Q 01/05

Who is known as the 'Father of Bluegrass'?

A) Earl Scruggs

B) Bill Monroe

C) Lester Flatt

D) Ralph Stanley

Answer · why

B) Bill Monroe

A 1960s Sing Out! profile by a young folklorist was the first to publicly call him that.

Q 02/05

The genre takes its name from Monroe's band, known as what?

A) The Blue Grass Boys

B) The Clinch Mountain Boys

C) The Foggy Mountain Boys

D) The Kentuckians

Answer · why

A) The Blue Grass Boys

The band formed in 1939; the word 'bluegrass' for the music itself only caught on in the late 1950s.

Q 03/05

Which instrument did Monroe play?

A) Guitar

B) Banjo

C) Fiddle

D) Mandolin

Answer · why

D) Mandolin

As the youngest brother he got the least desirable instrument, and was made to remove four of its eight strings so he would not play too loudly.

Q 04/05

Earl Scruggs popularised a three-finger picking style on which instrument?

A) Mandolin

B) Upright bass

C) Dobro

D) Banjo

Answer · why

D) Banjo

The 'Scruggs style' lifted the instrument from background rhythm to featured solos and caused a sensation at the Opry.

Q 05/05

In which region of the United States did bluegrass develop in the 1940s?

A) The Mississippi Delta

B) Appalachia

C) The Great Plains

D) The Pacific Northwest

Answer · why

B) Appalachia

Scottish and Irish settlers brought the jigs, reels and ballads; Black musicians brought the instrument Scruggs later revolutionised.