Friday Videos: History of Bluegrass 101
These youtubes are all from the 1994 Rachel Liebling documentary High Lonesome. It’s well worth watching in its entirety. These clips are kind of long, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy them.
The narrator by the way is Mac Wiseman, “the voice with a heart”. That’s also Mac singing “I Wonder How the Old Folks Are At Home”. Also featured are Ralph Stanley, Flatt and Scruggs, Jim and Jesse, the Osborne Brothers and so many other legends.
part 1
Part 2
Part 3, with Carter Stanley footage
2 Responses to “Friday Videos: History of Bluegrass 101”
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March 2nd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Hey, if you are still checking this post, I would love to comment. What band do you play with? I went through my midlife crisis a few years ago, went to a music store, bought a mandolin and signed up for lessons. I played the flute in school but I had no idea what I was in for with this instrument. I took lessons for two years and attended (still do at times) local Bluegrass club jams. My father is into Bluegrass and plays several different instruments so I had some exposure to the music but until I started to play it I had no real appreciation.
I had a mandolin custom made (F style) by a young man named Kyle Alt, he studied under Jim Triggs. This kid is quite good (he did some work for Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) and is still in his early twenties. Cheers to Kyle!
I continue to struggle on the crazy instrument with those funky old fiddle tunes, maybe someday I’ll get that up/down thing straight.
If you come to Kansas City or surrounding area, let us know.
March 2nd, 2007 at 8:49 pm
hey Kinmo,
I check any thread that a comment appears on (i get a notification in my email).
Right now I’m only playing casually with others for fun. I’m a bass player (electric and upright) originally, and took up bluegrass rhythm guitar in the late 1990s. Interstingly, I bought a mandolin about three years ago, but only recently figured out how to play it. the trick, for me, was learning the g-major scale, and then applying that to the melodies. Once i figured that part out, the mandolin was actually pretty easy to learn the basics on. And with my bass player background, it was tricky to forget the “up down” thing.
Once I concentrated on the actual pattern of the scale instead of the order of the strings, it got a LOT easier.
That said, my chords on mandolin totally suck. OTOH, I can figure out most fiddle tunes, or at least really basic versions of them.
keep workign at it: as I’msure you know, playign music is incredibly satisfying, a gift to yourself!