I didn't coin the word used in the title here. The word I used was:

Bluegrassholeaholics.

Perhaps harder to spell or pronounce, but that's what it was.

Old time country music, acoustic blues, and Bluegrass music mean so much to me that I rarely can find the words (amazing!!) to describe what I feel when listening.

Kendall (unlike soooo many) actually has defined one of the real distinguishing characteristics of this music. Like Jazz, the ensemble plays (or sings) the melody and then the soloists (often) improvise over the chord pattern. Always keep in mind though, that it was the fans (mainly players) who NAMED it "Bluegrass". ALL the first generation practitioners just called it "country" music.

While laying the floor in my music shed, I've been listening to tapes of Flatt and Scruggs, Stanleys, Reno and Smiley, Monroe, The Sauceman Brothers, Jim and Jesse, Red Allen, and the Osbornes. Amazing! The good stuff stays sooo fresh. By the way, "speed" is NOT a major component in Bluegrass...if you listen to a lot of it. Monroe tended to do many of his instrumentals lightening fast, but generally there are far more medium tempo songs in the whole repertoire than really fast ones.

Rick