Bill & Doc, photo by Peter Feldmann, 1963.<\/p><\/div>\n

Will bluegrass survive? In some form, sure. But it may come to resemble a stuffed doll. Traditional jazz is still played, in some areas, by preservationists, for example in New Orleans. Jazz began as dance music<\/em><\/strong>. Now it is like bluegrass, a showpiece intended for listening rather than dancing to. The question we need to think about is, is bluegrass relevant to our modern lifestyle? One interesting aspect is that the music jumped from being the music of rural, small town people, to that of youngsters in college (like me in the late 50s – early 60s). Bluegrass is not “folk music”.\u00a0 Instead it was intentionally crafted as a complex derivation of earlier music, intended to be performed by professional virtuosi. It managed to jump major cultural barriers. In the 1950s, it was part of mainstream country music.<\/p>\n

I tend to think of the music as starting like a mountain stream, cascading down from the hills, being joined along the way by other streams and tributaries, becoming a mighty river. Then, upon reaching the flatlands of a delta, spreads out, becomes slow and muddy, and breaks up into dozens of rivulets on reaching the sea. The original water (music) is still in there, but blended and diluted with lots of other sources. Can the life, the essence, of the music remain vital? I can only answer that for me, it remains one of the most beautiful and inspiring forms of music there is. I intend to keep performing it until I can’t any longer. The hopeful thing is that, as I try to share my awe of the music with younger generations, there are some that seem to “get it” and understand.<\/p>\n