It's hard to have a bluegrass genealogy if you can't come up with a general starting point. It's hard to talk about "bluegrass" if there is a general consensus of what it is. I think definitions don't have to be limiting. There are characteristics that can be attributed to 'bluegrass' music that are different than other kinds of music. That doesn't make it restrictive.

In my "bluegrass group" we do black gospel, we do ragtime, we do oldtime. We even write our own songs. We have one song, "Shady Grove" that we play in two keys at the same time (if you want to hear the MP3 of Shady Grove in two keys: BluegrassMessengers@aol.com). We have two and sometimes three (Scruggs style) banjo players- that's the definition of atonal music!

Dicho- you do some great research on the Mudcat. Remember, inside every box there's an infinitive amount of inner space.

Here's what I think we come up with so far:

Bluegrass as a music term can be applied from the 1945 Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys.

Bluegrass is acoustic music played by an ensemble or group at a fast and rhythmic tempo.

When did bluegrass start?

-Richie