bill monroe song. There's a little more to it than that.

 

[Dave Martin]

When you display ignorance as broad as a barn door expect to have some holes blasted through it.
Hole #1

And on the off-chance that Itzayana figures Mark Shatz was just some uneducated hillbilly with no groove, here's a little something for him to learn from...

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Itzayana]

Hey "Itzayana"

Didn't anybody ever point out to you that opinionated ignorance is a no-no?

I am inclined to take your statements one by one and demolish them, but on second thought I do believe "that exercise is left for the student".

Have a nice day.

So if someone has an opinion but happens to be ignorant, how do they know that they have an ignorant opinion?
Or is it just that an opinion is ignorant if it is different from the opinion of someone who is presumably smart?
Or at least thinks that they are smarter than the person who they believe to be ignorant.
I guess if someone asks for an opinion only those who agree should respond.
That way everyone is nice and happy and don't get their undies all bunched up.

 

[Ben Noblit]

So if someone has an opinion but happens to be ignorant, how do they know that they have an ignorant opinion?
Or is it just that an opinion is ignorant if it is different from the opinion of someone who is presumably smart?
Or at least thinks that they are smarter than the person who they believe to be ignorant.
I guess if someone asks for an opinion only those who agree should respond.
That way everyone is nice and happy and don't get their undies all bunched up.

You have just been informed that your opinion is ignorant. That is how you know, someone tells you. Ignorance has little to do with smartness, it instead has to do with knowledge, or in your case, the lack thereof. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and to express it, but if you choose to express it, you should be prepared to be called out if it is ignorant.

 

[10cc]

So if someone has an opinion but happens to be ignorant, how do they know that they have an ignorant opinion?
Or is it just that an opinion is ignorant if it is different from the opinion of someone who is presumably smart?
Or at least thinks that they are smarter than the person who they believe to be ignorant.
I guess if someone asks for an opinion only those who agree should respond.
That way everyone is nice and happy and don't get their undies all bunched up.

This is the best I've heard on this site yet. I could've used it many times.

 

[10cc]

Oh yeah I'd be question one for sure.

 

[Itzayana]

You have just been informed that your opinion is ignorant. That is how you know, someone tells you. Ignorance has little to do with smartness, it instead has to do with knowledge, or in your case, the lack thereof. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and to express it, but if you choose to express it, you should be prepared to be called out if it is ignorant.

Okay, I think that I am catching on now.
So if someone, you for example, tells me I am ignorant then that means I must be.
Since you pointed it out to me it must be true.
Thank you.
I might have gone on a long time thinking that I was entitled to my own opinion if you hadn't pointed out how ignorant I am.