1940s: Music | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Bluegrass

Since its development in the mid-1940s, bluegrass music has become one of the most distinctive American musical forms, attracting an intense audience of supporters. A close cousin of country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), bluegrass music is an acoustic musical style that features banjo, mandolin, guitar, double bass, fiddle, and harmony singing. Bluegrass is largely the creation of mandolin player, singer, and songwriter Bill Monroe (1911–1996). Monroe formed a band called the Blue Grass Boys in 1938. The band hired an impressive banjo player named Earl Scruggs (1924–) in 1945. Scruggs' up-tempo banjo-playing combined well with Monroe's.....

1940s: Music article

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