Monroe 1981 Austin City Limits

[Rob Fowler]

Hi all,
I just posted this in another thread but wanted to post it in a new one, also. Not sure if many have seen this but, man, it's a great one! Enjoy!

[Glassweb]

KILLER... SMOKIN'! Thanks Rob, that's just some fantastic archival footage right there. Kenny & Bill... kinda like Stephane & Django, Joe & Eddie (no, not Flo and Eddie...)... does it get any better than this? I thinkest not!

We'll never see the like of a William James Monroe again... not on this planet anyhow...

[CES]

Awesome, man, thanks for posting!

[Bigtuna]

Thank you!

[Mandolin Mick]

Last night I was wondering if Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys were ever on Austin City Limits! Thanx for posting this!

[mingusb1]

Really good stuff, thanks for posting! Here is the set-list best I can tell:

--Instrumental (nice one I've heard a bunch but can't recall the name)
--Uncle Pen
--Good Bye Old Pal (always loved this one!)
--In the Pines
--Panhandle Country (with guitar break!)
--Swing Low/I'll Fly Away/I Saw the Light
--Watermelon on the Vine
Encore
--John Henry
--Y'all Come

Thanks again,
Z

[Mandolin Mick]

The instrumental is Kentucky Mandolin.

[Bill Baldridge]

Good stuff! If Bill doesn't feel compelled to stick to the melody on his breaks neither do I.

[f5loar]

Must not be the complete show as he would never have started with a mandolin instrumental. Also the opening song, usually Watermelon on the Vine , the trio number, the guitar man's solo and the banjo instrumental are missing. I guess I was right on with my guess of early 1981.

[Spruce]

Must not be the complete show...

They never are on ACL....

When they originally broadcast this, the other band (if memory serves) was Tiny and Jethro doing "Back to Back"....?

[AlanN]

The 1981 ACL DVD that I have is Grisman Band w/ Tiny/Jethro/Johnny Gimble. It's a gem.

[mandolirius]

As long as we're posting cool Monroe vids, here's something I haven't seen before. In fact, I don't think I've heard him do this in any live shows. it's really interesting to hear how he played it, forty years after recording the original.

[AlanN]

Neat.

[Mike Bunting]

Brilliant.

[f5loar]

A tune he liked to do in the mandolin workshops at festivals since it was the first mandolin tune he wrote. Very hard to follow the chord changes on that one. Even these seasoned BGBoys were struggling to keep up the chord changes on the unrehearsed request. Sometimes Monroe didn't always follow an exact pattern of chord changes. The photo they used is circa 1978.

[AlanN]

Yah, the banjo (Bob Black?) seemed to be the most 'regular'.

"Now, listen good and keep up with me, cause if you don't..."

[Bill Baldridge]

Not so brilliant.

[f5loar]

The photo shows Butch Robins so I assume that is who took the banjo break. To my ears it does sound more like Butch than Bob Black. The guitar sounds like Wayne Lewis runs. Kenny Baker for sure on the fiddle.

[evanreilly]

We'll never see the like of a William James Monroe again... not on this planet anyhow...

Now is that James William or William Smith??????

[Spruce]

The 1981 ACL DVD that I have is Grisman Band w/ Tiny/Jethro/Johnny Gimble. It's a gem.

That's it...
Thanks!

[Mandolin Mick]

You mean it's not WJM Radio?

[JimRichter]

Last night I was wondering if Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys were ever on Austin City Limits! Thanx for posting this!

At least two, if not three times.

First one with my friend and banjo hero Butch Robins (banjo)--circa 1981

Next one with Blake Williams on banjo--circa 1986/87

The third--I can't remember if it was the same show with Blake Williams (I think it might have been as the first 1/2 hour was the Blue Grass Boys and the second half the guest stars)--was Monroe with his Bluegrass Hall of Fame stars, which included performances with Mac Wiseman, Jim and Jesse, and Ralph Stanley.

As you can tell, I'm also a banjoist and these ACLs, HeeHaw, and the advent of VHS tape were critical to my banjo instruction back in the early 80's. NGR, Hot Rize, Jim and Jesse, Jimmy Martin, Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe, Grisman, etc. were wonderful teachers that I got to see periodically on ACL on Saturday evenings. For those of us in the midwest/Indiana/Kentucky area, Lonesome Pine Special ran out of Louisville and was an excellent source of bluegrass and traditional music. The last one I saw was in the early 90s so I'm not sure if it's even on anymore. But that show did hour long concerts --not the 1/2 hour ACL format. The mandolin-centric one with Marshall, Bush, and Ostroushko stands out as one of the highlights of that series.