American music is popular around the world. Check out this Japanese bluegrass band compared with Bill Monroe

Wingrass Live in Sapporo, Japan September 2007

The band starts pretty laggard but they pick it up half way through.

Prior to 1989, the United States largely ignored international copyright protection. Now the US is the biggest booster of protecting artistic copyrights. Does their recent interest correlate with the decline of America as a world class producer of hard goods? Probably. It’s too late for bluegrass and most rock and roll which has been copied around the world spreading goodwill about America.

The world is fascinated by American and Western culture. The Beatles are one of the biggest cultural phenomena in the former USSR. A combination of free spirited rock and roll and the intrigue of something foreign has made rock and roll popular around the world. The Japanese have copied US rock and rock since the beginning. They have also had strong interest in country and western and folk music.

Here’s the master himself, Bill Monroe with the original high lonesome sound of Blue Moon of Kentucky.

That’s sweet.