Bluegrass in France as seen by a Festival Promoter !

A rich legacy.

France has an incredible Bluegrass history thanks to some genuine pioneers - talented musicians who grew up in the 60s and found space to create and express their music, and who are still the benchmark today.

With no Internet or social media, they managed to understand the social, cultural and musical roots of Bluegrass and to reach levels of excellence rarely equalled in France. They were never out of place on festival stages in the USA or in France, and the concerts and events that took place in the 1970s are part of our Bluegrass folklore.

The three Toulouse Bluegrass Festivals (1982 - 84) marked the apotheosis of this period as they brought together on the same stage major artists from the USA, France and Europe. For many young people, who did not know the first generation, the bands seen at Toulouse became the reference for what Bluegrass should be.

After Toulouse, and still without the Internet, French Bluegrass was kept alive by the rise of free local Radio stations with specialist programmes and local venues that promoted Bluegrass bands. During this period, new initiatives sprung up that were to become the mainstays of French Bluegrass into the 2000s :

• Le Cri du Coyote - originally a one-page newsletter and now a leading fanzine on American roots music;
• The FBMA, launched by first generation musicians who wanted to make sure their music could grow sustainably (France was one of the first countries outside the USA to have its own association);
• National Bluegrass meetings at the Grange Rouge, in Brittany or at Neuvy sur Barangeon. These were originally private initiatives before becoming institutionalised at Vichy by FBMA, and relayed through local meets and jam sessions in the regions.

Strong support.

So French Bluegrass has a legitimate back story and a solid foundation on which to build with national and regional associations, top quality workshops, regular jam sessions around the country and the biggest Bluegrass festival in Europe.

Outside of the UK, culturally closer to the USA and with a longer history of musical exchange, France is the only country in Europe with an association that is active nationwide, that continues to thrive through leadership changes at the top and whose members are willing to keep it going.

France has several excellent musicians of all ages, some with first-hand experience of the American Bluegrass scene. They play in bands, teach classes, attend weekend meetings and contribute to professional music magazines.

With the worldwide popularity of roots and acoustic music, we are also seeing more and more young people in France starting to play acoustic music and form bands.

La Grange Rouge.

AJ Lee & Blue Summit. AJ, Sully Tuttle et Jesse Fichman ont 22 ans. Mais, élevé dans le région de San Francisco où le Bluegrass traditionnel est prisé, ils n'hésitent pas à reprendre des vieux standards.

Christopher Howard-Williams avec Bill Monroe à Dore L'Eglise en 1992.

Risks for the future

While for some of the Toulouse generation Bluegrass started with Seldom Scene and New Grass Revival, it was not difficult to go back a generation to find Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs or the Stanley Brothers (Bill Monroe even played in France at Dore l’Église in 1992).

These early bands are still very much news today across the Atlantic where Junior Sisk, Danny Paisley or Po’ Ramblin’ Boys play traditional Bluegrass with great success. It is also worth noting that more “innovative” artists continue to pay hommage: Peter Rowan recently released “Carter Stanley’s Eyes”; Jerry Douglas created the Earls of Leicester; Tony Trischka still insists that Earl Scruggs is the heart of all banjo playing; Noam Pikelny released “Noam Pikelny plays Kenny Baker plays Bill Monroe”; and the Punch Brothers regularly cover old Bluegrass classics.

However, this traditional music seems remote for the new generation in France with no Bluegrass background and raised mostly on YouTube. Their references are broad, diverse and rooted in todays music, a long way from classic Bluegrass. A band with an acoustic guitar and a banjo can tag itself #Bluegrass!

We have seen young bands like AJ Lee, Della Mae, Frank Solivan and Mile Twelve acknowledge their legacy by playing covers of the old songs. If we want to avoid Bluegrass in France getting lost in an acoustic music melting pot disconnected from its roots, we need to find a way to educate newbies without appearing elitist.

In all of our national and regional meetings, French Bluegrass musicians are always ready to help newbies learn more about their instrument, the music and its history, simply and unpretentiously through ad hoc or formal teaching sessions.

They may not all be interested to go this route and it doesn’t matter. We do not want to shut them out from the Bluegrass scene, but we do need to be ready to say what is and what is not #Bluegrass.

If you want to find out more, a good starting point would be to join FBMA to stay up to date with events in France and to find friendly and willing neighbours to play with.

The way forward.

To conclude this piece, here are 4 factors that I identify as being important to qualify a band as #Bluegrass. I do not include such fundamentals as the instruments played, musicianship or Bluegrass harmony singing, all of which count.

I refer to France although all countries, including native English speakers, have specific issues with some or all of them depending on their musical and linguistic background!

1. Rhythm: play on the off beat.
Our musical culture in France and Europe stresses the beat (the 1 and the 3) whereas a lot of American music, including Bluegrass, puts the accent on the off beat (the 2 and the 4).

This is what makes the song “swing” and what gives the singer and the soloist space to breathe and express themselves.

It doesn’t come naturally but it is essential if you want to sound #Bluegrass.

2. Singing: give meaning to the words.
The English language has a natural in-built musicality. You can lengthen and shorten words to fit, and even give two sounds to one syllable (time = taïm).
In Bluegrass it is often recommended to slide into a note when singing.
In French, every syllable has the same time value and we are taught to come straight in on the note.

Songwriters have given us some jewels, gorgeous little stories in 3 or 4 verses. If you are not comfortable with the language, you can sing the words by heart, phonetically but you will lose their meaning and all the emotion. Who among us thinks about the story when singing “Will the Circle be Unbroken”?

Even native English speakers can have problems singing authentic #Bluegrass!

3. Culture: gain legitimacy through the context.
Bluegrass now has a history and a culture of nearly 100 years.
Knowing about the “Monroe Style”, or playing a “Scruggs Roll” or a “Fiddle Kick Off” right, are part of the Bluegrass basics.

It’s ok to lean towards jazz, pop, folk or rock with a Bluegrass band formation, but if you can’t play the music of Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs or the Stanley Brothers, it will just be jazz, pop, folk or rock, and it will not be #Bluegrass.

4. Community: play as a “group”.
Bluegrass comes alive through interaction with everyone bringing their own contribution to serve their bandmates and the song - on stage, in rehearsal and in jams.

A band is a collective, stronger than the sum of its individual parts. If you don’t pay attention to the lyrics, there is a danger the song will take second place to individual exploits. Of course, everyone needs to know their part, but think of each solo as a short story that only has meaning when it contributes the full story of the song.

That’s #Bluegrass!