Bluegrass: a Voicing

In 2010, Fred Bartenstein’s detailed the voice stackings found in bluegrass in his article “Bluegrass Voicings.” [1]This paper will go beyond this discussion of the arrangement of voices to an examination of the harmonic voicing styles found in bluegrass music. Stamps-Braxter’s 1937 arrangement of “Farther Along”[2] and transcriptions of recordings by bluegrass legends Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers, Reno & Smiley, the Osborne Brothers, Dolly Parton, and the Grascals will be used as a case study to look at multiple chord voicings. Based on the analyses of these transcriptions, a list of “voice leading conventions” for bluegrass compositions will be presented.

[1] Fred Bartenstein, “Bluegrass Vocals” Fred Bartenstein: Bartenstein & Bluegrass, 2010, http://fredbartenstein.com/bgvocals.html.

[2] “Farther along by Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys,” Second Hand Songs - A Cover Songs Database, accessed March 4, 2023, https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/365513/versions.