Bluegrass: An Informal Guide [Paperback]

Richard D. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995

Created by the legendary Bill Monroe of Kentucky and made famous by his Blue Grass Boys, bluegrass music has been sweeping musicians and audiences off their feet sinde 1939. This guide provides engaging trivia, insider anecdotes, and suggestions for listening that will appeal to bluegrass newcomers and veterans alike. 30 photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Although there has been plenty written about bluegrass over the years, Smith's guide so well mixes the wacky humor and the intelligence characteristic of the bluegrass scene with solid recording recommendations and a manageable number of resource listings that it should be reckoned the primer of choice on its subject. Smith centers each chapter on a particularly important band (e.g., Flatt and Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, etc.) or a regional or topical subject (e.g., "Across the Mason-Dixon Line" about bluegrass up north and "Three Ways to Tomorrow" about "newgrass" and other late variations in the music), and he complements most of them with a sidebar on some bluegrass-related phenomenon (e.g., the importance of live radio in the music's history). Best of all, he explains in nonmusician-accessible language how and why the music sounds the way it does; once you've read and absorbed Smith on bluegrass, you'll know what it is and what it is not--and every bone-deep bluegrass fan will thank you for it. Ray Olson

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press; First Edition edition (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556522401
• ISBN-13: 978-1556522406
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Beginners looking for suggestions on CD purchases, July 11, 2000

By 

tim (Moorhead, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bluegrass: An Informal Guide (Paperback)

With 500 CD and video suggestions this book is a must have if you're looking for some guidance on CD and video purchases. Stop and think...how much have you spent for CD's that you don't like. If I lost my copy, I'd pay twice the price to get another.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good place for a beginner to start., February 13, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bluegrass: An Informal Guide (Paperback)

Smith gives a lot of basic information that a bluegrass newcomer might want to know -- the essential names, the basics of each instrument, what to expect at a festival, etc. The author's style gets a little cutesy at times, but he does warn you that this is an "informal guide."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb introduction for new and old fans of Bluegrass music., November 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bluegrass: An Informal Guide (Paperback)

Not everyone who has heard Bluegrass music, and was attracted by the driving fiddle playing and banjo picking is aware of the history of the genre. There are several more scholarly studies of this subject, aimed at more knowledgeable listeners, but, for someone who is just getting interested in the form, this may be the best book-length introduction available today. With emphasis on the musicians who developed the form, but with up-to-date coverage of the directions Bluegrass music has taken in the fifty years of its life and where it may head off to in the future, Smith, in his approachable style offers a succinct introduction to one of the most enjoyable forms of country music.