Pete Ward is a musician, theologian and author of a new book on the meaning of religion in bluegrass music to everyone who plays it, regardless of their faith or lack of one.
In the book, Pete analyses the lyrics of bluegrass standards from the 1940s and 50s and interviews musicians about their response to the sentiments of the gospel bluegrass songs they enjoy playing. We talk about the history of bluegrass, the origin myth that has excluded the important contribution of African American musicians, and how religious experience can emerge through playing these familiar songs.
We mention several greats of the bluegrass movement in this episode. I’m sorry that I can’t include their music for copyright reasons but on YouTube there are many examples of bluegrass songs, both religious and secular, by Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, Flatt and Scruggs, Alison Krauss and many more.
Pete mentions the book Segregating Sound. Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow by Karl Hagstrom Miller. It was published in 2010 by Duke University Press. He also refers to the American singer Rhiannon Giddens; her website is https://rhiannongiddens.com/.
Pete’s book is called Bluegrass and Religion and it’s published by Bloomsbury Academic. Pete plays in the House Band of the Platform Bar in Hexham Railway Station and in Hexham Bluegrass. You can find information about bluegrass music locally on the Facebook page Bluegrass in Hexham and at the website bluegrassinhexham.uk. Among the tutors at Hexham’s Core Music, Tom Kimber and Rupert Hughes are accomplished bluegrass players. The next Hexham Bluegrass and Americana Festival will take place from July 24th to the 26th, 2026.
