revival · rosenberg1967-sound-to-style

During these years the music's popularity and economic success were at an ebb. In the late 1950's the folksong revival discovered and accepted Bluegrass as folk music, for three reasons: it did not use the electric instruments then identified with the mass culture "pap" of rock 'n' roll and popular Country-Western music; Bluegrass recordings included a large number of traditional or tradition-based songs; and its instrumental styles, especially that of Earl Scruggs on the five-string banjo, were seen as exciting innovations based on folk styles which appealed to the revivalists. From 1959 on, many bands played at folk festivals, colleges, and coffee houses to a new and enthusiastic audience.