The refrain of the book is the life

[samiaseo222]

The themes of the bluegrass repertoire are often of home, sung in its praise as a piece of sanctuary and familial warmth. Loss of the old homestead or regret for having left it in search of work or to seek fortunes are on the sadly emotional side of this theme. Love lost or unrequited, a universal theme, is never treated trivially or vulgarized.

Modern tunes often decry ecological destruction of the beloved land through strip-mining or development. Although many sentimental nineteenth century songs and old minstrel tunes have found their way in, bluegrass shows the influence of the subsconscious forces which brought the European romantic movement. Themes dealing with the purity of love, the idealizing of heroism and dreams of a more perfect world awaiting us make this evident. In concert advertisement and album covers we are brought

"into this romantic world by picturing the instruments phone number list alone...leaning against a rail fence or on a cabin porch, or on a fender of an old sedan, their necks crossed like the rifles of a bivouaced army. It is as if the instruments could make the music all by themselves, or as if the musicians transported to that other world, had decided not to return to this one." (p.224)

If there is such a thing as an analytical and intellectual accompaniment to this music, Mr. Cantwell's Bluegrass Breakdown is it. and career of Bill Monroe and is beautifully repeated and added onto from beginning to end. The treatment of the subject, although scholarly based, is also illuminated by poetically treated allegory and metaphor.