Women in Bluegrass: A Few Thoughts...
 By Jean Brandon,
ChesterThe Malvern Picking Weekend demonstrated once again that there are more women participants in Bluegrass now than ever before. This lead some of the female pickers to have a meeting to discuss the fact and highlight problems, if any, experienced in pursuing the music in what is regarded by many as an all-male activity. In years past any women seen involved in picking sessions always played double bass; wives came with their husbands merely in the role of facilitators cooking and ‘gofer-ing’ so that the men could enjoy their music. Some pickers present said that they had definitely had experience of a chauvinistic attitude as regards them taking part actively in the music. One male was heard describing one of the most competent female banjo pickers on the British Scene at the moment as “That girl who plays banjo a bit”! The traditional attitudes have encouraged this; for example, the men rehearse and the women cook and shop. Well, I’ve got news for you fellas - times they definitely are ‘a-changing’! Some felt that the women who were competent on their chosen instrument and involved with bands, etc., had to work harder than their male counterparts. A suggested reason was that they had to work their practise, etc., in with their traditional role of wife, mother and family organiser, sometimes ‘with less support than they would like’ from their partners. Conclusions drawn at the end of this informal meeting were:
One observation was that there are no all female bluegrass bands so, in a light hearted attempt to rectify this, two all-female scratch bands came together for the evening concert! Listed alphabetically, they were:
We all had great fun doing this and judging from audience’s reaction
they did too - and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all
about. |