Continuing to clean my house, I found a book that I bought years ago, Banjo For Dummies by Bill Evans. I tried learning banjo probably 15 years ago, but never fully got the hang of it. I can play one or two tunes slowly, but I’m no Earl Scruggs!
It led me to thinking – Why isn’t there any “Bluegrass Music For Dummies” book? Now to be fair, Evans did put out a follow-up book called Bluegrass Banjo for Dummies. Moreover, there have been books entitled Fiddle For Dummies, Mandolin For Dummies, and Guitar Basics For Dummies. This doesn’t even include any similar books from the Idiot’s Guide or Everything Book series. But why not one dedicated to the music format itself?
What motivated me to think about this is that I also found a book in my collection called The Blues For Dummies. A quick Google search shows that there is also Rock For Dummies, Classical Music For Dummies, and Jazz For Dummies. But no Dummies book for bluegrass (or country music, for that matter).
I have a few of these Dummies books, some of which I would not recommend. The World War II for Dummies by Keith Dickson from 2001 implies that it was the United States’ fault that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. But the musical instrument-related books of the series tend to be quite useful. The music history and theory books are also worthwhile for anyone who is a “dummy” and wants to learn more.
Of course, a few co-workers of mine would say that there is no need for such a book, as only dummies would listen to bluegrass music anyway! However, the bluegrass format seems to roller-coaster in popularity every few years. Films like Bonnie and Clyde in the 1960s, Deliverance in the 70s, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? around 2000 helped push interest, and guitarist Billy Strings has made a lot of young music lovers take notice of bluegrass over the past few years.
I had talked about the need for an updated book on the history of bluegrass music in a previous blog (https://luegra.design.blog/2020/09/18/we-need-a-new-or-updated-bluegrass-history-book/ ), Unfortunately, searching both the Dummies and Idiot’s Guide websites have no way to contact the publishers for submitting an idea. It is something that I may pursue in the near future, since I do see a market for such a book. There is a lot of important history with the progression of popular music that relates to bluegrass music, and a Dummies book may help interested parties to “get” what we bluegrass fans already know.
For a laugh, I leave you with a photo that my good friend Gabby sent me.
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 