Lee Bidgood offers a fascinating study of the Czech bluegrass phenomenon, merging intimate immersion in the music with on-the-ground fieldwork informed by his life as a working musician. Drawing on his own personal and professional interactions, Bidgood charts how Czech bluegrass put down roots and looks at its performance as a uniquely Czech musical practice. He also reflects on Americanist musical projects and the ways Czech musicians use them to construct personal and social identities. Bidgood sees these acts of construction as a response to Czech Republic’s postsocialist environment but also to US cultural prominence within our global mediascape.

Czech Bluegrass by Lee Bidgood will be available October 2017.