Bluegrass music is defined by Dictionary.com as, “country music that is polyphonic in character and is played on unamplified stringed instruments, with emphasis especially on the solo banjo.” Immigrants who came to the United States of America in the 1600s from England, Scotland and Ireland were greatly influential in laying the foundations for the bluegrass sound. The folk tunes they brought with them from the old country inspired new songs that spoke to everyday life in the country.
However, it was the 1930s band “Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys” that popularized the bluegrass sound and, in turn, the term “bluegrass.” Their unique music was informed by the rhythms of gospel (black and white), black labourer work songs, country, and blues. Instruments used by the band included the mandolin, guitar, fiddle, banjo, and bass. Bill Monroe hailed from Kentucky, also known as the “Bluegrass State.” It received this moniker due to the prevalence of grass from the Poa genus found in central Kentucky, a grass which is bluish-green in colour.