Czech Bluegrass

Lee Bidgood is an associate professor of bluegrass, old-time, and country music studies in the Department of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University.

• CoverTitleCopyrightContentsForeword by Tony TrischkaIntroduction1. Place, Meaning, Community, and In-Betweenness2. Czech Bluegrass Histories and Backgrounds3. Making Bluegrass at Home, Abroad, and In Between4. Learning and Playing Americanness on the Fiddle5. Singing Truth, Fidelity, and Play in Czech Bluegrass GospelA Tag: America/AmerikaNotes on LanguageNotesGlossary of Czech TermsReferencesRecommended MediaIndex

"Lee Bidgood is the first person to do a serious accounting of the forces, political and artistic, that have contributed to the popularity of this outlier music in this unlikely locale. By putting himself in the narrative, one gets an up close and personal sense of the various aspects of the bluegrass and old-time music wave that has swept across the Czech and Slovakian musical landscapes for years--and still counting." --Tony Trischka, from the foreword  "Many readers will appreciate both the high level of insight, and that the text makes its points using only 124 pages. Ethnographic works about contemporary music traditions are needed, and Czech Bluegrass: Notes from the Heart of Europe is a valuable tool, helping those interested in bluegrass music understand the rooting of the style in multiple cultures."--Journal of Folklore Research  "Bidgood's personalized analysis adds a significant, scholarly piece to the bigger picture of bluegrass as an international phenomenon."--Bookreporter