These 40 songs encapsulate the roots of bluegrass music. Taken together, they tell us about the musical traditions that bluegrass drew upon at its inception, and the traditions that sustain it to this day. Sixty years ago, bluegrass music was born. All the elements that made up bluegrass music have been around for decades, if not centuries, but it wasn t until the mid-1940s that they coalesced into the music first heard in the southeastern United States. Named for the bluegrass state of Kentucky, bluegrass music was rooted in Appalachian songs, themselves descended from the music that had crossed the Atlantic in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. On this 40 song Essentials collection, we hear the traditional side of bluegrass played by many legends such as Mac Wiseman, Reno & Smiley, Don Reno, Red Smiley, Hylo Brown, Bill Harrell, Earl Taylor, Mac Martin and more culled from the treasure trove of recorded masters produced over the past 50 years by Rural Rhythm Records. Some say that the overwhelming success of the O Brother Where Are You? soundtrack album led to the most recent Bluegrass resurgence, but that s simply not so. Bluegrass had been growing in popularity for many years as America went in search of its roots. Generations unborn at the time bluegrass originated in the 1940s have discovered that no music is more satisfying to hear or to play. It is, in many respects, all American music rolled into one. This very specially priced Essentials Collection combines 40 Bluegrass Classics performed by many Bluegrass Legends...40 Vintage Classics performed during the Golden Age Of Bluegrass !