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#1
03-26-2023, 03:59 PM
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The Billy Strings Effect?
It occurred to me that we are witnessing a turning point in the history of acoustic music.
For years now, on this board and elsewhere, it has been lamented that younger generations just aren't interested in acoustic music anymore, that acoustic instrument sales were in trouble, what will happen to all these guitars when the boomers and gen-xers are gone, etc. It has been pretty well documented that the movie O Brother Where Art Thou lead to a renaissance of acoustic music in general, and bluegrass in particular, for people of my generation (the movie came out a couple years after I graduated college). Though for some such as myself, our interests had been piqued already by reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and Jerry Garcia's collaborations with Dawg and Old and in The Way. But now, Billy is out there playing bluegrass (more or less) and selling out arenas, drawing fans from across demographics and musical interests, which nobody has done before. At their peak, bands like Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon, Greensky Bluegrass, maybe throw Nickel Creek in there, have drawn pretty well, and occasionally sold out places like Redrocks on special occasions, but not arenas week after week, show after show. And those bands always seemed to have much more narrowly defined niche audiences. I suspect that Billy is going to bring a wave of younger folks along with him. I think this is a watershed. And, while I won't hold my breath that this is the death knell of Autotune, a fella can hope.
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"What have I learned but the proper use for several tools" -Gary Snyder Bourgeois DR-A / Bowerman "Working Man's" OM / Martin Custom D-18 (adi & flame) / Martin OM-21 / Northwood M70 MJ / 1970s Sigma DR-7 / Eastman E6D / Flatiron Signature A5 / Silverangel Econo A (Call me Dan) 
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#3
03-26-2023, 04:18 PM
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Gotta give credit to Molly Tuttle too. Didn't she just win a grammy?
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We've got some guitars.
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#4
03-26-2023, 04:37 PM
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Quote:
Infamous Stringdusters, Travelin McCoury's and Bela Fleck have also won grammy's in the bluegrass category, but they're not selling out arenas either, nor are they getting the crossover fans to nearly the same extent (I don't think).
__________________
"What have I learned but the proper use for several tools" -Gary Snyder Bourgeois DR-A / Bowerman "Working Man's" OM / Martin Custom D-18 (adi & flame) / Martin OM-21 / Northwood M70 MJ / 1970s Sigma DR-7 / Eastman E6D / Flatiron Signature A5 / Silverangel Econo A (Call me Dan)
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#5
03-26-2023, 04:48 PM
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Quote:
https://bluegrasstoday.com/billy-str...former-school/ He's a great story, wonderful musician and apparently has a big heart too. I saw him a few months back and would have liked it a lot more if it was 50% less volume! 
__________________
"One small heart, and a great big soul that's driving"
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#6
03-26-2023, 04:50 PM
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The Billy Strings Effect?
Let’s agree to disagree.
Yes Molly & Billy are very good but if guitars future is on them ( the others I’ve never heard of) then I think the future is bleak. I don’t believe bluegrass type music is favoured by musics majority
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Herman
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#7
03-26-2023, 05:09 PM
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Quote:
I think this is more about keeping it alive for future generations. 
__________________
"One small heart, and a great big soul that's driving"
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#8
03-26-2023, 05:13 PM
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I love bluegrass, from Bill to Billy and all points in between.
I also love jazz. And lots of other stuff too. But let’s consider bluegrass and jazz in particular. Neither are currently popular (eg mass market) genres. Jazz hasn’t been mass market popular since the 1940’s. Bluegrass I would say since early 1950’s, plus or minus. What’s missing, from the perspective of the mass market? Danceability. Neither are dance music. Jazz once was, but starting with the bebop wave the dancing stopped and it became music to be appreciated by musicians. Bluegrass actually never was dance music. Its mass market popular heyday coincided with the high water mark for WSM and the Grand Old Opry. But eventually more danceable versions of country music took the lead and bluegrass became an enthusiasts’ music. With lots of the enthusiasts being amateur musicians like myself and at least some of you. No telling where the future of music lies. But if a music isn’t a dance music, it’s very difficult to make it to mass market popularity. Just an observation.
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#9
03-26-2023, 05:16 PM
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Acoustic guitar sales were near death until MTV Unplugged created a resurgence.
Sales continued to grow and the industry is healthy today. The pandemic added to the boom. Population growth and free availability of online instruction will likely be continued drivers. Not one person.
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Chris 2022 Taylor 714ce, 2020 Martin D-28 Modern Deluxe, 2013 Martin D-16GT, 1980 Yamaha FG-335
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#10
03-26-2023, 06:13 PM
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Lets not forget Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, and Sturgill Simpson. Not always playing acoustic but they have the right stuff. Not to mention many other younger artist that carry the torch. It's not over by a long shot in my humble opinion...
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Jim Dogs Welcome......People Tolerated!
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#11
03-26-2023, 08:23 PM
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Good to see the trend. I was getting tired of Tom Dick and Harry Strums.
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1967 Aria Classical 1974 Guild D50 2009 Kenny Hill New World Player Classical 2009 Hoffman SJ 2011 Hoffman SJ 12 https://paulashley.weebly.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulAshley https://www.reverbnation.com/paulashley
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#12
03-26-2023, 08:31 PM
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Billy Strings has played my little mountain town for the past two years and has drawn huge crowds. Lots of old hippies, plenty of younger folks too.
Our campgrounds get overwhelmed, as does the BLM land. Lots of vans and tents. Doesn't hurt that Sarah Jarosz was there too. She's great! I don't go because I can't handle big crowds these days. But it's fun to see. And nice when they leave. That guy is the real deal, that's for sure.
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2002 Martin OM-18V 2012 Collings CJ Mh SS SB 2013 Taylor 516 Custom
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#13
03-26-2023, 09:04 PM
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Quote:
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"Here is a song about the feelings of an expensive, finely crafted, hand made instrument spending its life in the hands of a musical hack"
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#14
03-26-2023, 09:22 PM
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What about the Ed Sheeran effect and Taylor Swift effect. They’re packing ‘em in pretty good, huh? And bringing “a wave of younger folks” along with them.
__________________
Walker Clark Fork (Adi/Honduran Rosewood) Edmonds OM-28RS - Sunburst (Adi/Old Growth Honduran)
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#15
03-26-2023, 09:29 PM
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The Billy Strings Effect?
No mention of my personal favorite the String Cheese Incident, who BMFS happened to sit in on their 3rd night of Red Rocks last summer when Phil Lesh got Covid, doing a set of Dead along with material from both BS and Cheese catalogs.
Danceability was mentioned, but I know of no more danceable show than a Cheese show. “Trancegrass” is a term I’ve heard used to describe their current sound, which some are quick to shoot down for the “good old days” of them doing more bluegrass. As someone coming up on 25 years of seeing them every chance I get, I wholeheartedly love them more every time I see them. If Billy makes jamgrass more popular heck yea, but many great players have been making this scene a long time before BS.
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