The Little Grasscals

The Little Grasscals: Bluegrass

by C. Michael Bailey
October 10, 2003

Bluegrass is an indigenous American music that has its roots in the Irish Celtic tradition of the 18th Century. After colliding with country & western and blues music, bluegrass emerged as America’s “folk" music. As such, this remains an oversimplification, as the music is as much an amalgam as the American population itself.

Bluegrass enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1970s with the release of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s three-LP set, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, followed ...