The Birthplace of Bluegrass Music

Bluegrass music takes its name from Kentucky itself, the Bluegrass State. It was born in the 1940s when Bill Monroe, a mandolin player from Rosine, Kentucky, fused traditional Appalachian fiddle tunes, old-time gospel, and the blues into something new and unmistakably American. Monroe's band, the Blue Grass Boys, gave the genre its name. Fast, intricate, and built on acoustic instruments with no drums, bluegrass went on to influence country, rock, and folk music worldwide. Today the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky sits just miles from where Monroe grew up playing on his family's porch.