The Worst of Bluegrass
Would you agree that nearly all of the Bluegrass CD's with titles along the lines of Best of Bluegrass, 50 Years of Bluegrass, Bluegrass Greats, Bluegrass Hall of Fame and many of the Bluegrass sampler CD's put out by the big record labels are actually the absolute worst of Bluegrass? Or is it just my narrow way of thinking?
I've purchased a few of these CD's, listened to them once and thrown them in my pile of never to be listened to again CD's. I've also had a few given to me by people that came to the same conclusion as me. I'm actually quite happy when people give me these CD's because it tells they know the difference as well.
A lot of the CD's I'm talking about contain material that has little to no harmony in it, they often include instruments that would make any hardcore traditionalist cringe, such as drums, pedal steel guitar and electric guitar, and generally speaking they don't have any Bluegrass drive whatsoever! I have nothing against any of the above mentioned instruments in other genres of music. In fact, I have always loved pedal steel guitar - but not in Bluegrass. In my opinion, if you want to kill the Bluegrass drive in a real big hurry, just add some of these instruments to your Bluegrass mix - instant non-Bluegrass music. There's more to Bluegrass music than the instruments played, but there are also some definite no nos.
This is precisely why I insist only the six traditional Bluegrass instruments are allowed at the Bluegrass Friends weekly jam sessions. These include 5-string banjo, 6-string acoustic guitar, upright bass, fiddle, mandolin and resophonic guitar (commonly referred to as Dobro®, after the Gibson registered brand name).
If my mission was to convert people to Bluegrass music I would definitely not suggest one of these CD's. As far as I can tell they only serve to confuse people about what is and what is not Bluegrass music. I do realize the range of Bluegrass goes a little to the left and a little to the right of what I would call ideal, but once you get outside the left and right boundaries you've gone too far to keep calling it Bluegrass.
That's my take on the Worst of Bluegrass. If you've got an opinion on this topic feel free to post a comment.
I've purchased a few of these CD's, listened to them once and thrown them in my pile of never to be listened to again CD's. I've also had a few given to me by people that came to the same conclusion as me. I'm actually quite happy when people give me these CD's because it tells they know the difference as well.
A lot of the CD's I'm talking about contain material that has little to no harmony in it, they often include instruments that would make any hardcore traditionalist cringe, such as drums, pedal steel guitar and electric guitar, and generally speaking they don't have any Bluegrass drive whatsoever! I have nothing against any of the above mentioned instruments in other genres of music. In fact, I have always loved pedal steel guitar - but not in Bluegrass. In my opinion, if you want to kill the Bluegrass drive in a real big hurry, just add some of these instruments to your Bluegrass mix - instant non-Bluegrass music. There's more to Bluegrass music than the instruments played, but there are also some definite no nos.
This is precisely why I insist only the six traditional Bluegrass instruments are allowed at the Bluegrass Friends weekly jam sessions. These include 5-string banjo, 6-string acoustic guitar, upright bass, fiddle, mandolin and resophonic guitar (commonly referred to as Dobro®, after the Gibson registered brand name).
If my mission was to convert people to Bluegrass music I would definitely not suggest one of these CD's. As far as I can tell they only serve to confuse people about what is and what is not Bluegrass music. I do realize the range of Bluegrass goes a little to the left and a little to the right of what I would call ideal, but once you get outside the left and right boundaries you've gone too far to keep calling it Bluegrass.
That's my take on the Worst of Bluegrass. If you've got an opinion on this topic feel free to post a comment.
posted by Michael Floyd at 2:34 PM
1 Comments:
Record companies put it out and call it the "Best of" because they want to
pick up the casual listener who has also bought the Best of Jazz, Best of
Country, Best of Irish and so on.
It's a great way for them to pick up a few bucks. They either own or rent
the rights to those tunes and sell 'em for a handsome profit.
Charlie Parker only made a few albums but if you go buy something by him
today you'd think he never left the studio. It's just all repackaged with
a bonus live track recorded by some guy in the back row! All marketing
crap.
Always buy the originals and steer clear of the "Best of" crap.
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