Article by
Laurie Voss, Circulation Supervisor
Warsaw Community Public Library

There is something about music that can make a person relax or music that can fire you up and make you let it all go. What is your favorite music? I imagine that like most people, your music choice depends on the mood you are in at a given time.

I have so many styles I enjoy. On a hot summer day, it’s windows down and 80s rock blaring. On an introspective day, it’s songs that make me cry. In my office, it’s usually classic country like Conway Twitty, George Jones or any number of performers from the 1960’s to 1980’s. The country that is being made now days unfortunately all sound the same to me, and I can’t tell the artists apart.

But thanks to a cousin who plays in well-known bluegrass bands, my new love is bluegrass music. Thanks to Sirius Radio, I am never without my bluegrass fix.

The history of bluegrass goes back to the 1600’s with immigrants to America, but took hold in the 1900’s, with the invention of phonographs and radios. Traditional country music came with the likes of Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family and the Monroe Brothers from Kentucky. But it wasn’t until the Monroe Brothers split up in 1938, and Bill Monroe started his own band, the Blue Grass Boys, that bluegrass took off. His band relied on a mandolin, banjo, fiddle, guitar and bass for its unique sound.

In 1948, Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt, formerly with Bill Monroe, started their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys. They played together until 1969, when they also parted ways and went solo.

Bluegrass music has also been the background of many movies, including “Bonnie and Clyde”, “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Deliverance”. But it was the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou”, that attracted a large audience to bluegrass music.

We have recently begun to purchase more bluegrass music here at the Warsaw Community Public Library. In recent weeks, artists such as Ralph Stanley, Larry Sparks, The Roys, The Grascals, Rebecca Frazier and more have been added.

Do you have some music you would like us to add to the collections? Just stop in at the circulation desk and ask for a request slip. We will do our best to order what our patrons want.