The Forum

It's rare in music history that scholars can point to the beginning of a particular style, but bluegrass would appear to be the exception to the rule. Mandolin player Bill Monroe from rural Kentucky had so much clout in the music business that some scholars have suggested that it was he who defined the sound which came to be known as bluegrass. He was certainly protective: Monroe is quoted as saying “the biggest job of bluegrass is to keep out what don’t belong in it.” Played initially in America's rural south, bluegrass was later adopted by the counter-cultural college kid scene in the 1950s and '60s. And today the music is flourishing all over the world in the most unlikely places. Rajan Datar is joined by Dan Boner, director of the Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies programme at East Tennessee State University, who'll be demonstrating how bluegrass works; writer and historian Tony Russell, whose many publications on music include Rural Rhythm: The Story of Old-Time Country Music in 78 Records;