ETSU introduces new degree: B.A. Bluegrass, Old Time, Country Music

Johnson City, Tenn.—East Tennessee State University introduced a brand new major this morning: a Bachelor of Arts in Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music. It’s the only bachelor’s degree of its kind—in the world.
    Friday morning, ETSU President, Dr. Paul Stanton introduced the players behind the new degree. The existing program already has global recognition, attracting students from across the United States, and overseas.
    This degree will include courses in history and about the contemporary bluegrass, old time and country music business. Instructors hope to prepare students for real world artistic careers, with experience in a “world class recording laboratory.“
    Jack Tottle started the original program in 1982 with one blue grass band, one course on the history of country music, and a guitar class. Today there are twenty student bands of different styles, with close to 450 students.
    According to Tottle, the program is “certainly nothing I envisioned when I first started. I just thought that it could be something valuable in this area to give the university’s seal of approval to a type of music, and to the regional culture, that was not always taken seriously by people in the academic world.“
    The program’s soon-to-be interim director, Daniel Boner, was once a student in the program, and is now an instructor. He stresses the demand for the B.A. “Our students are telling us, we want to do this for a living,“ said Boner. “We want to have careers in bluegrass. We want to learn about what makes a successful artist on the road.“
    Students can officially major in Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music starting the Spring 2010 semester.