The 28 songs recorded by this version of the Blue Grass Boys for Columbia Records in 1946 and 1947 soon became classics of the genre, including "Toy Heart", "Blue Grass Breakdown", "Molly and Tenbrooks", "Wicked Path of Sin", "My Rose of Old Kentucky", "Little Cabin Home on the Hill", and Monroe's most famous song "Blue Moon of Kentucky". Monroe was born on his family's farm near Rosine, Kentucky, the youngest of eight children of James Buchanan "Buck" and Malissa (Vandiver) Monroe. Monroe was raised on an isolated family farm in Rosine, Kentucky. Carter Stanley joined the Blue Grass Boys as guitarist for a short time in 1951 during a period when The Stanley Brothers had temporarily disbanded. He developed the uniquely American blend of blues, gospel, jazz, country, and even Celtic folk that characterizes bluegrass music; he was widely recognized as the father of bluegrass. Akeman played the instrument in a relatively primitive style and was rarely featured in instrumental solos. Monroe's fortunes began to improve during the American folk music revival of the early 1960s. Flatt and Scruggs joined a highly accomplished group that included fiddler Howdy Forrester and bassist Joe Forrester and would soon include fiddler Chubby Wise and bassist Howard Watts, who often performed under the name "Cedric Rainwater". Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Hank Williams Sr., and Johnny Cash are the only other performers honored in all three. He pushed the tempos faster, played in … See details. He was so influential: I think he's probably the only musician that had a whole style of music named after his band. In fact, some peg the birth of … In 2003, CMT had Bill Monroe ranked No. While still a mainstay on the Grand Ole Opry, Monroe found diminishing success on the singles charts, and struggled to keep his band together in the face of declining demand for live performances. Bill Monroe’s Uncle Pen Vandiver The Monroe Brothers were one of the most popular acts of the 1930s. Bill Monroe introduced it on the Grand Ole Opry, and because he named his band the Bluegrass Boys, his style of music eventually came to be known as “bluegrass.” For other people named Bill Monroe, see, Monroe (left) and his brother Charlie in 1936, "Original Bluegrass Band" and Monroe's heyday as a star, Rosenberg, Neil V., Wolfe, Charles K. (1989) "Bluegrass, Bill Monroe", Bear Family Records Publication, "Stoney Lonesome Fiddle Book", by Stacy Phillips, Learn how and when to remove this template message, International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor, "Bill Monroe: Celebrating The Father Of Bluegrass At 100", https://gardenandgun.com/articles/jerry-garcias-bluegrass-roots/, "Kentucky Troubadour: A biography of Bill Monroe and the bluegrass music he invented", "Brown County Convention & Visitors Bureau Web site, 2018.08.28", "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire", Bill Monroe: Celebrating The Father Of Bluegrass At 100, International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor profile, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame profile, Recording of "Wayfaring Stranger" from the 1993 Florida Folk Festival (available for public use from the State Archives of Florida), Bill Monroe: Father of Bluegrass Music (documentary video), "Bill Monroe in Indiana: From Lake to Brown County, Oil to Bluegrass,", Discography of American Historical Recordings, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Monroe&oldid=1011530070, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners, United States National Medal of Arts recipients, Pages using Template:Infobox musical artist with unknown parameters, Articles needing additional references from February 2020, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. He always considered himself the father and caretaker of bluegrass. Monroe's compositions during his later period were largely instrumentals, including "Jerusalem Ridge", "Old Dangerfield" (originally spelled Daingerfield after the town in East Texas),[12] and "My Last Days on Earth"; he settled into a new role as a musical patriarch who continued to influence younger generations of musicians. Even after the folk revival faded in the mid-1960s, it left a loyal audience for bluegrass music. Many college students and other young people were beginning to discover Monroe, associating his style more with traditional folk music than with the country-and-western genre with which it had previously been identified. Monroe gave his blessing to Presley's rock and roll cover of the song, originally a slow ballad in waltz time, and in fact re-recorded it himself with a faster arrangement after Presley's version became a hit. Bringing something from my front porch to you guys today! [17], On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Bill Monroe among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire. From honky-tonk heroes and heroines, high lonesome bluegrass pioneers, and classic pop crooners. Monroe's mother died when he was ten, and his father died six years later. and ultimately recorded 60 tracks for Victor's Bluebird label between 1936 and 1938.[5]. Monroe legitimized the form with his frank, heartrending lyrics and gift for storytelling. Though he was known as "the father of bluegrass music", Bill Monroe, who died on Monday only days before his 85th birthday, did not invent the genre. Skaggs was only six years old, in 1960, when he first got to perform on stage with Monroe and his band at the high school in Martha, Kentucky. Before Bill Monroe, country music was dismissed as unsophisticated backwoods music. Bill did acknowledge that he had been influenced by Arnold’s playing on fiddle and guitar. Several gospel-themed numbers are credited to the "Blue Grass Quartet", which featured four-part vocal arrangements accompanied solely by mandolin and guitar – Monroe's usual practice when performing "sacred" songs. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. Today is Bill Monroe’s 108th birthday. As the "father of bluegrass", he was also an inaugural inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1991. Remembered as the “Father of Bluegrass Music,” Bill Monroe is better understood as a master chef or chemist, blending earlier musical elements into an exciting new form. Apple Music. Kenny Baker is perhaps the most famed early bluegrass fiddler; he met Bill Monroe and cut a record with the Bluegrass Boys in 1957. Monroe's fortunes began to improve during the American folk music revival of the early 1960s. Bill Monroe Bill Monroe was a mandolin player and singer from Kentucky, he began touring in the early 1930's with his "Bluegrass Boys" and is known worldwide as the Father of Bluegrass. These included fiddle and bagpipe sounds imported from the British Isles, African-American blues and holiness gospel, American Great Awakening hymnody, as well as hill country dance music and the thrilling new rhythms of hot jazz. "[16], In 1999, the portion of Indiana State Road 135 running from Morgantown through to Nashville, Indiana was dedicated to Bill Monroe and is known as the Bill Monroe Memorial Highway. He recalled that his brothers insisted he should remove four of the mandolin's eight strings so he would not play too loudly. His earliest musical influences derived from church and social traditions. Both Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe's band in early 1948, soon forming their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys. Bluegrass festivals became common, with fans often traveling long distances to see a number of different acts over several days of performances. "[2] Also significant in Monroe's musical life was Arnold Shultz, an influential fiddler and guitarist who introduced Monroe to the blues.[3][4]. U.S. singer, songwriter, and musician Bill Monroe influenced generations of country and rock musicians. Birch and Moore soon left the group, and Bill and Charlie carried on as a duo, eventually winning spots performing live on radio stations, first in Indiana and then, sponsored by Texas Crystals, on several radio broadcasts in Shenandoah Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina and North Carolina from 1934 to 1936. Began performing professionally with uncle, Pendleton Vandiver, c. 1925; played Artists that claimed to be influenced by or to be playing the bluegrass genre were often bullied by Bill Monroe. Monroe then left Little Rock for Atlanta, Georgia, to form the first edition of the Blue Grass Boys with singer/guitarist Cleo Davis, fiddler Art Wooten, and bassist Amos Garren. Scruggs played the banjo with a distinctive three-finger picking style that immediately caused a sensation among Opry audiences. This experience inspired one of Monroe's most famous compositions, "Uncle Pen," recorded in 1950, and the 1972 album Bill Monroe's Uncle Pen. Bill Monroe played the mandolin, but the banjo is the instrument that has come to define bluegrass music for many listeners. He and "Bluegrass Boys" bass player, Bessie Lee Mauldin, were returning home from a fox hunt north of Nashville. His mother and her brother, Pendleton "Pen" Vandiver, were both musically talented, and Monroe and his family grew up playing and singing at home. He grew up to be one of the biggest influences in bluegrass music. Accordingly, at the first bluegrass festival organized by Carlton Haney at Roanoke, Virginia in 1965, Bill Monroe was the central figure. In 1964, before the Grateful Dead got together, Jerry Garcia caravanned across the country from California to tag along with Monroe.[10]. The annual Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival is now the world's oldest continuously running annual bluegrass festival.[11]. Bill Monroe (September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist who helped create the style of music known as bluegrass.The genre takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys", named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Bill Monroe was made an honorary Kentucky Colonel in 1966. "Bluegrass has its roots in Saturday Night dance music. By the late 1950s, however, Monroe's commercial fortunes had begun to slip. Seth has toured the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, sharing the stage with the likes of Bobby Osborne, Little Roy Lewis, J.D. Monroe's last performance occurred on March 15, 1996. Every modern bluegrass band was influenced in some way by Kentucky’s “Father of Bluegrass Music”, Bill Monroe. This page was last edited on 11 March 2021, at 11:20. A playlist featuring Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, Norman Blake, Hot Rize, and others We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. Bill Monroe is known as the Father of Bluegrass, a specific style of country music. Bill Monroe - The creative influence of the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, is explored through vintage television performances and interviews with award-winning artists Dailey & … Non-southerners who served as Blue Grass Boys during this period included banjo player Bill Keith and singer/guitarist Peter Rowan from Massachusetts, fiddler Gene Lowinger from New Jersey, banjo player Lamar Grier from Maryland, banjo player Steve Arkin from New York, and singer/guitarist Roland White and fiddler Richard Greene from California. RCA Victor signed the Monroe Brothers to a recording contract in 1936. While Flatt and Scruggs immediately recognized the potential for a lucrative new audience in cities and on college campuses in the North, Monroe was slower to respond. A 1989 live album celebrated his 50th year on the Grand Ole Opry. Bill Monroe: Deep Cuts. Under the influence of Ralph Rinzler, a young musician and folklorist from New Jersey who briefly became Monroe's manager in 1963, Monroe gradually expanded his geographic reach beyond the traditional southern country music circuit. Monroe pulled influences from all over the American landscape like string bands, both black and white gospel songs, blues music, country music, and traditional songs used by African-American workers. Monroe's pre-1946 recordings represent a transitional style between the string-band tradition from which he came and the musical innovation to follow. He ended his touring and playing career in April, following a stroke. Many of his songs were in blues form, while others took the form of folk ballads, parlor songs, or waltzes. Bill and the Blue Grass Boys were popular country stars before they created bluegrass music, and they were always a little different than other acts owing to Monroe’s unerring vision for his music. Vandiver has been credited with giving Monroe "a repertoire of tunes that sank into Bill's aurally trained memory and a sense of rhythm that seeped into his bones. … Together with a friend Larry Moore, they formed the "Monroe Brothers", to play at local dances and house parties. But in truth the hard-driving mix of fiddle, mandolin, guitar, three-finger banjo, and bass first came together in the 1940s and reflects varied musical influences. Apple Music Country. Mini Bio (1) Born in Rosine Kentucky, he was the youngest of eight children. A 1945 session for Columbia Records featured an accordion, soon dropped from the band. Monroe also kept a hectic touring schedule. On the 13th of September 1911, Monroe was born. Listen to Walls Of Time by Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys, 115 Shazams, featuring on Bill Monroe Essentials, and Glen Campbell: Influences Apple Music playlists. Our musical influences include Doc Watson, Bob Dylan, Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Beatles and Rolling Stones, to name but a few. Hello music lovers! [18], Quotations related to Bill Monroe at Wikiquote, This article is about the American musician. Born in Rosine, KY in 1911, he was a musical alchemist when it came to blending unique, ancient tones to create his own style of sonic gold. Crowe, Darrell Webb, Johnny Butten, and many others. The growing national popularity of Monroe's music during the 1960s was also apparent in the increasingly diverse background of musicians recruited into his band. Because his older brothers Birch and Charlie already played the fiddle and guitar, Bill was resigned to playing the less desirable mandolin. In October 1939, Monroe successfully auditioned for a regular spot on the Grand Ole Opry, impressing Opry founder George D. Hay with his energetic performance of Jimmie Rodgers's "Mule Skinner Blues". Monroe, who had suffered injuries to his back, left arm and nose, was rushed to General Hospital in Nashville. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. On January 16, 1953 Monroe was critically injured in a two-car wreck. Listen to Lonesome Road Blues by Bill Monroe, 209 Shazams, featuring on Bill Monroe Essentials, and Glen Campbell: Influences Apple Music playlists. Early Influences. Monroe died on September 9, 1996, in Springfield, Tennessee, four days before his 85th birthday.[13]. In retrospect, this lineup of the Blue Grass Boys has been dubbed the "Original Bluegrass Band", as the music finally included all the elements that characterize bluegrass music, including breakneck tempos, sophisticated vocal harmony arrangements, and impressive instrumental proficiency demonstrated in solos or "breaks" on the mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. They scored an immediate hit single with the gospel song "What Would You Give in Exchange For Your Soul?" Dolly Parton: Influences. [14] That year's fellowships were the first bestowed by the NEA. Apple Music Country. Most importantly, Monroe added banjo player David "'Stringbean" Akeman to the Blue Grass Boys in 1942. The Influence of Bill Monroe Like most of the other brother acts of the 30's, Bill Monroe and his guitarist brother Charlie sang sacred and sentimental songs in beautiful two-part harmonies. We love our audiences to dance and sing along to our music." Introduction. The last-named was recorded by Elvis Presley in 1954, appearing as the B-side of his first single for Sun Records. In 1993, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1995. that first publicly referred to Monroe as the "father" of bluegrass. You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. 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