Country music and bluegrass music are often considered to be pretty similar. There is some overlap, but they are quite different. Modern country has evolved into something that can be almost as far removed from traditional bluegrass as bluegrass is from rock.

Traditional bluegrass has changed little since it was created by immigrants from the British Isles in the Appalachian Mountains. It is primarily an acoustic form of music, although there are bluegrass concerts and festivals where microphones are used to reinforce the sound. The instruments are diverse, but there are a few which are very commonly associated with bluegrass, including the banjo, the fiddle, the accordion, the guitar, and the steel guitar. While many of these are associated with country music as well, bluegrass players tend to have a more traditional approach.

Modern country music is a wide-ranging genre that, today, incorporates elements of bluegrass (as well as some of the instruments) as well as elements of rock, pop, blues, and western swing. As the more popular style of music, it has been impacted by many changes and cultures. Country music is also more thought of as an amplified form of music, rather like the “rock” to bluegrasses “folk.”

While there are numerous new songs being written for bluegrass, the focus remains on a number of standards, and the subjects tend to be more limited than those of country music. While country music also contains songs with similar subjects, country songs also cover more subjects, outside the traditional realm of bluegrass and mountain songs.

Country music is also a more commercial genre than bluegrass music and modern country songs tend to fit will into the typical pop structure of a verse and a chorus. Bluegrass songs can fit the same mould, but you will also find songs which contain a refrain, or single repeated line, rather than a much stricter format, as country music songwriting wise.The information doesn’t stop now. Keep looking: Ricky Skaggs – Country Hits Bluegrass Style