In the meantime Charlie Cline and Jimmy Martin kept the band together.By the late 1950s, however, Monroe's commercial fortunes had begun to slip. Inside are cherished family belongings, early 20th century-vintage furnishings, and rare photographs of Bill Monroe and two brothers who also played music professionally, Birch Monroe and Charlie Monroe. Fair Play: Bill Monroe: Instrumental: 1981-02-04: Farewell Blues: Paul Mares, Leon Roppolo, Elmer Schoebel: Instrumental: 1990-07-07: Farewell to Long Hollow: Bill Monroe: Instrumental: Monroe's Farewell to Long Hollow: Farther Along: traditional: Gospel: 1962-11-23: Farther On: Feast Here Tonight: The Prairie Ramblers: Song: 1963-05-14: Have a Feast Here Tonight and Rabbit in the Log: Festival … Artists that claimed to be influenced by or to be playing the bluegrass genre were often bullied by Bill Monroe. David Dougherty - filled in and played banjo for Bill Monroe on Johnny Cash's TV show in December in 1972. Leave feedback. [1] [2] Contents A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. In June, 1985, at Shoney’s Restaurant in Nashville, paid the tab for lunch at the meeting that led to formation of the International Bluegrass Music … In 1938, Bill Monroe and his brother Charlie broke up their successful duet act, the Monroe Brothers. Here’s a great interview with Bobby about the early days with Bill Monroe. Born: 12/20/1922 Died: 11/17/1999 As a Blue Grass Boy: Wilene "Billie" Forrester, nicknamed "Sally Ann" by Bill Monroe, was the first woman to play with the Blue Grass Boys and the only accordion player.She toured with Monroe for several years during World War II. that first publicly referred to Monroe as the "father" of bluegrass. Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for Bluegrass 1950-1958 - Bill Monroe on AllMusic ... are the musicians who played with Monroe during those very fertile and adventurous years. He always considered himself the father and caretaker of bluegrass. 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. The youngest of eight children of a Kentucky farmer and entrepreneur, Monroe was exposed early to traditional folk music by his mother. Bill Monroe had a hard time keeping musicians in his in band for very long. Over the years, Monroe 's band hosted all of the major bluegrass artists of the '50s and '60s, including Flatt & Scruggs, Reno & Smiley, Vassar Clements, Carter Stanley, and Mac Wiseman. In this period, Akeman had additional gigs, teaming up with Willie Egbert Westbrook as "String Beans and Cousin Wilbur," a comedy duo that worked on the same bills with Monroe's band. Ricky Skaggs started his career playing with Bill Monroe before joining Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys. Bill Monroe And The Blue Grass Boys* Featuring Del McCoury, Bill Keith, Joe Stuart & Bessie Lee* With Special Guests Bea Lilly & Melissa Monroe: Bill Monroe And The Blue Grass Boys* Featuring Del McCoury, Bill Keith, Joe Stuart & Bessie Lee* With Special Guests Bea Lilly & Melissa Monroe - Live At Mechanics Hall ‎ (HDCD, Album) Acoustic Disc 16 on CMT 40 Greatest Men of Country Music. Monroe recorded two albums of duets in the 1980s; the first featured collaborations with country stars such as Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, and the Oak Ridge Boys, while the second paired him with other prominent bluegrass musicians. For more than half a century, being a Together with a friend Larry Moore, they formed the "Monroe Brothers", to play at local dances and house parties. One such performance includes Alison Brown playing Earl Scruggs’s 1930 Gibson RB-Granada banjo, Ricky Skaggs playing Bill Monroe’s 1923 Gibson F-5 mandolin, and Marty Stuart playing Lester Flatt’s 1950 Martin D-28 guitar. Birch Monroe and Larry 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 Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina and North Carolina 1934 to 1936. Bill Monroe, byname of William Smith Monroe, (born Sept. 13, 1911, Rosine, Ky., U.S.—died Sept. 9, 1996, Springfield, near Nashville, Tenn.), American singer, songwriter, and mandolin player who invented the bluegrass style of country music.. Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys on Johnny Cash TV Show performing "Blue Moon of Kentucky" Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Skaggs was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2018. An actor who starred in The Bill killed himself after becoming depressed at being unable to sell his home, an inquest heard today. Monroe tended to recruit promising young musicians who served an apprenticeship with him before becoming accomplished artists in their own right. Monroe, who had suffered injuries to his back, left arm and nose, was rushed to General Hospital in Nashville. Feel free to contribute! Bill Monroe is the father of bluegrass. Travelers from around the world regularly visit the Homeplace to learn about Bill Monroe’s early life and family. Older brothers Charlie and Birch played the guitar and fiddle, respectively, so Bill took up the smaller mandolin to join his family's informal string band. In 1938, Bill formed his own band, the Blue Grass Boys (named after his home state of Kentucky.) It's Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. He stated, "I think Bill Monroe's importance to American music is as important as someone like Robert Johnson was to blues, or Louis Armstrong. Let us know what you think of the Last.fm website. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. In October 1939, he 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". They scored an immediate hit single with the gospel song "What Would You Give In Exchange For Your Soul?" He recalled that his brothers insisted he should remove four of the mandolin's eight strings so he would not play too loudly.Monroe's mother died when he was ten, followed by his father six years later. Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Hank Williams Sr., and Johnny Cash are the only other performers honored in all three. Bobby Hicks mainly played fiddle but also played banjo as well as bass. A 1989 live album celebrated his 50th year on the Grand Ole Opry. All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. He and "Bluegrass Boys" bass player, Bessie Lee Mauldin, were returning home from a fox hunt north of Nashville. Even after the folk revival faded in the mid-1960s, it left a loyal audience for bluegrass music. For more than half a century, being a Blue Grass Boy was the crowning achievement of many musicians’ careers; for others, a stepping stone to establishing their own bands. His mother and her brother, Pendleton "Pen" Vandiver, were both musically talented, and Monroe and his family grew up playing and singing at home. Monroe's pre-1946 recordings represent a transitional style between the string-band tradition from which he came and the musical innovation to follow. In 1993, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1995. He seldom sang lead vocals on his Victor recordings, often preferring to contribute high tenor harmonies as he had in the Monroe Brothers. Wilene "Sally Ann" Forrester (accordion - 1943-3/1946) Publicity photo circa 1944. Kenneth Clayton Baker (June 26, 1926 – July 8, 2011) was an American fiddle player best known for his 25-year tenure with Bill Monroe and his group The Blue Grass Boys. Because his older brothers Birch and Charlie already played the fiddle and guitar, Bill Monroe was resigned to playing the less desirable mandolin. 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.Both Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe's band in early 1948, soon forming their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys, which met with notable commercial success in the 1950s and 1960s with such hits as "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", "Cabin on the Hill", and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett". Some of Monroe's band members who went on to greater prominence include singer/guitarists Clyde Moody, Lester Flatt, Jack Cook, Mac Wiseman, Jimmy Martin, Carter Stanley, Del McCoury, Peter Rowan, Roland White, Roland Dunn and Doug Green; banjo players Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, Sonny Osborne, and Bill Keith; and fiddlers Tommy Magness, Chubby Wise, Vassar Clements, Byron Berline, Kenny Baker, Bobby Hicks, Gordon Terry, and Glen Duncan. Scruggs joined a highly accomplished group that included singer/guitarist Lester Flatt, and would soon include fiddler Chubby Wise, and bassist Howard Watts, who often performed under the name "Cedric Rainwater". The last-named was recorded by Elvis Presley in 1954, appearing as the B-side of his first single for Sun Records. Bill Monroe had seen a lot of troubles in his days, but nothing could have prepared him for this. As well as bass song `` what Would you Give in Exchange for Your Soul ''. 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