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The Influence of Irish Music on American Folk/Bluegrass:
Irish music has always been an important part of both rural and urban life for the Irish people. However, after centuries of British rule, significantly renewed interest in Irish music and dance coincided with the burgeoning Nationalist movement of the late 1800s. A second major revival coincided with the American folk music revival of the 1960s, and has continued until present-day.

It is a common misconception that Irish music was hugely influential on American old-time and bluegrass music. These genres came from Appalachia, where there was never a substantial amount of Irish immigration (most immigrants there were Ulster Scots, Scottish and English). Irish music did, however, have a significant influence on the 1960s folk revival. That later influence went both ways - many American artists influenced Irish artists as well.

Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also encompasses ballads and other types of folk songs. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering on a combination of fiddle and plucked string instruments (most often the guitar and banjo).

The Scots-Irish have had a continuing effect on the American landscape as far as music and dance are concerned. America’s modern country music that relies heavily on harmony and a jig-type tempo is a direct outlet of Scots-Irish music that these determined settlers brought with them to America. America’s country music is not solely an outlet of the Scots-Irish influence; other world areas have had impact here, but the Scots-Irish influence is strong and simple. The use of pipes and fiddles, punctuated by drone notes, is a particular Scots-Irish determining quality to modern music, as are the ballad elements that are the base to many country songs. Modern American country music, of course, does not solely fall into music obviously influenced by the Scots-Irish, but Bluegrass music is keenly Scots-Irish and flows yearly out of the Kentucky and Tennessee areas. Ricky Skaggs, Bill Monroe, and the McReynolds are current musicians that reflect the Scots-Irish influence strongly.
In the South, dancing in the form of clogging is very common and is very much a direct line to the Scots-Irish heritage of the area. The knowledge of square dancing is also a blended form of Scots-Irish dance. Both of these types of dance require participants to spring or land lightly on toes. There is a lightness and springiness that is not found in other dances in Europe. Additionally both of these dances are dependent upon a musical backing, primarily through a fiddle. That fiddle and dance helped to often cement or bring communities together in years past.
Another cultural connection that is a direct length to the Scots-Irish is the production and consumption of moonshine alcohol in the South. Moonshine running was a talent or inclination that the Scots-Irish brought with them from Ireland, as was their condemnation of the taxes that the British wanted to levy against alcohol. This attitude of independence continued after the Revolutionary War and led to the Whiskey Rebellion that was a difficulty for the new American government to handle.