top Bluegrass Music ringtones
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Top Bluegrass artists
Bluegrass is a form of American roots music with its own roots in English, Irish and Scottish traditional music. Like jazz , bluegrass is played with each melody instrument switching off, playing improvised solos in turn while the others revert to backing. Bluegrass relies mostly on acoustic stringed instruments. The fiddle, banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin, and upright bass are sometimes joined by the resonator guitar. Bill Monroe is referred to as the "founding father" of bluegrass music; the bluegrass style was named for his band, the Blue Grass Boys, formed in 1939. His songs include, “Bluegrass Ramble,” and “Uncle Pen.” Also of great importance were the Foggy Mountain Boys with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Traditional bluegrass, as its name emphasizes, is carried by its traditional elements. Traditional bluegrass musicians are likely to play folk songs, songs with simple traditional chord progressions, and use only acoustic instruments. The other major subgenre is progressive bluegrass, roughly synonymous with "newgrass". Gordon Swift and the Continental Divide as well as the band Union Station can be heard playing in this style. Since the late 1990s, several mainstream country musicians have recorded bluegrass albums. Ricky Skaggs for example, began as a bluegrass musician and crossed over to mainstream country in the 1980s, then returned to bluegrass in 1996, and since then has recorded several albums and tours with his bluegrass band Kentucky Thunder. Around the same time, country music superstars Dolly Parton and Patty Loveless both released several bluegrass albums. Some may remember the all-too-famous Dueling banjos from the 1972 movie Deliverance. With thanks to the widely popular 2000 Coen Brothers' movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou and subsequent "Down from the Mountain" music tour, bluegrass music was enjoyed by a much wider audience.
