Bluegrass Terms - Abbreviations and Acronyms
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An explanation of why this file was created appears at the end of the file.
Originally created for the Bitnet/Internet BGRASS-L Bluegrass Music Discussion List
by Doug Henkle - henkle@pobox.com
Acronyms and other general terms
A&R - Artists and Repertoire (a term in the recording business
for people who match material with performers. So much
these days is done by the producers and artists that I'm
not sure the old-fashioned A&R Man is around much any more,
at least not in the same capacity. Could be, though.)
ACL - Austin City Limits (a PBS TV program, based in Austin, TX
featuring concerts by various performers of Bluegrass, Folk,
C&W, Jazz and other types of music, but not hard rock)
AFIM - Association For Independent Music (May 1998, new name for NAIRD) - AFIM will dissolve effective 4-15-2004
AFM - American Federation of Musicians
AFTRA - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
AGMA - American Guild of Musical Artists
aka - also known as (a synonym, or an artist's real or nickname)
AMA - Americana Music Association
AMRA - American Mechanical Rights Agency
ASCAP - American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
BG, bg - Bluegrass music
BMI - Broadcast Music, Inc.
BNL - "Banjo Newsletter"
BRN - Bluegrass Radio Network
BTW - by the way
BU - "Bluegrass Unlimited" magazine
C&W, C/W - Country & Western music
CBA - California Bluegrass Association
CCMA - Canadian Country Music Association
CMA - Country Music Association
CMF - Country Music Foundation
CMH - ?
CMT - Country Music Television (cable channel, equivalent to MTV,
Country & Western music videos 24 hours a day. There is
also a CMT-Europe, from the same source, that plays
slightly different stuff. There is also CMT-Canada.)
D-28 - model of Martin guitar
DJ - Disk Jockey (radio announcer)
DSR - Doobie Shea Records
EBMA - European Bluegrass Music Association
EBN - European Bluegrass Network
EWOB - European World Of Bluegrass
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
GMA - Gospel Music Association
GRAMMY - ?
IBMA - International Bluegrass Music Association
IBMM - International Bluegrass Music Museum
ICMA - International Country Music Association
IMHO - in my honest (or humble) opinion
IWW - Industrial Workers of the World ("wobblies", labor union
founded in 1905, as of 12/92 their headquarters is in
San Francisco)
LMK - let me know
LPFM - Low Power FM radio
MTV - Music Television (cable channel, Rock & Roll music videos
24 hours a day)
NAIRD - National Association of Independent Record Distributers
and Manufacturers
May 1998 Changed name to AFIM
NAPRA - New Age Publishing and Retailing Alliance
NARM - National Association of Recording Merchandisers
NARAS - National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences GRAMMY
NATD - Nashville Association of Talent Directors
NMPA - National Music Publishers' Association
NPR - National Public Radio
Opry - "The Grand Ole Opry" (a C&W and Bluegrass music radio program
(first aired ?), which is broadcast live from the Grand Ole
Opry Theater in Nashville, TN on WSM radio. Part of it is
televised every Saturday night from 7:30 - 8:00 pm,
Central U.S. time on TNN.)
OT - old-time or old-timey
OTM - Old-Time Music
Owensboro - city in Kentucky, home of the IBMA and IBMM
PAVE - Performers Alliance for Veterans Entertainment
PBS - Public Broadcasting Service
PRO - Performance Rights Organization (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN)
PRO - (aka) Performing Rights Organization
R&R - Rock & Roll (in reference to R&R songs done by BG artists)
RIAA - Recording Industry Association of America (certifies Gold and Platinum records)
SACD/SA-CD - Super Audio Compact Disc - Wikipedia / SA-CD.net
SDMI - Secure Digital Music Initiative (an industry attempt to develop a universally accepted standard of delivering music on-line)
SESAC - 1930: Society of European Stage Authors & Composers (obsolete)
today: "not an acronym for anything these days"
[per SESAC]
SPBGMA - Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America
SOCAN - Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada
TBI - Tennessee Banjo Institute (located in the Cedars of Lebanon
State Park, between Lebanon & Murfreesboro, TN)
TIFKAD - ?
TNN - The Nashville Network (defunct cable channel)
3-07-1983 - 9-19-2000 (bought by MTV and renamed
"The National Network" based in New York with almost no country content
TTFN - ta ta for now (similar to, See you later)
WR - radio show, Whetstone Run? If so, what and/or where is that?
or possibly a Bluegrass record label?
or a Pennsylvania based band?
I can find no on-line details about any of of these possibilities
Bluegrass artists and groups
AK - Alison Krauss
AKUS - Alison Krauss and Union Station
BCH - (Byron) Berline, (Dan) Crary and (John) Hickman
DGB - Done Gone Band
IIIrdT.O. - IIIrd Tyme Out
JMB - Johnson Mountain Boys
L&F - Lost and Found
LL & GS - Laurie Lewis & Grant Street
LRB - Lonesome River Band
NBB - Nashville Bluegrass Band
NESB - New Early Sunrise Band
NGR - New Grass Revival
TTO - IIIrd Tyme Out
Radio Stations
WBAP - Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
WFAA - Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
WOB - World of Bluegrass (IBMA festival)
WWVA - Wheeling, WV - aired "WWVA Jamboree" for years, a program
second only to "Grand Ole Opry" in influence at one time
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Contributors:
Frank Godbey - uka016@ukcc.uky.edu
Doug Henkle - henkle@pobox.com (maintainer of this file)
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For a newcomer to any kind of specialty group, be it BGRASS-L, stamp
collecting, or computers, the terminology used can sometimes be a barrier
to getting the most out of a group. Coming from a Folk Music background,
some messages after I signed up didn't make complete sense because of
unknown abbreviations and acronyms. To make it a little less frustrating
for other Bluegrass newcomers, I have been accumulating a list of terms
used in BGRASS-L messages that were unknown to me and those which might be
unknown to other beginners. Some terms may seem totally obvious to
Bluegrass performers and other insiders (of which I am not one), but as a
Computer Consultant to University Faculty, Students and Staff, I have had
to learn that some supposedly simple things are not always "self-evident"
to everyone. For example, I have gotten numerous calls from frustrated
people who can't get logged into their computer account for the first
time. "I type in my username but it keeps timing me out. Help!" A
gentle, understanding response like, "Did you press the ENTER key after
you typed your username?", usually fixes the problem. Not everything to
obvious to everyone.
Thanks go to Frank Godbey, BGRASS-L list administrator, for his
encouragement in this project, and for many of the definitions and
comments about some of the terms in the first draft which I couldn't
figure out and couldn't find in any other sources.
If anyone has corrections or would like to add other Bluegrass terms,
and their meanings, to this file, please E-mail them directly to me. I
will maintain this file for the Mailing List as long as BGRASS-L readers
feel there is a need for it. Unless you request otherwise, contributors
will be acknowledged above. After an initial posting of the entire file,
only the updates will be posted periodically to the BGRASS-L Mailing List.
This will remain a separate file until someone else creates a BGRASS-L FAQ
file that it can be merged into.
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