I’ve got an essay about Kitty Wells, Alison Krauss, and the death of bluegrass up at Culture 11. Here’s a taste:

Polish bluegrass up, recruit a female singer, and capture a bigger audience — if that sounds familiar, it should. It’s the formula by which bluegrass has been transformed from a mostly played-out festival circuit relic to a viable commercial force. Today, the most recognizable figure in bluegrass is Alison Krauss, and the primary audience for the music is not transplanted rural workers who long for rigorous spiritual truth, but NPR listeners, who long for vaguely spiritualized prettiness.

Somebody (perhaps an Alison Krauss fan?) has already given the article a one-star rating. Ah, fame….