What is bluegrass, anyway? Ask that at a festival campground, and you may start an argument. But nearly everyone agrees on where it began: backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in December 1945. That's when Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise and Cedric Rainwater blended blues, gospel and old-time string band music into a driving new sound.
This Scholars evening will follow bluegrass from that "Big Bang" to today's sold-out arenas. Along the way we will hear recordings and stories about Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers and other first-generation pioneers; the 1960s folk boom that brought Monroe to Newport and Flatt & Scruggs to Carnegie Hall; the long-haired Newgrass rebels and the Deadheads of the 1970s; the revival sparked by the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the rise of "stadium grass," led by Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle.
The story has deep local roots, too. Jeff will spotlight Bob and Danny Paisley, whose bands, the Southern Mountain Boys and the Southern Grass, brought Appalachian tradition to Wilmington and Landenberg. Their hard-driving sound became the standard for bluegrass in our region. He'll finish with where to hear bluegrass close to home, from monthly jams at the Bellefonte Café to the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival.
You don't need any musical background. Whether you've never heard a banjo roll or have been picking for years, you'll leave knowing how to listen more closely and where to find the music next.
Our speaker, Jeff Westerinen, has played bluegrass and old-time music in regional and semi-professional bands in New York, Virginia, Florida, South Carolina and Washington State, moving back to Maryland in 2014. He is a veteran of the Yankee Rebels, five-time New York State champions, and the Ohop Valley Boys, winners of the 2000 International Bluegrass Music (Pizza Hut) Championship. Today Jeff sings lead and harmony vocals and plays mandolin and fiddle in two regional bands, PhillyGrass and Blue Octane. He also plays guitar, bass and banjo. Jeff retired after a 33-year career as an executive in the computer and consumer electronics industry, most recently as a Partner and General Manager at Microsoft.
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This program is sponsored by The Scholars Gild, which is part of the Arden Club. Scholars Gild meets the third Tuesday of the month, September through June. We usually use a hybrid live-Zoom model. There are sometimes technical glitches, so your patience is appreciated.
There is no fee to attend Scholars Gild discussions. We encourage all to donate live or at http://ardenclub.org/donate/. Your support helps keep the virtual and in-person lights on at the Club, making possible dynamic programming like concerts, theater, dance, and, of course, our Scholars Gild evenings.
To get updates and Zoom links, sign up for email notifications at ScholarsGild@gmail.com. Follow “Arden Scholars’ Gild” on Facebook, and you can see recordings of past events by going to our YouTube Channel at “Arden Scholars Gild”.
