Country-Folk/Bluegrass

Country-Folk and Bluegrass are two of the most essential, stripped-down versions of Traditional Country music. Country-Folk extends from the Appalachian murder ballad "Tom Dooley" (popularized by the Kingston Trio) to the spooky ramblings of Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding." Bluegrass is down-home in its traditional instrumentation and song craft. Armed with banjos, harmonicas, drop-tuned guitars, washboards, fiddles and bass or homebuilt bass instruments, Bluegrass bands showcase some of the fastest banjo picking around, and are often marked by nasal, "high lonesome" singing. Country-Folk and Bluegrass are seldom accompanied by drums.