MTSU Chinese Music Ensemble performed Dear Old Dixie on a mix of Western and Chinese instruments. A standard in the bluegrass banjo repertoire, this piece is strongly associated with pioneering banjoist Earl Scruggs and the banjo technique that often bears his name. Scruggs perfected and popularized an exciting and virtuosic picking style using three fingers of the right hand. He helped create the distinctive sound of bluegrass music by introducing this style into the band Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys, which started in 1945. The title of the piece refers to 'Dixie,' meaning the pre-Civil War South built on the labor of enslaved African Americans, with nostalgia and sentimentality. ...