Over the course of the research I have done this quarter I have found out a lot of new information and a lot of new and interesting views on how to see the bluegrass culture and how bluegrass operates in its culture.  I just recently did a quick search on wikipedia for Bill Monroe and I found that, after I had learned of Arnold Schultz, that there was only a small blurb on the wikipedia entry saying that Schultz was an important influence on Bill Monroe, but that there was no further elaboration on Schultz and no more mention of him in the article.  So, I think that the racial influence in bluegrass might have some effect on why people prefer a traditional style versus a newer bluegrass style.  In addition to the racial issues, which I haven't looked much into, the reverence in which that people hold bluegrass here in San Diego also seems to have influence on people whether they feel bluegrass should stay traditional or incorporate other musical styles.  I think that there is also a certain feeling of ownership when people discover bluegrass for themselves, and some people feel that keeping it traditional is keeping bluegrass true to the way they feel it is authentic, often in the form they discover it.  Another one of the concerns of the people who are traditionalists, is that keeping the music of bluegrass traditional will help to keep the tradition alive, sometimes feeling that the more progressive style loses some of the old tradition, whether it is the oral tradition or other stylistic elements that define bluegrass.  In general the progressive bluegrass musicians, and this is a view I now hold myself, feel that it is within the style of bluegrass to continue to bring other influences into the music and to break away from the repetitive and somewhat restrictive format of traditional bluegrass music.  I personally feel that keeping the traditional bluegrass ways around is important, as everything that people play in bluegrass has a foundation in the traditional.  I remember hearing someone say at a festival once, that someone had to have played the standard licks first and made them standards, and we build off of those conventions in bluegrass.  Bluegrass is a living culture and to attempt to keep it 'pure' or exactly like it was back in the 1940s doesn't really hold to how cultures work or hold true to the spirit in which bluegrass was born.  I doubt that the views of traditionalists will change, but I'm glad to know that most of the progressive bluegrass musicians embrace the old while accepting the new, because I feel that if bluegrass is to survive that it will need to continue to grow and develop, just like any other culture.

So I conducted an interview this past Saturday, I had planned to do another today, but despite my attempts to contact my interlocuter I have gotten no response back.  However, the interview I did with Jason Weiss was very interesting and held a lot of useful information.  Since I still haven't been able to contact my other interlocuter I'm going to have to settle for this interview for now.  I can't figure out how to embed an audio player on blogger so if anyone is interested I've put it up on a website where you can download it if you are interested in hearing it.  While I'm disappointed I won't be able to get my second interview I had talked with him previously about some of the issues in bluegrass and found out some very interesting information, like that Bill Monroe played with a blues guitarist and fiddler by the name of Arnold Schultz who took Monroe with him to gigs and taught him the blues.  As for the interview I did on Saturday, one of the things that I found interesting that Jason told me about was his view of the differences between bluegrass culture here in  San Diego versus bluegrass culture in the South.  Jason said that he felt that here in San Diego that bluegrass was somewhat revered and considered to be special while in the South it was a much more common occurrence and that he felt, in some way, because of this, that here in San Diego bluegrass musicians might lean more towards a traditionalist perspective on bluegrass.   I'm not sure whether that is true or not, but I do know that in the bluegrass community here in San Diego the music is somewhat revered.  Jason also told me that Bill Monroe always called bluegrass 'his music', and he told me about a quote that Bill Monroe said when he was asked about the bluegrass culture and the following it had gathered, 'A man should make his own music.'. 

I've already got some audio and video to use for the upcoming presentation and, while, I don't think I'll use the interview in my presentation it definitely has given me a lot to use and look at.  Here is the link to the website where I've put my interview recording.

https://archive.org/details/STE013

So with the end of the quarter coming up quickly I've been putting a lot of thought on how I'm going to get talk to some of the people I want to interview.  I know some of the things I want to ask, such as their opinion on traditional playing vs fusions of styles or bringing in different influences from other music.  I really want to tread carefully in this territory because I know that people will often have strong opinions about the subject and I really hope i don't step on any toes with my questions.  I know I'll also have to ask about general background questions, such as what their musical influences are and how they came into the culture of bluegrass, but I feel like I might just be trying to put off the inevitable question of asking why they might feel one way or the other and seeing how musicians I've been playing with for the past few weeks actually see the culture, which might not be particularly friendly to people who don't see things the same way.  I think that after having grown up a lot in the tradition of bluegrass music and meeting a lot of friendly people, I seem to find myself hesitant to actually go and find out what might be a more unpleasant side of the tradition and culture. 

As I recall there was one such event that I read about several years ago between Bill Monroe, a mandolin player known as the 'Father' of Bluegrass, and a musician who asked if he, Monroe, would run a songwriting workshop.  As the story goes, Monroe was less than enthusiastic at the idea, refusing and the musician said that it seemed as those Monroe looked at the other musicians as competition and to teach others the tradition would be breeding his own competition.  I can understand that position, but for a music that often sells itself as being family friendly and generally welcoming on the surface, I think that perhaps the competitive nature that underlies the music, perhaps, has more sway than the average bluegrass musician might like to say.  So, I might be a bit afraid of what I might find, but I do find this strange disconnect to be something I definitely want to look into further.

I've been thinking about my topic and I'm starting to find that a lot of the higher level of musicians really seem to have a strong traditional leaning when it comes to what music a person plays.  I remember not paying much attention when I was younger, but when Chris Thile decided to move away from bluegrass and start playing other music as well, I distinctly remember someone saying that they felt betrayed.  Thinking about this now I'm not quite sure how someone could feel betrayed that another musician would want to play music other than bluegrass.  The idea seems almost absurd, because to feel betrayal at something like that they would need to believe that they possessed some kind of ownership over the music Thile played and once someone plays that music they can't be another kind of musician.

I've also begun to notice the different values people place on musicians in bluegrass.  I used to think that the skill and emotional expression of a musician would likely give them a high value among the culture, but I'm finding in bluegrass that the musicians that people talk about most are the ones who promote the traditional bluegrass sound.  As I've stated before some of my favorites are Sam Bush, Chris Thile and Ricky Skaggs, but I've hardly heard a mention of Sam Bush, well known for his rhythm mandolin playing, while I've heard much more mention of Ricky Skaggs, who plays a very traditional style.  Of course there are exceptions and I often find that the people who do hold nontraditional bluegrass musicians in high esteem, often reflect it in their playing.  The leader of the Encinitas jam session for example, Jason, often plays some very chromatic runs on the banjo and I know that he has a taste for newgrass and jazz.  At one jam session, however, when talking to a bass/banjo player, he said that he had once been a good banjo player himself, but now he had ended up playing bass for "this guy." and motioned at Jason.  The thinly veiled contempt in his voice was rather surprising, in my experiences I had never really heard people speak ill of each other in the bluegrass circles.

I'm starting to realize there are certain boundaries, the difference between playing at a jam circle and at a performance, or the difference between the beginner musicians and the veterans.  It seems like at a jam circle that the general consensus is that the way a musician should play should be a very traditional style and that in a performance setting you can take more liberties, but shouldn't stray too far from their roots.  I think that the different opinions from the musicians at different skill levels comes from a certain place of reverence from the less skilled, taking and learning from whoever they can, and often finding a singular figure they try to emulate more than others, while the older and more experienced musicians seem to give respect in a various amount of ways, from traditional style and skill, to the amount of work another musician receives and even, as I've found, merely time spent in the culture.  The last one I found was very strange, because I was at a jam and I had garnered a certain amount of respect from the veterans due to my playing style, but when another musician came up to me and recognized me from when I had played in a band six or seven years ago, right away i could see there was a shift in how I was treated, a bit more like an equal rather than a young hotshot with a decent amount of skill.

The jam last Thursday was packed.  It was a lively affair, led by a banjo player by the name of Jason.  i sat down and listened to a couple of tunes before pulling out my instrument and joining in and I was lucky it was one of my good nights.  For those of you reading that don't know how a bluegrass jam works, a group of musicians get together and play standard tunes that most of the musicians know.  Usually, the person that calls out the tune starts it off and then the melody is passed around the circle while everyone else plays chords behind them.  At the jams that have been organized usually a person leads the jam circle and calls the songs and at this particular jam, chooses who will play a solo. 

As I said, I was lucky it was one of my good nights, because if you don't take a break on a song or don't do well, the jam leader will start to pass you up in favor of people who can or will play on any and all tunes.  So, I was lucky enough to make a bit of a splash on my first try, which in this community garners some respect and as I continued to play well I got to talking with the bass player, a guy by the name of Conrad, who told me that he had played bass for Tanya Tucker a long while ago and he gave me his card, telling me to call him if I wanted to play or hear about the history of bluegrass in Southern California.  I'm hoping to interview Conrad soon and see what he has to say about the the history of bluegrass here and hopefully hear what his stance is on the traditional versus the new.

The jam ran from somewhere around 6:30 until well past 9, still going strong by the time I left.  Somewhere around 7:30ish we all took a break and I got invited to play a bit with some of the really good musicians, professionals in the San Diego area as I understood, so I took them up on their offer and played all through the break,  after which another mandolin player introduced himself and asked to exchange contact information so we could play some other time as well.  If I'm lucky I'll be able to interview him as well and perhaps see about getting a bluegrass gig with Conrad, as he said that they were always looking for a good mandolin player to play with them, but never could find one that was available.  I'll have to head back to the jam again this next Thursday and see if I can get some recordings and ask a few more questions.

I checked out an old jam that used to run on Saturday mornings and afternoons at the Vista Antique Steam and Gas Engine Museum, but I found that only three people were there and only one of which played bluegrass, he was teaching the other two.  I'm hoping that the jam I used to frequent on Thursday nights in Encinitas at Today's Pizza and Salad hasn't deteriorated like the one on this past Saturday. The jam starts at 6 and ends at 8, I'm hoping to make it there by 7 if anyone wants to come along and check out what a bluegrass jam is like just let me know.

Someone asked in class the other day what were my favorite bluegrass bands and invariably I gave the ones that featured my favorite mandolin players.  As requested I'll put up here my favorites again and one I forgot to mention.

At the top place is The Punch Brothers, a band featuring my all time favorite mandolin player Chris Thile.  Here is a link to one of the tunes they do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=braQeLkJUvE

I actually forgot to mention the band New Grass Revival, which features Sam Bush, the rhythm powerhouse of mandolin players.  This band has a lot of material from the different decades that it was active.  Here is one of the videos they did awhile back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW7wCeUjFcA

Another one of my favorite bands is Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Ricky Skaggs is probably the most traditional sounding of the mandolin players I listen to and he does a lot of standard bluegrass tunes.  Here is one of the standard tunes he does: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-gsqHGQEAY

Lastly is one of my favorite bands that isn't around anymore, compromised of Chris Thile, Sarah Watkins and Sean Watkins, Nickel Creek.  Here is one of the tunes I actually spent a long while learning the mandolin part to and one of my favorite songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2o0TYnHEUY

After a lot of thinking I finally decided to focus on studying the fusion of bluegrass and other musical styles.  More specifically I'd like to interview people and ask them about their choices when playing songs.  For example at the last jam I went to I noticed that two mandolin players had rather distinct styles.  One player played a very traditional bluegrass style of mandolin, very much in the style of bluegrass mandolin players out of the 1940s and 50s, while the other played a style that was often associated with some early jazz mandolin and cross picking style, the jazz style very much like that of Jethro Burns (Here is a clip of Jethro and Chet Atkins music starts at 1:48 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wGUPN9-cj0 )  and Jesse Mcreynolds who was known for using cross picking on the mandolin (Here is a brief clip from an instructional video he did on cross picking for those who don't know what it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiyF52PiDz4 ).  Both of the mandolin players at the jam were obviously respected, but I've always been curious why popular bands usually play a more progressive bluegrass style, borrowing from current and popular musics a lot more than the average bluegrass musician.  While it might be a a difference between performance and jam styles I would like to explore this further, I don't have any particular literature to look into, but I'd like to talk to the people in the bluegrass community and see how people feel about the incorporation of other musical styles and why they do or don't incorporate other musics into their playing style.