prototype-genre · krakauer2018-experimental-bluegrass

Joti Rockwell writes that bluegrass is not a “‘classical’ category” into which music fits by meeting a set of “necessary and sufficient conditions.” Conditions of a typical classical definition would be that bluegrass is music played by an acoustic ensemble with some combination of fiddle, mandolin, guitar, resophonic guitar, bass, and Scruggs-style banjo, with two-to four-part harmony singing, semi-improvisational instrumental solos, and a “boom chick” or “boom chick chick” rhythm. Rejecting such classical definitions, Rockwell argues that bluegrass music is continually negotiated with reference to prototypical performances ... “Is Bill Monroe's best-known recording of ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’ (1954) bluegrass or not? According to Bangs's one-size-fits-all definition, it's not (no banjo).” ... Rockwell's study helps to explain why the term bluegrass means different things in different times and places: there is no universal agreement on the prototypical bluegrass sound in the world of bluegrass.