[Harp-L] Harp in bluegrass



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Message: 8
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2007 16:52:22 EDT
From: Captron100@xxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] Harp in bluegrass
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Evidently, Mike Stevens sometimes tours with Ralph Stanley, so apparently Ralph thinks harp can be a BG instrument.

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I think that's to Ralph's credit. And I also recall reading that one of Bill Monroe's early lineups included an accordion, speaking of free reed axes in bluegrass.
But other than Mike, who can certainly play this music on harp (at the cost of something like five hernia repair surgeries, if memory serves), and Charlie McCoy,. who else can deliver serious bluegrass on harmonica? Who else ever has?
Given the harmonica's role in country music and old-time string band music, I always thought it odd that the harp has had such a minor role in bluegrass.


But all this leads to the real question, which is: do you all think the harmonica is adaptable to any kind of music? Or are there some genres where the harp (let's say the diatonic for now) can't, or shouldn't try to go?

-Glenn Weiser





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