Book
Bidgood, Lee. 2017. Czech Bluegrass: Notes From The Heart Of Europe. University of Illinois Press.
192 pages, 6 x 9 in. Series: Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World
Listen: Interview with Lee on the New Books Network podcast
“Lee Bidgood is the first person to do a serious accounting of the forces, political and artistic, that have contributed to the popularity of this outlier music in this unlikely locale. By putting himself in the narrative, he gives us an up-close and personal sense of the various aspects of the bluegrass and old-time music wave that has swept across the Czech and Slovakian musical landscapes for years—and still counting.”
-Tony Trischka, from the foreword
Reviews:
Review by Philip Nusbaum, Journal of Folklore Research, 1/2018
Review by Irena Přibylová, Narodopisná Revue, 2/2018
Review by Tom Dickins, The Slavonic and East European Review, 7/2018
Review by Katy Leonard, Journal of American Folklore, Summer 2019
Selected Articles
Czech and English mix in worship on Sunday morning with the Církev Bratrska Prague 6 congregation - this article contrasts this kind of translation with that done by Czech bluegrassers in their "gospel" singing.
"Bluegrass' appeal ... is based in a sense of place that is to a significant degree constructed and/or imagined. In seeking to understand the connections between place and imagination, I provide an alternative to essentializing narratives of heritage and place-identity that have accrued to bluegrass in its relatively short history."