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Bluegrass Terms - Abbreviations and Acronyms --------------------------------------------------------------------------- An explanation of why this file was created appears at the end of the file. Originally created in 1993 for the Bitnet/Internet BGRASS-L Bluegrass Music Discussion List by Doug Henkle - henkle@pobox.com Acronyms and other general terms February 2016 Note: All links to other domains have been deleted from this page. Why?--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contributors: Frank Godbey Doug Henkle - henkle@pobox.com (maintainer of this file) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.
- 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.)
- AAFS - Archive of American Folk Song (Library of Congress)
- 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, metal or classical)
- AFF - Arizona Friends of Folklore
- AFIM - Association For Independent Music (May 1998, new name for NAIRD) - AFIM dissolved effective 4-15-2004
- AFM - American Federation of Musicians
- AFS - Archive of Folk Song (Library of Congress)
- 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
- BGV - background vocals (used in recording liner notes)
- 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 10-05-1925), 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
- 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 the "Grand Ole Opry" in influence at one time
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