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Double Bass Why isn't Bluegrass more popular?

#101
I posted on a similar subject on the Mandolin Cafe board, as mando is my "other" instrument, besides bass guitar and upright bass. In my regular band, I play mostly bass guitar, although I'm sometimes asked to play upright or mando - but we're a rock band. But I get as many gigs or more outside my regular band because so many guitar-based acts are trying to have that more "authentic" or "Americana" feel (I put those in quotes because I don't comment on whether they're really more authentic or American, I just play) and upright bass and/or mandolin makes them feel they can do that better at whatever venue it might be.

Now, bluegrass is a particular form of acoustic music. I think that for those of us who play acoustic music, it's kind of a motherlode of basic ideas of how to play. Traditional bluegrass definitely has a market out there, and it's more than a small market. But its influence is being felt on a wider basis by musicians who want to bring some aspect of bluegrass feel to their music.
 
#104
I play bluegrass mandolin, upright bass and guitar in San Francisco and am in several bands.

I also play rock, blues, funk, folk Swing, Jazz and Boogie Music.

I have played all around the West Coast for years and Bluegrass informs nearly every bit of music making I engage in.

Bluegrass is crazy popular in San Francisco - evidenced by the presence of dozens of local bands and many annual festivals including Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, The CBA Grass Valley Father's Day Festival, Strawberry Music Fest and many other smaller, and in some cases bigger (High Sierra) fests where bluegrass has a presence.

But at the same time - Bluegrass is just another genre that is largely ignored by the media chucleheads that try to convince the public as to what they should be liking, buying and buying into and I for one like it this way.

Leave us the F alone please - we are having way too much fun to care about whether or not Bluegrass is popular.

At the same time I can say, I've made a fair bit of Coin playing Bluegrass, but only because I've been doing it for so long that I've figured out how to be in bands that have talent, can shake the bushes for good gigs and get paid well!
 
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#105
Trayster2 said:
Mumford & Sons sound bluegrass.
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I was about to say...^
Folk music is effing huge and getting bigger every day. It's just not American Folk music.

ANYTHING Euro-folk....celtic especially, will pack out an events venue in NE Florida and Floridians are just about as apathetic a group of people as you will ever find.

Mumford spent a weekend in St. Augustine not too long ago and just crippled this town for three days.
 
#106
Itzayana said:
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.
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It's just quite obvious from your original post that you were trolling, and simply espousing opinionated ignorance :) If you were simply stating an opinion, you would've used different language.

It is music that you listen to but doesn't have much feeling.
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No, apparently it's music that YOU listen to but [your opinion is that] but doesn't have much feeling.

Ever see anyone dance to bluegrass?
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Yes, and you, very obviously, have not.

A genre developed by uneducated white hillbillies
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Contrary to popular belief, the above is NOT an opinion, but an uneducated statement. That's all. Have a great day :)
 
#109
Holdsg said:
all I know is I like playing it more than I like listening to it.
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@ Holdsg - How easy is it to find a good quality jam out there? I grew up playing bluegrass and old-tyme music here in Virginia, but the scene ain't what it used to be.
 
#110
The first jam may be hard to find, but its easy after that once you find a group of like-minded people. I would use same methods of finding jams as to finding a band to join, ala Craigslist, acoustic instrument stores, and coffee houses/restaurants with live music. All you gotta do is ask around and be persistent.
 
#111
There's plenty to choose from here, but not all of it is appealing.

At age 44, I've been fortunate to play some pretty high quality music, despite the generational gap between the 20-somethings, and the over-60 crowd. It just seems to have grown less crowded in the past 10 years, even though there are several mainstream bluegrass acts enjoying some level of commercial success. (i.e. The Boxcars, Blue Highway, The Grascals, etc.)

The underlying point being, that good, tight jams are fewer and further between.
 
#112
Like any other music not played on the recognized FM stations and similar sources, it has limited exposure to the younger crowd, which is what drives demand. Also, it is seen as either "old people" or "hick" music at first glance when people see the banjo, mandolin, etc.

Shame. Not my favorite genre, but the are some killer players out there, and it is fun to play.
 
#116
When attempting to answer the OP please don't say things like "Bluegrass started in small isolated Appalachian communities." It did not. It was started by one man--Bill Munroe--and is actually younger than western swing. Don't confuse bluegrass with old time mountain music--they are NOT the same thing. Not even close. The roots of bluegrass is not primarily old time music even though most every "scholar" will tell you that. Its roots are mainly in minstrelsy. Many of Munroe's original sidemen were former minstrel musicians. Proto-bluegrassers as Uncle Dave Macon were straight-up minstrel men and yet you can plainly hear bluegrass taking form in their music. Bluegrass's minstrel roots are hidden today, I suppose, due to racial politics.

As for why it isn't more popular, how can it be when far too many people think Rihanna or Justin Bieber are great artists? Do you even want your music to appeal to such sorry specimens of musical taste? It has the audience it has and that's all we can say about it. It should be more popular? so should jazz, so should blues, so should REAL r&b, so should a lot of things. In this day of horrible crap passing for music, I'm grateful (and amazed) it has any audience at all.

With that said, Doyle Lawson, Old Crow Medicine Show and Todd Phillips rule.
 
#117
buldog5151bass said:
Maybe I sound like the proverbial "old guy", but pop music today is all about how you look.
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No argument there, and nothing wrong with being an old guy either.:D

However, that video was made about 20 years ago. They (Lonesome River Band) *were* the "young guns" of the late 80's/early 90's, and that *was* the look of a 3rd generation bluegrass band. Admittedly, that look doesn't work as well in 2014.:rolleyes:

As to popularity, as in most things ymmv, but at least three of the four people on that stage went on to somewhat successful music careers. Sammy Shelor still runs LRB from here in Virginia, Ronnie Bowman is a well-established songwriter and artist in N'Ville, and Dan Tyminski is doing pretty well too. Not sure what ever happened to Tim Austin, but to his everlasting credit, he spent a lot of years building that particular bluegrass supergroup.
 
#118
Itzayana said:
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.
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Must not have been able to master the genre; therefore, those grapes must for sure be sour....

All are entitled to their opinion, be it accurate or uninformed in its development.

I find it interesting that human babies not yet able to walk, but able to pull up & stand, will "dance" to bluegrass music. As for the question whether I've seen anyone dance to bluegrass; I have, at every festival I've attended so far, generally in the style of traditional Irish dance which parallels the evolution of the music style.

A genre developed by uneducated white hillbillies? It's an evolution of traditional Irish Folk music. Even Bill Monroe credits the playing style of older family members for inspiring him to end up where he did. By the way; the banjo is a product of the continent of Africa.

I suppose some believe if they dislike a music style, it provides them the license to disparage those who listen or play that style of music. If I don't like something, I generally keep it to a simple statement of "I don't care for it" and stop at that point; I don't believe I have the knowledge foundation to disparage those who do like whatever it is, simply because I don't immerse myself much in anything I dislike.

Why isn't Bluegrass more popular? My guess, and I'll be the first to admit it is a guess, is there is no valid answer to that question. If there was a single answer, all that would be necessary for Bluegrass to dominate the music world would be to overcome that one impediment.
 
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#119
There's some polarized opinions about which kind of music is this or that. I like it all, and at one time or another I hope to play it all or at least try it.

I once had a very wise studio engineer counsel me - "everybody sucks to somebody". TalkBass, indeed the World, would be a boring place if we all liked the same thing.
 
#120
EdwardofHuncote said:
That ^^^ was a great formation of Lonesome River Band. Good times back then.
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I was playing with a band called Point Blank in 1991 and we were at the IBMA Convention in Owensboro, KY to play a Showcase at the Executive Inn. Some may remember that musicians wandered the halls of the Hotel late into the night and engaged in spontaneous jams. It was tradition back then, and nobody bitched.

One night at about 3:00am as things were winding down, our mandolin player (Tim Perry) and I ran into Ronnie Bowman and Dan Tyminski in the hall. Tim knew them. We talked, and then with Bowman on guitar and Tyminski on mandolin they played and sang Invalid Link Removed. It was stunning. Tim said: "man you guys need to record that". Tyminski smiled real big and said "we just did about a week ago".
 

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