Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making of the Old Southern Sound

Rating:
Summary: Dense but thought provoking
Review: Cantwell's volume represents everything I hate in a book about music. Pompous and pretentious pseudo-revelatory academic blather about folk music. Compare and contrast Cantwell's account with the genuinely readable and insightful history by Neil Rosenberg. As I recall there's a blurb on the cover comparing this work with Greil Marcus' brilliant Mystery Train....well, hardly, not even in the same league. Here's a rule of thumb for books on various genre's of music, as you read the volume do you seek out the recordings or performances discussed by the author? Nothing in Bluegrass Breakdown moved me to explore artists or styles. This is a book by one of those academics who is more intereted in showing the reader just how much he's learned about this quaint folk music. In a word...annoying.

Rating:
Summary: "Academic psycho-drivel"??
Review: I get the impression from several of the reviews I've read here that the posters frown on the academic study of bluegrass. This book certainly isn't for everyone. No book HAS to please an audience, nor does every book HAVE to be interesting from cover to cover. Cantwell does have a tendency to ramble at some points, but the information contained in this book is still worth the read.

Bluegrass Breakdown is a book for those interested in bluegrass from an ethnomusicological standpoint. Cantwell advances interesting theories regarding the African contribution to bluegrass to how bluegrass is identifiable through its use of the characteristic "high lonesome wail". Cantwell's goal here is clearly to explore cultural attributes and effects of bluegrass, and this is something I believe he does well. If you're looking for a book that's an easy to read, tail-wagging history of bluegrass, go for Cantwell's colleague Neil Rosenberg. Cantwell isn't your man.

Cantwell's writing is purely academic, again a style of writing that isn't for everyone. I don't believe Cantwell goes out of his way to discuss his bluegrass performance merits or intellect here. I found Cantwell's inquiries mostly unbiased and thorough, including those dealing with Bill Monroe. I don't believe Cantwell went out of his way to point out Monroe's 'hypocrisies' on any level, rather he constructed his writing to portray Monroe as a paradox, a 'mystery' man who's very hard to explain in the space of a few pages.

For all his interesting theories, Cantwell loses a star for stereotyping. His description of "Appalachian folk" at the Grand Ole Opry as "plain", "overweight" and "lacking in proper dental hygiene" (the book was published in '86) is annoying. This may be a part of Cantwell's research experience, however it's a cheap shot at a blanket statement about an entire culture of people. I thought good researchers were trained to avoid this kind of writing. Other than that, this book is something definitely worth the read ... particularly if you're up for the challenge.

Rating:
Summary: "Academic psycho-drivel"??
Review: I get the impression from several of the reviews I've read here that the posters frown on the academic study of bluegrass. This book certainly isn't for everyone. No book HAS to please an audience, nor does every book HAVE to be interesting from cover to cover. Cantwell does have a tendency to ramble at some points, but the information contained in this book is still worth the read.

Bluegrass Breakdown is a book for those interested in bluegrass from an ethnomusicological standpoint. Cantwell advances interesting theories regarding the African contribution to bluegrass to how bluegrass is identifiable through its use of the characteristic "high lonesome wail". Cantwell's goal here is clearly to explore cultural attributes and effects of bluegrass, and this is something I believe he does well. If you're looking for a book that's an easy to read, tail-wagging history of bluegrass, go for Cantwell's colleague Neil Rosenberg. Cantwell isn't your man.

Cantwell's writing is purely academic, again a style of writing that isn't for everyone. I don't believe Cantwell goes out of his way to discuss his bluegrass performance merits or intellect here. I found Cantwell's inquiries mostly unbiased and thorough, including those dealing with Bill Monroe. I don't believe Cantwell went out of his way to point out Monroe's 'hypocrisies' on any level, rather he constructed his writing to portray Monroe as a paradox, a 'mystery' man who's very hard to explain in the space of a few pages.

For all his interesting theories, Cantwell loses a star for stereotyping. His description of "Appalachian folk" at the Grand Ole Opry as "plain", "overweight" and "lacking in proper dental hygiene" (the book was published in '86) is annoying. This may be a part of Cantwell's research experience, however it's a cheap shot at a blanket statement about an entire culture of people. I thought good researchers were trained to avoid this kind of writing. Other than that, this book is something definitely worth the read ... particularly if you're up for the challenge.

Rating:
Summary: Critical Theory Comes to Bluegrass
Review: If you hate the dense, sometimes rambling, style of critical theorists, pass up on this. But, if you do enjoy bluegrass, as well as crit lit, this book is an enjoyable analysis of the style. Cantwell can write long, winding paragraphs, but he knows his subject. His analysis parses the style deep into its African roots, while at the same time giving the reader some thorough critical background into old-timey Southern rural music and African-American styles. The negatives from other reviewers are right on, but I happen to like Cantwell's style and have found this book to be an invaluable reference to bluegrass, and a source of inspiration on how to view, not to mention listen to what has been described as "folk music on overdrive."

Rating:
Summary: Critical Theory Comes to Bluegrass
Review: If you hate the dense, sometimes rambling, style of critical theorists, pass up on this. But, if you do enjoy bluegrass, as well as crit lit, this book is an enjoyable analysis of the style. Cantwell can write long, winding paragraphs, but he knows his subject. His analysis parses the style deep into its African roots, while at the same time giving the reader some thorough critical background into old-timey Southern rural music and African-American styles. The negatives from other reviewers are right on, but I happen to like Cantwell's style and have found this book to be an invaluable reference to bluegrass, and a source of inspiration on how to view, not to mention listen to what has been described as "folk music on overdrive."

Rating:
Summary: If you're already a fan ...
Review: If you're already a fan of the music, and you know the story (more or less), you might love this book. On the other hand, you might find it rambling, repetitive, and pretentious (more or less).

As for the endless comparisons with the idioms of jazz, I find nothing in common between Bill Monroe and Louis Armstrong except that they sang, made records, and took solo breaks on their instruments.

Rating:
Summary: It's that good
Review: Someday maybe someone will write The Greatest Bluegrass Book Ever. Until then, this is the one. OK, it's not perfect...there are twenty-odd sentences (scattered about like annoying but harmless litter) that date the book. Otherwise, the love for and insight into the music is timeless. I was surprised to find myself in a state of breathlessness after reading some of the passages. It's that good.

Rating:
Summary: No feel or love for the music
Review: There are some things you've got to know to love, and other things you've got to love to know. Bluegrass music is one of the latter. And my feeling is that, while the author clearly knows quite a lot ABOUT bluegrass music, he doesn't KNOW bluegrass music. He treats it (very skillfully) as a sociologist treats some group of people he's studying but internally feels disdain for.

I got this feeling the most clearly in Cantwell's discussion of two important areas: Bill Monroe and gospel music. About Monroe, Cantwell delights in pointing out his shortcomings and hypocracies. Everybody admits that he had both. But what doesn't come out in this book is Monroe's love for the music, for the people, and for the lifestyle that the music comes out of. Sure, what neither Monroe nor Earl Scruggs did was truly original; but the fact that they popularized it and shared it with millions of others (yes, making money along the way) doesn't make them evil people.

Even worse is Cantwell's treatment of gospel music. I came away with the distinct feeling that most bluegrass musicians use gospel music as a tool to dupe the suckers. While I admit that there may be some bluegrass musicians who so use it, it has been my experience that many (perhaps most) bluegrass musicians I play with feel gospel songs deeply; we sing and play gospel music to express how we really feel about God, and we want to share that with others.

In summary, this book is very learned, and the author clearly knows a lot and expresses it skillfully, but it leaves you feeling completely flat and uninterested about the music. If you're looking for a critical book that helps you know many facts about bluegrass music, this is it.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a book that helps you to really know bluegrass music and to love it better, I would suggest instead reading "Bluegrass: A History" by Neil V. Rosenberg. Rosenberg is a guy who not only knows his subject well (the book being apparently just as well researched and painstakingly footnoted as Cantwell's) but Rosenberg clearly has the kind of love for the music and the people that it seems Cantwell lacks. Rosenberg's book is the kind you treasure and re-read.