Bill monroe & california on youtube

[Ivan Kelsall]

There's a terrific clip of Bill Monroe playing one of my personal favourite instrumentals, "Goldrush",on YouTube.
He's playing with Byron Berline's old band,California. Byron introduces him & Bill Monroe walks onto the stage with a smile as wide as the Golden Gate bridge,i though his face was gonna fall in half,he certainly seemed pleased to be there,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVoLAvrexoA

I hope the above link works,it's a gem,
Saska

[Don Stiernberg]

Now that's a cool clip!

Early on in the song the camera looks at Bill Monroe and directly behind and above him on the wall is a big poster of....Bill Monroe!

Also interesting to note is the steady and moderate tempo--what a great feel.

I wish that show were still on the air.

[MandoBen]

Thanks! I needed that to make me smile this morning. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[mandopete]

Yeah that is a great video!

[Ken Olmstead]

I didn't even know he had teeth!! What a star studded performance. Thanks!!!! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[SternART]

Isn't that a young Jerry Douglas & Mark O'Conner in that band?
Who are the others?

[Kevin Briggs]

That's Bill in fine form. That's some of the cleanest playing I've heard form him.

[Steve Perry]

Isn't that a young Jerry Douglas & Mark O'Conner in that band?
Who are the others?
That's from the old American Music Shop show on TNN. #O'Connor and Douglas were a part of the "house band".

[mandopete]

Jack Hicks on Banjo and Dan Crary on Guitar.

[Jim Broyles]

I thought it was John Hickman on the banjo.

[Don Stiernberg]

That is John Hickman.

[mandopete]

Dang, I meant to say Hugh Jackman...I mean Mick Jackson, oh just forget it!

[Ivan Kelsall]

I'm pleased that you guys enjoyed the clip. What really got to me,was watching Bill Monroe obviously enjoy himself.Another thing that made me smile was when Byron Berline introduced Bill Monroe as having "...been in Blue Grass a long time",the man originated the music !. What Byron said maybe wasn't quite what he meant to say.It was a bit like saying Abe Lincoln was a politician,
Saska

[cbogle]

That's just a little bit of Byron's humorous side surfacing, Saska. Besides being a musical genius, he's also incredibly funny, and tells some of the BEST Bluegrass stories.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Shelby Eicher]

Definetly Byron being funny. I believe that's Glenn Worf playing bass too.

[f5loar]

What this clips shows is just how good Monroe could have sounded with the right band behind him. He never carried duel fiddlers that good after Baker and Hicks left. He never ever had a guitar player as strong as Dan Cray. (Imagine if Clarence White had gone with Monroe instead of brother Roland or if he got Tony Rice?) And he never had that strong of a bass man behind him since Ernie Newton (sorry Bessie and James were not that good). And what if Monroe added a dobro? Flux could have gotten the job done. After all Flatt and Scruggs no longer were using one. And imagine Monroe with such banjo greats as Bela Fleck, Tony Trisca, Mike Snyder after Keith and Thompson left. Yes Big Mon would have been mighty big if he had finsihed out his senior years with the right Bluegrass Boys and this clip shows it.

[Michael Lewis]

Unfortunately I can't watch the video since I am on a dial up connection, but Californie was Byron Berline, Dan Crarey, John Hickman, Steve Spergeon, and John Moore.

[mandopete]

Yes Big Mon would have been mighty big if he had finsihed out his senior years with the right Bluegrass Boys and this clip shows it.
I dunno, I saw him at one of his last gigs at Wintergrass in 1995 and he had Tom Ewing, Dana Cupp and Tater Tate with him. #I think those folks were with him around the end of his carreer and they sounded pretty good to me!

Here's a pic I got from row 1 at the Church stage...

[mandopete]

He never ever had a guitar player as strong as Dan Cray. (Imagine if Clarence White had gone with Monroe instead of brother Roland or if he got Tony Rice?)
It's always been my understanding that Monroe never really cared for guitar as a lead instrument. #I think he saw it more as a rhythm instrument and left the lead guitar to groups like the Stanley Brothers.

I think he also felt the same way about the dobro, being as that was so much a part of the Flatt & Scruggs sound.

[f5loar]

That's not the point I was making. I am sure Tom Ewing will be the first to admit he is no Dan Cray/Tony Rice/Clarence White on the guitar. And while Dana Culp has gotten to be a great Osborne banjo picker back then he was not in the league with Fleck/Trisca/Snyder. And poor Tater rest his soul was just helping out on bass there. He was a better fiddler than bass player but was he up there with O'Connor and Berline? You are comparing great professional pickers with superpro pickers. And what I was saying was as Monroe got older his drive and picking lessoned but with a superpro band behind he the sound would have gotten better than ever.

[mandopete]

Yes, I guess we can speculate on what might have been, but I rather doubt that was where Monroe was going with his music.

[Ivan Kelsall]

The recordings that Bill Monroe made using twin fiddles are some of my very favourites.
The sound is quite awesome & the harmony that Byron Berline & Mark O'Connor create knocks me sideways.
I met & talked with all the guys from 'Bluegrass Etc.',John Moore's band when they came to the UK a few years back. Personally,i think that John Moore is as good a Mandolin player as you'll ever get & he's most certainly the fastest,most accurate Guitar 'flat-picker' that i have seen.
I bought the first CD by the ''Cherryholmes'' a few months back & there's a terrific rendition of ''Tallahassee'' using twin fiddles,in fact (at the risk of incurring a few irrate remarks),i think it's better than the recording by Bill Monroe himself - IMPO - on the twin fiddle side of things anyway. Maybe a bit 'super-slick' for some folks taste though,
Saska
Saska

[Don Stiernberg]

Not to move the topic too far from Bill and Byron,but...

this video also reminded me of a favorite twin fiddle "album" from a long time back. There was a band called RED, WHITE, and BLUEGRASS that include Grant and Ginger Boatwright. On their first album Norman Blake played mandolin. On their second one( I think)the twin fiddles were done by Byron and Vassar Clements! Their version of "Mighty Dark to Travel" was very exciting as I recall.

Does anyone know if this recording is available?

[theBlood]

And what I was saying was as Monroe got older his drive and picking lessoned but with a superpro band behind he the sound would have gotten better than ever.
But the way he presented his music was not towards showing virtuoso playing, really. It was a sound and style he was after, and the persistence and stubbornness with which he managed those concerns did not make good environments for inspired and individualistic players. If Clarence had joined the band, he would have been expected to play exactly the same runs as the predecessor, no more and no less. That's hard to imagine.

In this video Bill is a guest, and as such he appears to be indulging the dobro and guitar breaks. But as I understand it he really hated that stuff.

I guess what I'm saying is that genre preservation and virtuoso playing are different concerns and not usually found in the same band. Playing it right or playing it inventively are two different things.

[Kevin Briggs]

If Clarence had joined the band, he would have been expected to play exactly the same runs as the predecessor, no more and no less.
I agree with most of what you wrote. But, in "Can't You Hear Me Callin'," Bill is portrayed as using his band members for their strengths, and not for telling them how to play. It seems more probable that Bill just wouldn't have accepted a flashy guitar picker into the band, rather than to ask him to join and then not let him do what he does best.

Either way, it's always fun to assemble dream teams!

I'll take Joe Montana, Walter Payton, Randy Moss, Antonio Gates, and Dick "Nitrane" Lane on my team please.

[Chris "Bucket" Thomas]

If Clarence had joined the band, he would have been expected to play exactly the same runs as the predecessor, no more and no less.
I agree with most of what you wrote. But, in "Can't You Hear Me Callin'," Bill is portrayed as using his band members for their strengths, and not for telling them how to play. It seems more probable that Bill just wouldn't have accepted a flashy guitar picker into the band, rather than to ask him to join and then not let him do what he does best.

Either way, it's always fun to assemble dream teams!

I'll take Joe Montana, Walter Payton, Randy Moss, Antonio Gates, and Dick "Nitrane" Lane on my team please.
I agree! It was Kenny Baker that convinced Monroe that Bill Keith had something to offer. Suppose Kenny Baker had pushed and convinced him that Clarence had something to offer.

[f5loar]

Monroe knew the White bros quite well and had asked Clarence first for the job since he knew he was the guitar player in the KY.Cols. Clarence turned it down to go with the Byrds and Clarence told Monroe Roland was just as good a guitar player and could sing his songs better since Roland was the lead singer in Col. Ky. There were many great pickers asked to be Bluegrass Boys that turned it down.

[mandopete]

There were many great pickers asked to be Bluegrass Boys that turned it down.
That speaks volumes with respect to the working conditions of Monroe's band.

And I suspect that may be a large part of the reason he didn't have many "super-pickers" in his band on a regular basis.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I have both LP's of "Red,White & Bluegrass" that i picked up from a discount record store
many years back. I think both of them cost only $1 each.They were "Red,White & Bluegrass" (1973)no fiddle at all, & "Pickin'up" (1974),with Byron & Vassar, both excellent records,
# # # # # # # #Saska

[Rroyd]

When you smash your fingers and skin up your knuckles trying to repair the bus, it kind of takes the fun out of playing. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[sgarrity]

I'd have to disagree and say Monroe had plenty of "super pickers" in his band over time......Bobby Hicks, Kenny Baker, Bill Keith, Robert Bowlin, Jimmy Campbell, Byron Berline, Roland White. Not to mention great singers in Wayne Lewis, Tom Ewing and Peter Rowan.

[f5loar]

I mentioned most of those guys but I don't think Roland was given the chance to take many guitar breaks and Roland would be the first to tell you he did not have the rhythm power/tone of this brother. To have a total band of super pickers at one time like in the video is what I was talking about. Sure you could single out certain ones over the years as saying they stood out over others but to see Monroe in an all superpickers band like in the video would be hard to beat even today.

[Ken Olmstead]

Not to move the topic too far from Bill and Byron,but...

this video also reminded me of a favorite twin fiddle "album" from a long time back. There was a band called RED, WHITE, and BLUEGRASS that include Grant and Ginger Boatwright. On their first album Norman Blake played mandolin. On their second one( I think)the twin fiddles were done by Byron and Vassar Clements! Their version of "Mighty Dark to Travel" was very exciting as I recall.

Does anyone know if this recording is available?
I don't know about the recording being available but Ginger Boatright lives here in Alaska and still can sing! Del McCoury called her on the stage when he was here a couple of years ago. LOTS of fun!! She sings at the local folk festival in January and tears it up! She does have a CD she has made but not the Red, White and Bluegrass.

[Jean Fugal]

there are a couple of Red White And Bluegrass on Amazon May be just what you want? .........jpf

[pjlama]

Whatever the catalyst, that was some seriously good playing.