Bluegrass vs. Folk

[EaglesFanatic]

I've been pondering this all day (don't ask why lol), and it's driving me insane! Can anyone tell me what the difference is between bluegrass music and folk music (if there even is a difference)?

[WalshFan88]

I'm not sure I can really describe it in detail to be honest EF!

But I do know that I dislike pretty much all bluegrass. I do however like some folk music. To me bluegrass incorporates Mandolin, Banjo, etc where as my favorite folk music is mainly 6-string and 12-string acoustic guitars with the occasional violin or something.

[TimothyBFan]

It's funny that you have brought up this subject. A couple friends & I were having a discussion on Saturday about Bluegrass vs. country music. We are all very big rock fans and really dislike country with a passion yet we all agreed that we enjoy bluegrass music a bit. One of the guys brought up the point that bluegrass seems genuine where today's country seems to be done, a lot of the time, by people with fake accents and pretending to be cowboys. (Sorry if that offends any country fans out there).

And to be honest, I think folk is a whole different genre all together from country or bluegrass. But yet I can't actually tell you exactly what any of them are for certain.

That didn't help you at all, did it?

[Prettymaid]

Too bad MikeA isn't around. He'd love this thread, I'll bet, and he'd probably be able to help us out!

In my narrow understanding, bluegrass is what Austin described, with banjos and mandolins and such. Folk music is Gordon Lightfoot and Cat Stevens to name a couple of examples. Folk music was Peter Paul and Mary back in the day. And just like any other music genre, some folk I love and some folk not so much.

[Brooke]

I would agree with Pm's description. Ricky Skaggs is an example of bluegrass music.

I like some folk music, but not much bluegrass.

[EaglesFanatic]

One of the guys brought up the point that bluegrass seems genuine where today's country seems to be done, a lot of the time, by people with fake accents and pretending to be cowboys. (Sorry if that offends any country fans out there).

I very much agree with him on this. I'm not a Country fan, but I love Southern Rock.

I don't know, but I guess I'd say that Bluegrass is a faster-paced kind of music. But whenever I hear the word "folk" I think of the movie A Mighty Wind

Thanks for the replies!

[Glennhoney]

It's funny that you have brought up this subject. A couple friends & I were having a discussion on Saturday about Bluegrass vs. country music. We are all very big rock fans and really dislike country with a passion yet we all agreed that we enjoy bluegrass music a bit. One of the guys brought up the point that bluegrass seems genuine where today's country seems to be done, a lot of the time, by people with fake accents and pretending to be cowboys. (Sorry if that offends any country fans out there).

And to be honest, I think folk is a whole different genre all together from country or bluegrass. But yet I can't actually tell you exactly what any of them are for certain.

That didn't help you at all, did it?

..to me...today's Bluegrass is yesterday's country...does that make sense?...it sounds like what country used to sound like...not like this "pop country" we have now, which I despise..lol

[Outlawman13]

To be very honest, I love folk music and old country. The country now a days isn't good at all (except for Keith Urban and Dierks Bentley) LOL when I listen to new country I say uhhhgggg. Hurts my ears. Bluegrass isn't really my thing. Most of the time, I just listen to rock-a-billy (Southern Rock). LOL.