bluegrass

US country music of the Appalachian Mountain states, featuring high harmony singing and virtuoso banjo or mandolin playing. Singer and mandolin player Bill Monroe (1911-1996) was the founder of the genre with his band the Blue Grass Boys (formed in 1938), which in 1945-48 included guitarist Lester Flatt (1914-1979) and banjo player Earl Scruggs (1924- ).

Folk songs of European origin and old-time string-band traditions fed into bluegrass. The singing style is called ‘high lonesome’. Scruggs contributed the three-finger five-string banjo technique which became standard. The Dobro (an acoustic guitar with a metal resonator) became another typical bluegrass instrument from 1955. Among other bluegrass musicians are guitarist and singer Jimmy Martin (1927- ) and the Dillards duo (formed 1958).