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Why has Allmusic consistently ignored the progressive bluegrass genre?

I've used and subscribed to Allmusic for many years and have read, agreed, disagreed, recommended this site to others, and learned so much. I have wide, eclectic tastes that the site usually covers, but, the progressive bluegrass coverage is barely minimal. The most recent and major example is Billy Strings. Not a single bit of music has been reviewed, induing the new album that dropped yesterday, 9/24/21. This young man is a major talent and is pushing genres and boundries hard and is going to be a major, major player.

Hope you listen in and enjoy!

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MD

Again, the winner of the Grammy for best bluegrass album has been ignored. SMH.

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Molly Tuttle's Grammy award winning album has now been reviewed.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/crooked-tree-mw0003658536

MW

, I hear ya buddy, and though immediately of an esoteric album for you to peruse; have you heard of "Old and In the Way", by Gerry Garcia and friends? There are so many new artists out there as well with a "bluegrass" slant that are even up for AOTY as well. Check out Robert Plant's latest, "Raise The Roof [Deluxe Edition]" or earlier, "Raising Sand" also. Good luck in you endeavors to find great music as something out there surely will tweak your nips. Cheers, Murf

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MW

Also the Punch Brothers come to mind with "All Ashore" and

The Phosphorescent Blues

 you see. These are truly great albums with a bluegrass slant that I've come to love, and write a review as well if you've the time. You can speak your mind here and enjoy others opinions as well. Peace my friend, Murf

No reviews of the latest from Molly Tuttle or from Billy Strings.

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MD

Or Greensky, or...

But Allmusic hasn't completely ignored this year's progressive bluegrass, because it's still reviewing releases by the Punch Brothers.

The Billy Strings album has been reviewed:

https://www.allmusic.com/album/me-and-dad-mw0003826864

Molly Tuttle's Grammy award winning album has been reviewed.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/crooked-tree-mw0003658536

MD

Thanks, Zac!

Bluegrass is rarely covered in the press for popular music, but Rolling Stone was early in identifying Billy Strings as a top new artist.  On the heels of his previous album's Grammy,  Rolling Stone heralds his win of the International Bluegrass Music Association's top award as "a new era for a genre often resistant to change".  At least his Grammy-winning album should be reviewed, because you "prioritize coverage on the ones with some staying power".

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Rootsmusic isn't far off.

Unfortunately there really isn't staffing to cover every album that comes out, even albums that are pushing new boundaries in under-served musical styles. A lot of what gets covered has to do with the overall popularity of the artist (based on sales, chart positions, awards) and the amount of traffic and interactions the artist and their albums get on the site.

Here is some detail from one of our editors from a while back:

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We’re definitely making editorial decisions about what to cover, and even some popular albums aren’t making the cut like they used to. Until last year, we were consistently covering 95% of the Top Ten with a full critical review. Now it’s closer to 90%, which is about where we plan to stay this year.

Some albums tend to be announced, released, charting, and then practically forgotten within a matter of days, so we’re trying to prioritize coverage on the ones with some staying power. And if we decide to review an album, we don’t try to rush it – we encourage editors to take several days once they have the music so they can produce a high-quality review.

One thing we’re spending a lot of quality time is biography rewrites. We’ve expanded our biography style guide and are making sure that the editors spend time and space on practically every artist we work on, giving full introductions with career context to a lot of artists that didn’t have it before, or needed expanded coverage. And we’re also spending a lot of time writing biographies of new artists – usually at least 30-40 per week.

We do appreciate whenever you or a user inquires about album coverage. We may not be able to cover all those albums, but we do take these suggestions into account. 

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I can pass this request along but please note: it isn't a specific hit on progressive bluegrass (we did cover the Bela Fleck album a week ago), it has more to do with a lack of overall bandwidth on the editorial side.

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Zac, I agree that "it isn't a specific hit on progressive bluegrass" but it's a general one on styles that aren't growing in popularity compared to those that are.  My explanation focused only on emerging artists because this career stage has the greatest need for coverage.  It's really unfair to hold the lower popularity of an emerging artist's initial style against him/her, before his/her career musically expands as it grows.

When you allocate scarce editorial resources, please acknowledge that emerging artists have a greater need for the first review than yet another review for an established artist.  The acknowledgement is even more true in under-served styles, compared against styles with several media outlets!  Surely, Strings winning a Grammy over a year and a half after his album's release means that it's not among those "announced, released, charting, and then practically forgotten".

He's starting to musically and professionally develop, not unlike how a banjoist's musical journey begun as an instrumentalist and branched outside of the confines of a 3-finger style.  Not only does coverage attract attention that's needed at an emerging stage, but it can also potentially influence future development.  That's why it's unfair to hold the lower popularity of an emerging artist's initial style against him/her.

Of course, the umpteenth release from a living legend currently attracts more visitors than an emerging artist (if he has a review) who's yet to come into renown as more than an instrumentalist.  But do you doubt that the fan base of an emerging artist, whose fast career trajectory has already been recognized by his industry, is continuing to attract non-traditional audiences?  Since his previous album has already been awarded a Grammy, not reviewing his latest release means that Allmusic is behind the music industry on the curve of his career.

I've noticed more bios on Allmusic, but a full biography isn't an alternative to reviews.  What little music commentary is made in a bio, it's never critical.  No artist's advertisement quotes from a bio.

By the way, I've yet to listen to Strings (I always check out Allmusic's track picks, before a first impression).  I'm not favoring bluegrass or progressive bluegrass.  I just support under-served styles, and I support under-covered emerging artists.

P.S. see an artist who deserves full biography.

In general, Allmusic's coverage has been trending away from styles that have been declining in popularity but that are still influential.  This trend is an unfortunate byproduct of Allmusic's need to attract online visits.  Compared to new competitors in popular styles, new artists in styles with declining popularity are facing an increasingly higher hurdle to receive coverage.

A little over a decade ago in bluegrass, a new artist's debut album could earn a full review (albeit not rated) without any Grammy nomination.  Now a Grammy Award earns only a full biography for a bluegrass artist.  Even with several awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association, Sister Sadie's loss at the Grammy's meant that they haven't earned coverage.

In a style that has airplay on commercial radio and TV, an artist can still earn both a biography and review without any awards.  Granted, her nominations were historic firsts.  But so was her peer, who actually won her Country Music Association Award despite not being nominated at the Grammy's.

Unfortunately shut-out of a Grammy category of their own since 2010, country instrumentalists have greater difficulty in competing now with more popular styles.  Similarly before being nominated for a Grammy, their peer in popular styles can earn both a full biography and a brief review (of a major-label debut but not rated).  So the playing field in instrumental music is stacked against instrumentalists who play styles that are being pushed out of popular music.

This explanation reminds me of a classic song.  "There's thirteen hundred and fifty-two guitar pickers in Nashville", and many are increasingly attracted to bluegrass music in order to escape Nashville.  To compete with other styles in popular music for attention now, they'll need more than a "couple new-sounding tunes on the (You)tubes [to blast] me sky-high"!

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