Exploring the Styles of Bluegrass with Tony Trischka, Béla Fleck, and Sierra Hull

On a recent episode of our live-streamed series “Live Dispatch from Home,” ArtistWorks’ CEO and Co-founder Patricia Butler hosted iconic banjo players Tony Trischka and Béla Fleck, as well as multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Sierra Hull! The discussed the historical and evolving popular styles of bluegrass music that these three musicians have directly influenced.

The Beginnings of Bluegrass

Bluegrass derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, who were among the first musicians in the 1940’s to combine European folk music with traditional African-American blues and high-octane jazz. Featuring acoustic string instruments, rapid tempos that emphasize the off-beat, and blazing instrument virtuosity, bluegrass differs from other varieties of country and western music in its driving rhythms, as well as in the very prominent place given a three-finger banjo picking style, now call “Scruggs style.”

Earl Scruggs’ three-finger style of playing was radically different from the traditional way the five-string banjo had previously been played. When done skillfully, the style allowed any digit to play a melody, while the other two digits played arpeggios around the melody line. His playing can be heard on the immortal “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” which was used in the Academy Award winning film Bonnie and Clyde, and in the theme song for the long-running television show The Beverly Hillbillies.

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Enter “Newgrass”

In the 1970’s the New Grass Revival, featuring young, hip, long-haired musicians like mandolinist Sam Bush and banjo playing Fleck ushered in a more progressive and modern style of bluegrass that has kept the genre alive and thriving. “Newgrass,” as it is now commonly called, incorporated new sounds in three ways: songs might be pulled from other genres like rock or pop; arrangements often included jazzier progressions and chord voicings; and performances were more akin to current jam-bands in that they included extended improvisations.

The great Tony Trischka, another “newgrass” legend, also used the banjo and bluegrass as a launching pad to synthesize a wide variety of modern music’s most interesting sounds. His landmark Bluegrass Light, released on the Rounder label in 1974 fused folk with rock and avant-garde jazz, and many other milestone albums followed.

Both the New Grass Revival and Trischka’s Skyline made bluegrass accessible to audiences accustomed to rock festivals and jam-bands like the Grateful Dead, and their live outdoor shows were often just as celebratory and wild.

Patricia’s third guest — singer-songwriter and mandolinist Sierra Hull — represents a new generation of contemporary bluegrass superstars. In 2018 she was recognized as the International Bluegrass Music Awards Mandolin Player of Year, and in 2020 Hull appeared as one of the musicians on Cuttin’ Grass, the widely hailed bluegrass album by outlaw country superstar Sturgill Simpson.

Instrumentation and the “high, lonesome sound”

While bluegrass has changed through the years, the instrumentation has stayed pretty much the same. Most bands usually consist of fiddle, five-string banjo, guitar, mandolin and upright bass, but sometimes they are joined by the resonator guitar (or Dobro) and the harmonica. As in jazz, one or more instruments each takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment. Another distinguishing characteristic is vocal harmony featuring two, three or four parts, often with a dissonant or modal sound in the highest voice, a style described as the “high, lonesome sound.”

View the full live-streamed event here:

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