Marcel you should have this available as a pdf/poster, it's fantastic!

Please sell posters of this! It's so well made! I think there would be a lot of buyers. I would buy one right away : )

Dude! I need that graphic as a poster in my life! Fantastic presentation brother!!

Would you mind releasing a full quality image of this presentation? You've done such a good job with the flow and there's so many paths to follow!

Beautiful presentation and amazing job. New fans of Bluegrass are so lucky to have you as a resource ! !

WOW!…that is an impressive presentation! As a teacher and educator on different subjects than music, I’m blown away at how well you organized and presented the information. As a guitar player who dabbles in Bluegrass, I realize I knew NOTHING about it! I started attending Bluegrass jams because they were available in the small town I lived in….but I was unaware of the true history or progression of the genre. This should be “required viewing” for all players! Thank you for putting it together.

What, you didn’t mention Ricky Skaggs? Please. Also, the influence and continuing popularity of Old Time (yes, it’s a genre) music on Bluegrass. Thanks for getting a good start on the history of bluegrass!

This is my favorite thing I’ve seen all year

Is there a printable file for this graphic? This would look good on a wall in a music studio.

Hey Marcel where can I get that as a poster!? Brilliant, thank you!

Incredible work Marcel! This would make a GREAT wall poster! Might be worth considering! I would love to have one to frame and hang in my music room! Thanks for putting that great presentation out! 🎼😎👍🏼

I know you didn't have room for everyone but how the heck could you leave out Alison Krauss? She's won more Grammies and sold more records and had more female imitators than all these other folks put together! I'd suggest that she created a subgenre you might call Acoustic Pop or something like that. From about 2000 until she started hanging out with Robert Plant, if you asked the average dude on the street "What's bluegrass?" he'd say Alison Krauss. Her influence is huge!

I liked this before watching it. I just know it's going to be good.

The names dropped in this discussion feel appropriate to me. My musical roots are in melodic death metal and such, but I've always kept tabs on what's going on in bluegrass and folk music on the side, and the two worlds have been colliding a lot in the last decade or so. There's a band called Wilderun that incorporates Jerry Douglas-esque dobro melodies and I've noticed Billy Strings using arpeggio techniques that are specific to the metal repertoire. Banjo has been featured on tracks like Redneck Vikings from Hell by Aether Realm and Stone Cold Metal by Ensiferum. It's a weird time to live in between these worlds.

Dude, as someone who's been learning banjo for a couple years but didn't grow up with bluegrass, this stuff is a godsend for keeping me in the loop with what other people talk about.

I mean, I'm not sure you can get a more succinct interpretation of bluegrass music in under 20 min. I'd be interested in a poster of the info graphic for sure. Very well done!

Great video! Impressed with how well you put it together. I think mentioning Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver was one of the most important points - for anyone new to bluegrass wanting to get into more, there's no better band to start with!

wow can't believe you didn't mention

what a fantastic, useful resource for those like myself wanting to dive deeper into Bluegrass! Liked and subscribed.

Hey Marcel, thanks for the history lesson. Nice to connect some dots. I recently went to a Wernick method jam camp, (super fun), and learned of Pete, and Hot Rize. (Red Knuckles is amazing too!). I am overwhelmed by the shear volume of talent, and great music past and present. I've always loved Allison Krause Union Station, and Doc Watson. The participation part is what has drawn me to bluegrass. The singing, and playing both are really fun. I'm ok if the "gatekeepers" turn their backs now and then. The youngsters are defining the future.

Great job! Looking forward to the graphic being poster-sized merch in your store.

I've always thought that an important step came when songs by writers outside bluegrass were adopted, and this comes over well in your presentation - a first class job!

As a long-time bluegrass head I have to say this video is amazing! Such a good job of highlighting the main sub-genres and influential artists. And you saved yourself at the end by finally mentioning Hot Rize. 😂 The key phrase in the entire video is at 5:44 - "Bluegrass musicians who were more open to change thrived." Back in the '90's I got into a LOT of arguments on the bluegrass-L listserve. So many "traditionalists" were hard-line in that anything that didn't sound like the original traditional Bill Monroe style music wasn't bluegrass. I wasn't having it. Music is not static, it's ever-changing and when people push boundaries that's when music gets interesting. Your phrase sums up that ethos perfectly and that's proved to be true in reality with the current popularity of the modern-era fusion bluegrass.

I honestly want this as a poster

Good stuff! It's great because there is a flavor out there for everybody, and you start to develop a taste for other flavors when you find hints of familiarity in the ones you haven't tried yet. Keep pickin'!

All these recommendations should be a Spotify playlist

As a bluegrass picker and a fan of the Secret Base channel, I commend you for your graphical representation of history.

Excellent graphics and content ! So glad you did this, you have a wonderful perspective and a very detailed knowledge based inventory that shows your love and respect for the whole genre. It is such a thrill to see my album collection scrolling across the screen and some discs I need to buy ! Hope all is well !! You seem a long way from the start of the channel on the wet coast. All the best, from Vancouver Ilsand !

It took me like an hour and a half to get through this video cause I kept having to pause and bookmark tracks and albums in my Spotify. This is 🔥

This video!!! Ahhhh!!! It filled my spirit, sooo many great things! I wish I’d discovered this music before I was in college… but better late than never. Can’t wait to get home tonight & play a lil more mando-mash! ❤😅

My introduction into the genre was with Dawg music through David Grisman and his son Sam. Dawg music changed my life.

Thanks for sharing! Impressive amount of work to put this together. The Seldom Scene-Live at the Cellar Door still ranks as most influential for me. I would also include Hot Rize somewhere on the list.

Born in 1949, I grew-up knowing Bluegrass first hand. Thanks for this concise history.

Gotta be one of my favorite videos on KZfaq. Great stuff brother 🫡

I once heard that Bill Monroe described "bluegrass" as "Contemporary music arraigned for these instruments." Now that's a traditional approach! And a shout out to Jens Kruger, best banjo player on the planet!

Just a fantastic video for someone like myself who's been immersing myself for a couple years now but haven't been able to make sense of all the different sub-genres or scenes and could is still working through all the essential albums. Thanks Marcel!

I’d totally buy a poster of this for my band room if you ever printed one…

Great presentation from the history to the graphics. Your knowledge of the genre as well as your comedic dry humor make this an award-winning presentation!

hard to digest it all in one sitting...great job bringing it together

A weeks worth of information in 18 minutes. Pretty awesome.

I've come to appreciate a wide variety of music over the decades including bluegrass, New Grass and onwards. The downside, if you can call it that, of liking all kinds of music is you only have two ears and 24 hours a day to enjoy it. You've created a 'railway journey' for me where I can get off at any station, i.e. bluegrass artist; stay a while, get to know these folks, get back on board, head off to the the next station and get to know them better. A bluegrass railway journey.

This is a gift, Marcel...I didn't know how much I didn't know about Bluegrass!

We’ll done Marcel!.. yes, should mention HotRize.. ;)

Great job! I'm a 66 year old banjo player and was lucky enough to see many of the early bluegrass bands from Bill on... In those days you could jam with them outside their trailers at the festivals.....

I was waiting for you to mention The Seldom Scene. Used to go and see them at the Birchmere in Alexandria, back in the 80s.

Thanks for all of the new tunes to check out!

This is amazing. Its hard to chase down those distinctions, and you did with clarity. Would love to see followups regarding breakdowns into those movements, and characteristics of bands today. Props for Cadillac Sky mention and for the toad reference from O Brother. Thoroughly enjoyed the content and the production quality!

music and charts- my two favourite things! I need so much more this content, I literally couldn't stop watching this video, thank you!

Interesting... I've known Flatt & Scruggs 'Rocky Mountain Breakdown' since I was a child (no idea how/why, LOL), but until 'O Brother where are thou', Bluegrass music wasn't really on my radar (here in the UK)... Since then, there has been a steady trickle of Bluegrass, Country & Americana (notably Gillian Welch & David Rawlings) & since I started learning guitar again, that trickle has increased... Obviously, artists like Molly Tuttle & OCMS didn't appear out of nowhere, but it's good to see a bit more of the history of the stuff in-between.

Poster would be pretty cool. Mighty Poplar is a bluegrass band will be another one to add, and Caitlin Canty’s new album seems to fit too.

Marcel, this is a fantastic resource! I'm more into trad Irish music, but I was still able to follow along, and mostly agree with you, every step of the way!

Great summary. I was going to mention Hot Rize, so lol'd when you did. I know you can't get everyone and every seminal album. I would however have thrown in Lester, Earl & Doc's Strictly Instrumental. I think that set the tone for the Tony's and Sam's of the world. But, I agree you can't get everyone and everything. Will definitely share this. You must have put hours into this.

Very good use of graphics in a presentation.

The subtle Pythagoras nod for Haney got a laugh from me. Nice touch.

i stopped the video and listened to everything man. thanks for this. its what ive been looking for.

Thank you so much for this tutorial on bluegrass music. I've been a bass player since the late sixties in Memphis but my experience has been playing rhythm and blues. Of course back in the day I was aware of Flatt & Scruggs and players like Clarence White. Marty Stuart and the superlatives have pulled me back into that kind of music and especially players like Billy strings. It's the most honest music out there that I can think of

Dude, that was incredibly well done.

Great job ,honorable mention to Norman Blake who blessed some of the early folk albums of Dylan,,Baez and more, His albums with the late exceptional Tony Rice (add Doc on a couple) along with his solo work really special and Manzanita from Tony and the Allstars, one thing missing ? A banjo if memory serves and a fantastic album ,I was originally drawn in by Tony Rice and never looked back, Wound up at Merlefest a tribute to Merle Watson about 10 years or better to see all of these amazing people still my favorite fest ,Doc incorporated blues early on and I love that style and nothing like Tony tossing in an occasional Wes Montgomery tune 🎶 🥃✌️

HAHAHA I was just thinking...."Where's Hot Rize??" you read my mind. Great presentation Marcel.

I heard trampled by turtles in a Starbucks 7 years ago, that led to me being obsessed with bluegrass present day. I’ll always love alternative grass for that reason

Thank you for this great presentation. Great information that puts all of these bands and styles in perspective. Keep up the good work!

My first impression of Bluegrass was a Jam grass Video Roll in my Sweet babys arms of 1991. Its so cool to see how this all begun.

lot of good work here! a brave and bold endeavor that will no doubt help a lot of folks understand the subjects better. really nice production aesthetics too - love the fox in the graphics!

Good video! Lots of research. --- A genre that may be worth mentioning, is what I consider to be the "Granddaddy" of "Bluegrass", "Old Time Fiddle", with special attention given to Michael Cleveland. --- "Old Time Fiddle" is probably closer to "Bluegrass", than some of the other sub-genres mentioned. --- A reason to mention "Old Time Fiddle", is that your audience may have opportunities to participate in "jam sessions", which still occur. --- Best of all, "Old Time Fiddle" can even be played without fiddles these days! Back in the early 1900's, only fiddles were used. Bill Monroe not only increased the tempo, Monroe brought the mandolin to the front as a lead instrument. Right on Monroe's heels, Earl Scruggs introduced the 5-string. Soon afterwards, Doc Watson and Clarence White turned the flattop from a rhythm to a lead instrument. So now, "Old Time Fiddle" tunes can be played by EVERYBODY, regardless of instrument. --- The most famous "Old Time Fiddle" band was the "Skillet Lickers", out of Atlanta, Georgia, who had a prime-time radio show in the mid-1930's. The Skillet Lickers can be traced back, to the most famous Fiddle Contest in history, the "Georgia Old Time Fiddle Championship", which ran from 1913 to 1935. In 1913 they called the music "old" time! Many of the early fiddlers were OUTRAGED, when they discovered, that Music could be written on paper!!!

Awesome. We love you in South Wales UK. :)

That was an excellent presentation Marcel.The history is rich with the bands and influential performer's that made Bluegrass the soundstage for the players of today.Thanks.!

Well done Marcel! This subject would make a great 1-2 hour documentary on Public Television, or perhaps a podcast series.

This is a great and truly professionally put-together overview of the BG world. My perception differs a bit in a couple places, though. I see more of a direct lineage down the left side of the chart to the latest hard-edged throwback-style retro-traditionalist bands (is there a name for this yet?) like Po' Ramblin Boys, Carolina Blue, or The Kody Norris Show (groups that owe a lot to the Johnson Mtn Boys, IMO). The other point is the influence of the Lonesome River Band on the overall sound of the Neo-Trad movement. Tim Austin's guitar drove a whole new rhythmic foundation that underlies countless bands' sounds and has dominated nearly every high-level IBMA/SPBGMA hotel room jam for the last 25 years.

well done Marcel! this will become a classic indispensable tool in the bluegrass cannon! thanks for the effort you put into this.

Bravo, sir. You did a wonderful job of what seemed an impossible job. Well laid out and explained for anyone to follow and understand. Thank you.

Absolutely outstanding video. I wouldn't want to think about how much work that must have taken. 😂 I love that almost-horizontal line of Neo-traditionalism, New Acoustic Music, and the second wave of Newgrass. Those are my big 3 personally. That also leaves me wondering where I would stick some of the material on Native American, Me & My Guitar, the Singer Songwriter Collection, etc. Tony described it as what happened when he combined the sound he heard in his head from Grisman's music with songs of incredible poetic value. It's tied to grass because of Tony, Jerry Douglas, some mando work on those songs, etc. but I don't even know how I would categorize Four Strong Winds. My favorite genre outside of bluegrass is folk like James Taylor and Gordon Lightfoot, so hearing Tony's spin on that genre is some of the best musical style I've ever heard.

Well done! Very challenging get a lengthy history in 20 minutes. No doubt many artists/bands hit the cutting room floor.

Pretty convoluted and intricate story... What a long, strange trip it's been! It's all just bluegrass to this old, worn out brain, don't really feel the urge to get lost in the weeds with all those labels. I just found out the Steeldrivers are gonna blow into my little town at a very small, intimate outdoor venue this August. I'm giddy as a schoolgirl!

This video is so good I'm referencing it in my Master's thesis in a section about progressive bluegrass and politics :)

Full appreciation for this deconstruction of the genre. Hate to be this guy - but fully ignoring Old & In the Way is a glaring omission. Sure they didn't innovate but their influence on an entire generation of players was significant. You did mention the band but I'd assert that O&ITW was at one time the largest selling Bluegrass band on the planet until Allison Krauss & Union Station outsold them.

Dude you are a star

Fantastic summary, @LessonsWithMarcel ! I suggest album guides like about CA bluegrass subgenre, which can be split into musical family trees based in L.A. and in S.F.

Loved it! I grew up listening to and loving almost all these sub-genres and never could have teased them all out. Thanks for laying it all out. Makes sense.

This video is like the Bill Wurtz “History of the world, I guess” but with actual detailed facts 😂

I appreciate this. I was with you up to around 2000 but then the gaps in my knowledge kicked in. I was aware of some but wasn't clear on where they fit in. I listen to Molly, Billy, Punch Bros, and just picked up the Kitchen Dwellers recent album but need to find Crooked Still and a few others you mentioned. Keep em coming.

awesome vid, Marcel! i just happened to go to a store with a small record section right after watching this... and found Markology for $3. listened to it last night, what a record!

Great video! Thanks for featuring us in Thailand 😍

Kody Norris and his group are a time machine to the real-deal stuff. And their fan base is growing like kudzu on a hot Georgia night.

Wow. That was an amazing bluegrass history lesson. I also think you should have posters available in your merch list. I can only imagine how much time that took to put together, you never fail to amaze your mother.😊

Marcel- love your humor!

Thanks for creating this video. I found it very interesting. Do I recall that Leon Russell teamed up with the New Grass Revival at some point?

before i was aware of bluegrass, "mountain music" is the term i would use to describe what i would later find out is bluegrass so thats interesting that the stanley brothers used that term

Very nice job. There will always be critics, but failing to mention JD Crowe and the New South is a huge over site. That band was a precursor to the Bluegrass Album Band series and launched the careers of Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, and Jerry Douglas.

Very well done ! Interesting history

Really solid video that lays it all out very thoroughly. The only minor critique I might have is that some of the subgenres mentioned are, in my opinion, distinctions without much of a difference. Progressive bluegrass and newgrass are pretty much synonymous. Sure, they have some minor differences, but not really enough to classify them as separate things. Same goes for traditional vs. neo-trad. But that’s just my one cent.

We need this as a pdf or poster available to buy!!

Very cool vid marcel! Definitely agree this should be required viewing for newbies, as a colorado native i was almost giddy when we got to jam grass, and to learn how those bands i grew up on (yonder mtn, string cheese, ect) fit into the progression of the genre. i was also happy to hear that the stanley bros called it "mountain music".... i've always said that about my own playing and it kinda feels legit now lol history is the best!! also the mix on "born lonesome" is really incredible, thanks for the recommended listening!

What a great presentation! Thank you for taking the time to do so! Awesome vid

I’ve been a fan of folk and Bluegrass adjacent music for awhile. I’ve only been seriously into picking and listening to bluegrass for a year or so. I’ve been wondering a lot about Bluegrass history, and this is a really helpful catalogue! I’m curious about your use of ‘Folk Punk’ to describe acts like OCMS. From what I understand, there’s been another genre called ‘Folk Punk’ that stems from classic punk and sounds very different from even the edgier acts like trampled by turtles. Though ironically, since it didn’t really find footing until the late 90’s through today, there has definitely been some convergence between bluegrass elements and the genre.

What a great video. Dunno how you do all this. The content is superb, the production is superb.

Great presentation and very educational of where we were, where we are and where we are going. Thanks. c2

This is a fantastic breakdown (no pun intended).

Great Job!!!! Sharing with everyone I know!!!

This needs to be on a poster... not just any old poster but a nice poster (think HalfHazardPress quality)! Also, wonderful video and April 1st is right around the corner if there's time for it.

Great breakdown! Amazing to see how the genre evolved over time. I have so much new music (to me) to listen to now!!!!