I agree with you MTed again to a point. If it wasn't conveyed before, I am the first one who will tell the Monroe purist that there is another way, but overall much of it does go back to Monroe himself.

Going back to the sources is fine if you want to compare this for that. Bill Monroe might have had his influences, but as far as bluegrass he is the source. In a way, the same can be said for Hank Williams and "modern" country music. Hank had his influences, for sure, but he is the source where modern country music began.

Analyzing and overanalyzing can get well, anal. Just how far does one keep going back for influences. Eventually it will all lead to the same place, someone banging on something to a rhythm.

As I have been active as a musician in bluegrass for years, have a broad musical collection of it from the oldgrass to the newgrass, I find most jazz about as listenable as fingernails on a chalkboard. Also, even with room for creativity, bluegrass is overall a very structured type of music, that overall has expectations. I'm not at all condemning bluegrass for this. Quite frankly, there is a certain comfort level in these expectations.

Going back to the sources is fine if you want to compare this for that. Bill Monroe might have had his influences