Have to side with Rick on this one — there were others doing something approaching bluegrass to the untutored ear, but Bill definitely set the "high lonesome" vocal style and Scruggs set the banjo standard. The other thing that Bill put into what became bluegrass was the jazz chords he had been hearing down along the Mississippi. That juxtaposition is a big part of what makes bluegrass sound so different from other stringband music.

david