{"id":3030,"date":"2018-02-26T23:10:08","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T05:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=3030"},"modified":"2018-02-26T23:10:08","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T05:10:08","slug":"bluegrass-a-generational-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2018\/02\/26\/bluegrass-a-generational-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Bluegrass: A generational experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

The concept of \u201cnurture versus nature\u201d is a scientific and ideological question that haunts every single academic field. Not even the immortal and ever changing world of music can escape. In her 2017 IBMA Keynote address bluegrass musician Rhiannon Giddens notes that the intersection between her biracial identity and love for bluegrass music are just an examples of why it is so important to \u201ccelebrate the greater diversity of the people who have shaped the music that is so much a part of [her] identity\u201d. 1<\/sup><\/a> There is a generational thread that exists within bluegrass music that is not simply resigned to Rhiannon Giddens\u2019 story. The Lomax family, a similarly generational act, documented families all across the American South during the late 1930\u2019s, some who are participating in the musical traditions associated with folk and bluegrass music. 2<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bog Trotters Band members seated with instruments, Galax, Va. Includes Doc Davis, with autoharp; Crockett Ward, with fiddle; Uncle Alex Dunford, with fiddle; Wade Ward, with banjo; Fields Ward, with guitar<\/p><\/div>\n

Music is so often attached to particular aspects of identity, it goes beyond family and represents tradition within an entire line of people. One aspect of the folk musical tradition is the way in which it can, and has, reinforced gender and age roles within a tradition. In many songs there may be particular parts mapped out for different vocal ranges, allowing for mother, father, and children to talk their place within the musical tradition. 3<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0A slightly more contemporary example that S.W. Mills uses in Bringing the family tradition in bluegrass music to the music classroom, <\/em>is Johnny Cash’s “Daddy Sang Bass”.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n