Bluegrass & Newgrass Music in Kentucky

Bluegrass music was born in Kentucky, and still rings as strong and true as it did when “Father of Bluegrass” Bill Monroe pioneered the sound in the 1930s and ’40s. 

An offshoot of early country music, bluegrass is descended from the traditional ballads brought to America by Irish, Scottish and English settlers, and traditional African American blues and jazz. The genres share many of the same instruments (such as the banjo, mandolin and fiddle), but bluegrass is epitomized by fast tempos, high-pitched tones, virtuosic plucking, soaring vocal harmonies and offbeat, sometimes improvised rhythms – a style dubbed the “high lonesome sound."