That Ain't Bluegrass!

Forty years ago, I became a fan of bluegrass music. The local country station had a bluegrass hour that I happened to come across one evening, and I was hooked! It wasn't the nasally sounding old timey bluegrass that got me. It was the progressive band the Seldom Scene, when the station played the Scene's version of "Rider." I don't know if it was the harmony, or the clean picking, or the strong bass, but whatever it was, I became a fan.

Note--they were a progressive group. They "pushed the envelope" with their repertoire, their stage presence, and their larger-than-life personalities. Fans of the genre point to the Scene as the pivotal group that caused bluegrass music to become known and loved on a large scale.

Yet, according to traditionalists, "that ain't bluegrass!" It didn't sound like it (although they had harmony and traditional instruments). They didn't sing the traditional songs (they did, but they incorporated folk, rock,and other types of music).

The Scene further stretched the definition of bluegrass when they used an electric bass (played by T. Michael Coleman) when acoustic bass player Tom Gray retired.

Now, after listening on WNCW's bluegrass program on Saturdays and having access to Pandora radio, my appreciation for other bluegrass groups has increased--and I have new favorites. But they are all bluegrass--right?

Are they? Define bluegrass. Is it the instruments? The style of singing? The songs played? I don't know how to describe it, but I know what it is when I hear it! And some of what I hear "ain't bluegrass"!

Of course, being that this is a churchy blog, you know the point of this post. What makes a church a church? Is there a particular style of gathering that is not? Is there one approved style of music, service, approach to the world, etc., or is there room for growth? There's nothing wrong with tradition per se. All things start off fresh and, if not careful, become stale and the only approved way of doing something.

Yet there has to be a line somewhere that someone has to draw that says this is that, and that is not it. Just something for each of us to chew on.