Progressive bluegrass

Progressive bluegrass
Stylistic origins	Bluegrass, rock & roll
Cultural origins	1960s, 1970s and earlier, United States
Typical instruments	fiddle, banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin, Dobro, upright bass, electric guitars, drums, piano

Crooked Still performing live

Progressive bluegrass is one of two major subgenres of bluegrass music. It is also known as newgrass, a term attributed to New Grass Revival member Ebo Walker. Musicians and bands John Hartford, New Grass Revival, J.D. Crowe and the New South, The Dillards, Boone Creek, Country Gazette, and the Seldom Scene pioneered innovations in the genre. Some groups began using electric instruments and importing songs from other genres, particularly rock & roll. Progressive bluegrass became popular in the late 1960s and 1970s, but it can be traced back to the banjo and contrabass duets that Earl Scruggs played even in the earliest days of the Foggy Mountain Boys. The four key distinguishing elements of progressive bluegrass are (1) instrumentation, frequently including electric guitars, drums, piano, and more, (2) songs imported or styles imitated from other musical genres like jazz, rock and others, (3) non-traditional chord progressions, (4) lengthy "jam band"-style improvisation. However, not all these elements are always present in progressive bluegrass.

Progressive bluegrass continues to be performed by bands today. Innovative groups include Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Nickel Creek, The Accidentals, Yonder Mountain String Band, Free Grass Union, Candlewyck, Trampled By Turtles, Crooked Still, The String Cheese Incident, Punch Brothers, Railroad Earth, Grassland String Band, Leftover Salmon, and the Coal Porters in Europe. Many older newgrass musicians, along with music festivals such as NedFest, DelFest,Tall Pines Bluegrass and Telluride Bluegrass Festival, have been instrumental in cultivating the continued popularity of progressive bluegrass.

Gallery

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  Nickel Creek is one of the more recognizable bluegrass groups to be considered "progressive"

See also

• List of bluegrass music festivals
• Progressive country
• Traditional bluegrass
• Progressive rock
• Folk Music