What's your earliest memory of bluegrass?

[TNFrank]

I'd have to say mine would probably be hearing Flat and Scruggs play on "The Beverly Hillbillies". I remember seeing them make quite a few guest spots on the show as well. One if the first tunes I started pickin' on my new Mando was the "Berverly Hillbillies" theme, LOL. Of course that lead pretty easilly into "Under the Double Eagle".

[sunburst]

Flatt & Scruggs on TV for Martha White flour.

[Chris Travers]

I'd have to say mine would probably be hearing Flat and Scruggs play on "The Beverly Hillbillies"

Same here!

[David Zaruba]

The Ballad of Jed Clampett. Loved it then, still do!

[TNFrank]

The Ballad of Jed Clampett. Loved it then, still do!
Yep, that's the name, don't know why it slipped my mind. When I was a kid the part about Jed shooting at some food made me think the dogs food dish had rolled down the hill and he was shooting at it trying to stop it,LOL. Hey, I was only like 5 years old and the dog was right there looking at it roll down the hill. LOL. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Paul Kotapish]

The Dillards as the Darlings on The Andy Griffith Show and Flatt & Scruggs on The Beverly Hillbillies, I reckon. Shortly after that my high-school rock band started playing little gigs around Virginia and Maryland, and at jobs like store openings or community picnics we often found ourselves sharing the bill with some of the local bluegrass greats like the Country Gentlemen. I remember being amazed at what great musicians they were, although at that point I was so into electric rock and blues that I had a hard time relating to the music.

Our bass player's dad was a patent attorney who had made his career getting the patent for the Hula Hoop, and he represented Earl Scruggs on some patent for the banjo. All these years later I suspect that it might have been for the Keith-Scruggs tuner, but I've never been able to sort out the details, and nobody seems to remember. In any case, Mr. Scruggs was over at the house while we were practicing our Beatles and Stones and Yardbirds covers in the basement and we got to meet him briefly. Wish I'd know then . . .

[lovethemf5s]

When I was a kid around 1960 in San Diego. My parents took me with them when they went to friends house to play bridge. I went into their den and found an AM station that was playing an Osborne Brothers album all the way through. Listening to their music almost made my hair stand on end and I was hooked.

[SternART]

Aside from the above mentioned TV shows......first BG band I saw in person was Old and In The Way at the Keystone Berkeley.

[Gary Hedrick]

at the Brown County Jamboree, summer of 1956. Bill Monroe was there and my father took me backstage to see him.

[f5loar]

The Beverly Hillbillies probably sealed it for me. So much so I still sing the theme song today with the never heard 4th verse about the banker. From there it was Andy Griffith and all those great Country music shows that would feature bluegrass from time to time like Porter Wagoner show, The Stonemans, Wilburn Bros., etc. And for certain hearing Monroe on the Opry Sat. night. I guess I had no life as a kid as I was home Sat. night for 5 hours listening to my AM radio at clear channel 650 WSM complete with the foil on the coathanger antenna.

[JEStanek]

I saw the Beverly Hillbillies as a kid but what made me say "I like that music" was the Deliverance Soundtrack. Honest. I heard the soundtrack years before I saw the movie. I still have my Dad's vinyl copy.

Jamie

[Rroyd]

Our local radio station used to regularly play the original "Dueling Banjos" with Don Reno and Arthur Smith back in the 50s. (Hopefully no one here will be offended by the "B" word.) They also had in their rotation a recording of "Silver Bells" by Harley Nelson, which may have been done on a 4-string, but at age 6 or 7, I wasn't into analyzing styles; I just knew it was a cool tune.

[Jeff Hildreth]

Flatt and Scruggs on the radio at home in No Central Nevada in the mid fifties.

[f5loar]

Don't know why I forgot those old F&S shows. I watched every one and still have the song books I sent off for from the show for a quarter and a empty bag of Martha White Hot Rize Self Rizin' Flour. They are up to 6 volumes of those shows on DVD and they are the absolute best. Now I look at those old shows and can understand why I was so spell bound by Bluegrass through F&S,Monore,The Darlings,The Stonemans,Osbornes,Jim&Jesse,Stanleys,Reno&Smiley

[jimbob]

My grandfather played mandolin, fiddle and guitar and my grandmother played the piano. I remember them playing when I was very young...not traditional bluegrass, I guess, but Jenny Lind and Under The Double Eagle were tunes I remember. I have the old Gibson J-45 he played. Like others here, Flatt & Scruggs then Jim & Jesse on the Porter Waggoner show.

[woodwizard]

The very first Bluegrass memories are listening to Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys with my Dad on his shortwave radio while living in West Covina Calf. I was about 9 years old. I'm 56 now. But I guess Flatt & Scruggs really grabbed me and put me back in the Bluegrass sadle after being pretty much in the Folk/Rock & Roll scene. Also when we moved back to Arkansas when I was about 12 My Great Uncle Sherd got my attention with his old time fiddle playin'.

[Ken Feil]

Hearing Bill Monroe on the Opry via my boy scout crystal set. Probably about 1948. I don't recall that they even used the term bluegrass music...it was just "Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys". Phew! that's 60 years of bluegrass. I'm 71 now.

Ken

[TNFrank]

Wow, looks like a lot of us were Flat and Scruggs influenced. My mom also had some Grand ol' Opry records on the Deca lable that I used to listen to. IIRC Bill Monroe was on there along with Little Jimmy Dickens and a few other early '60's Stars. I've got to try and find those records, I know they're around here someplace.

[mandolirius]

The big three: Beverly Hillbillies on tv and the movies Bonny & Clyde (Foggy Mtn. Breakdown) and Deliverance (Dueling Banjos).

[mandozilla]

When "Deliverance" hit the scene the band I was in was bombarded with requests for us to play "Dueling banjos". We got pretty sick of it pretty fast but the audiences liked it. To this day I wince whenever someone suggests "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (but I still like this tune), "Rocky Top", or "Dueling Banjos"...AARRGH!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[nashvillebill]

Like many others, I guess my first exposure was Flatt and Scruggs on the Beverly Hillbillies. I have to admit I didn't get it at 7-8 years old- I thought the Beatles and Elvis were the coolest things on the planet. I can remember my Grandad saying "that's Flatt and Scruggs boy!" Like there was something seriously wrong with me for not recognizing their greatness- now I know he was right. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

The first time I heard something bluegrassy that I fell in love with was Tom T. Hall's "Magnificent Music Machine" in the late '70's as a young man of 18 or 19. Not pure BG as it has some drums in it, but a great record. I've been hooked ever since.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Back in '63,i was playing Ukulele & having seen a Banjo decided to get me one of them critters. I had it tuned so i could play it like a Uke (4 strings only).I'd only been playing for a couple of months when a friend of mine from work,told me that his brother was looking for a Banjo player. I went along to my friend's home & met his brother who proceded to play me 2 Banjo instrumentals - "Earl's Breakdown" & "Flinthill Special",not played by Earl Scruggs,but by the "Barrier Brothers", Ernest,Herman & Ray from South Bend. Indiana. On that LP,"Golden Bluegrass Hits" the great Benny Martin was playing Fiddle,Buddy Killen played Bass Fiddle & there was a drummer,Willie Akerman. I'd never even heard OF Bluegrass at the time & the sound just floored me - AWESOME.
# I got into work the following day & told the guy that had taught me Uke (he & his wife had a C & W duo) what i'd heard . He said that it was called Bluegrass Music & mentioned the names of Flatt & Scruggs & Bill Monroe. I did no more than go to town looking for LP's of Bluegrass Music,& the rest as they say is history. I taught myself to play Banjo just by listening to records,tutor books etc. were years away.
# Since then i've had a truly incredible time playing & meeting a few of the greatest names in Bluegrass also. There's no other music like it & it doesn't surprise me that it's popularity has spread around the world. I've stood near folks that have been attending their first Bluegrass Festival & they've been spellbound by what they're hearing. The world owes William Smith Monroe a heck of a debt,& towards the end of his life,i'm sure he came to know just what an incredible legacy he had bestowed on us. I'm very proud to be able to say that i met him in 1966 when he & the 'Boys' came over to the UK,
# Saska

[Don Stiernberg]

Here in Chicago there's been a great Folk Festival at The University of Chicago annually for the last 40 or 50 years. Each year they usually present a bluegrass or old-time string band along with blues, gospel, cowboy and other authentic styles of music.When I was a kid back in the seventies, I went year after year. The first year I got to see The Lilly Brothers(Everett and Bea) with Don Stover and Tex Logan.

When Don Stover hit the kickoff to "Molly and Tenbrooks", I was a goner. That was it.

Imagine the thrill I had just this past week. In between gigs on our "Jersey Tour '08", John Carlini took me to Tex Logan's house and I got to meet one of the guys who inspired
my initial interest in the music. Wow!

Subsequent U of C Folkfest shows included J.D. Crowe and The Kentucky Mountain Boys(Doyle on guitar, Larry Rice on mandolin, Bobby Slone on bass and fiddle)and then The Newgrass Revival(Sam, Courtney, Curtis and ..EBO!)

I guess thanks to that festival I had no chance whatsoever of becoming a "normal" individual.

[Doug Edwards]

Back in '59, Flatt & Scruggs playing ("Earl's Break Down" as I later learned) on the Uncle Jay Show in Austin, TX.

[sunburst]

I've stood near folks that have been attending their first Bluegrass Festival & they've been spellbound by what they're hearing.
Though I feel like I've grown up with bluegrass music, I think I know how people feel when they hear it live for the first time.
Soon after high school, when I was a "cool" rock-n-roll drummer and bluegrass was completely passe, I was doing some sort of volunteer work at a festival of some sort and there was this bunch of very amateur looking local folks preparing to play music, no stage, no PA, just in a group on the ground. They had a bull fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, and so forth like Flatt and Scruggs used to play on TV, and I wasn't expecting much. Rock-n-roll was "real music" after all, and I'd seen bluegrass acts before.
All at once they kicked something off and I was stopped in my tracks. There's something about that boom chick hitting you from live instruments about 20 feet away that has a power you can't anticipate.
I've seen the look in the eyes of the uninitiated when they first hear live bluegrass, heard people stop talking in mid sentence at the sound of a banjo kick off, seen kids jump up and start to run around at a live Johnson Mountain Boys outdoor show as soon as the music started. "It's a powerful thing."

[tkdboyd]

I grew up listening to Bluegrass and old Acoustic Country and Gospel, due to my parents. Then in the late 70's, I was still young, I heard New Grass Revival; been a fan ever since, but not until Strength in Numbers and then the Garcia/Grisman projects did I go back and start listening to the roots for the "first time".

It has always been there with me, but unfortunately throughout the 80's I was into Rock/Metal Guitar, something I continually try to keep stifled. It was such a bad influence on me!

[Tim]

I was hestitant to even post here because it is so different than the other items. #While I don't have a specific memory of the first time I heard it, my general feeling was that bluegrass was that annoying stuff a local band played. #I grew up in a coal mining town in SW Va, stright-line less than 10 miles from where Ralph Stanley lives.

When I was about 18 my brother played me a "Country Comfort" record (local band out of the Bristol VA/TN area). #Next he played me some early Seldom Scene.

I still maintain that there is nothing better than a good bluegrass band and nothing worse than one where things are just a little (or a lot) off.

[tnpathfinder]

I guess I'm a bit younger than you old coots! I can remember seeing Sam and Ricky with Emmylou on Austin City Limits as a little kid and just being spell bound.

[lgc]

The first time I heard Old Crow Medicine Show.

[John Kasley]

I came of age in Chicago during the '60s and the "folk scare" was going full bore (groups like the Kingston Trio, New Christy Minstrels, etc). I thought the banjo was pretty neat, but at that point I don't recall hearing bluegrass or if I had, I didn't know what it was. One day in a record shop on Lake street near the edge of the Loop I came across the first Country Gentlemen's LP on Folkways "Folk Songs Old and New". The cover picture showed a guy playing banjo (Eddie Adcock) and another guy playing some weird looking instrument I'd never seen before (John Duffey). So, folk Songs and banjo, it was easy to make up my mind to buy it. I took it home, played it and fell out of my chair! I had never heard anybody play that fast and that clean. It gave me goose bumps. I've been hooked ever since. And of course it was then, that I found out that funny little instrument was mandolin. They were not easy to find in Chicago music stores at the time.

[mandopete]

Wow, I guess I'm dating myself by saying it was hearing Tony Rice on "Cold On The Shoulder".

I heard the Beverly Hillbillies and Deliverance, but I don't think either of thise shows really registered as bluegrass music to me.

[Ken Olmstead]

I am embarressed to say that I am one of the Oh Brother bunch! From there I discovered Dawg, then Sam, and then Bill. Took awhile to warm up to real bluegrass for me. But, I love it now! I guess it doesn't matter how you get there, just happy I came!! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[tree]

I remember seeing John Hartford on the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (hope I remembered that right) and deciding at that moment that I had to learn how to play something with strings on it. #Turned out to be guitar first and mandolin much later, but better late than never.

[bbjork]

Played folk guitar in the early to mid 60's, ended up in the Navy. #Was playing in the barracks basement (1967) when the OOD (Officer of the day) came down and showed me the G run. #He was kind enough to invite me to his house for a jam and it was the live living room music that grabbed me. #I saw him again a few years ago and had a nice visit, he's a great mandolin player and music shop owner out of Aspen, CO by the name of Sandy Munro.

bbjork

[danman]

In 1966 my grandfather took me to see Flatt and Scruggs and Jim and Jesse at a show in Plant City, Florida. It was at the local national guard armory. Great memories.

[GTison]

One of my earliest memories PERIOD is of the " Jim & Jessie show" on our newly acquired TV ( cir. 1963?) . And me and my sister running around in circles hollering and giggling that " Jim&Jessie were on-Jim&Jessie were on-Jim&Jessie were on". I'm sure it drove my parents nuts. I must have been 5 or 6.
Later, Growing up w/ the Beverly Hillbillies & Andy Griffith on in the afternoons. And playing like I had a banjo w/ a badminton racquet to imitate Earl Scruggs. Singing PearlPearlPearl.
The first festival I went to was in around 1975 maybe in Chipley, Florida. I was so amazed!

[Mike Crater]

My first bluegrass was Flatt & Scruggs on the Beverly Hillbillies. #The first bluegrass album I owned was either a High Country record, back in the early 70's, or one by the Dillards (with Annabel Lee on it.)

[minnedolin]

Going to a local bluegrass festival in High School with a buddy (his immediate and extended family were all there--it was like a Pentecostal Church camp) Shortly after that the Pizza Tapes came out and I kept on delving back further--O&ITW, Tony Rice, Dawg, Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, John Hartford(how great is Tall Buildings??!)and now you know the rest of the story. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Gutbucket]

The Bonnie and Clyde film soundtrack. And seeing Bill Monroe at the old Ryman in Nashville. This would have been around the late 60's or early 70's.

[Nick Alberty]

My first memories of bluegrass include several things.....

I grew up going to square dances with my parents. (They were in a square dancing club). They almost always had some great fiddle tunes to dance to and sometimes even had a live band. Most dances were done by a caller who played records out of a huge collection he owned.

Also, I remember going to Silver Dollar City and always hearing some bluegrass music (or at least old-time music).

Also, I had several 8 track tapes as a kid with Opry stars on them. Lot's of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, etc.

However, most of my memories of bluegrass come from hanging out with my grandddad. He passed in 2000 at age 85. He always was listening to records or tapes of old-time music. He always had a song in his head and was always singing something around the house.

He was the one who caused me to love that kind of music. When you look up to someone like that, you always want to like what they like. That's how it started for me, but I quickly like the music because it's good.

I can't remember a time when bluegrass music wasn't a favorite of mine.

[Nick Alberty]

I forgot to mention this...

I used to get up early in the morning, even when I was about three years old, to watch "The John Chick Show" on KTUL Channel 8 in Tulsa.

Anybody remember him? He had some great music on there as well.

[300win]

My earliest memories of Bluegrass was my dad singing "Down In The Willow Garden", while picking his old Gibson archtop guitar. That was in 1959. Seen Flatt and Scruggs in 1962 at Kernersville school. That is when my journey begin. My dad got me a Kay guitar that year. Many years, guitars, banjos, and mandolins later, I'm still at it.

[Ken Berner]

Back in 1947, while listening to my radio, I kept hearing sounds that drew my interest. There were radio stations in Del Rio, TX, Cincinnati, OH and I think one in Louisiana that I stayed tuned to at night. Needless to say, WSM was what I always listed to on Saturday night. I am sure that the music was not all country but surely had bluegrass in the mix.

[ManjoMan]

Since my Dad was playing mandolin before I was born, I could say I remember hearing bluegrass when I was still in the womb. Obviously, not really. At the age of four, I thought my Dad was the only one who played the little guitar, but I also remember listening to the Osborne Brothers "Cuttin' Grass" album at about that time. That was around 1965. I can also remember listening to "Bringing Mary Home" by the Country Gentlemen some time after that. What finally drew me in was when the Country Gentlemen came out with the "Award Winning" album and I was really hooked.

[hattio]

When I was a kid I remember we had two albums by the McClane Family Band. I also have very, very vague memories of seeing them play in the elementary school in Seward, Alaska. Later, I remember seeing F & S on Beverly Hillbillies. Also, not quite bluegrass, but our family had a LOT of Dottie Rambo albums.

[Chris Wofford]

At the risk of getting flamed, does "I'm just a country boy" count as bluegrass? If so, that is it for me. If not, I have to go with Mike Snider off a VHS tape my brother bought after seeing him on Nashville Now with Ralph Emery. I think that was the name of the show anyway. Mike Snider is country even for a b*jo player!

[Rick Schmidlin]

The Dillards on Andy, The Berverly Hillbillies Ballard of Jed, Bonnie and Clyde tied the knot for me, Deliverance, John Hartford on Glen Cambell and Muleskiner.

Being born in 1954 in New Jersery this all makes sence. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Tim Peter]

What someone else said about the Dillards on Andy Griffith and Beverly Hill Billys.

Also, influenced by the musical tastes of my older brother who had a great record collection that included everything from Doc Watson, Muddy Waters, The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Earl Skruggs and Lester Flatt (before I had even heard of Lester Flatt he had named one of his dogs "Lester" -- didn't much care for that dog) etc. I loved the mystical sounds of Jimmy Page's mandolin playing on Led Zeppelin IV's "The Battle of Evermore".

Later, saw Steve Earle performing with Del McCoury and the boys. I remember being absolutely blown.

And then there was the "O Brother" soundtrack. No shame in that. Fantabulous stuff there.

[Mr. Loar]

The Dillards as the Darlings on The Andy Griffith Show and Flatt & Scruggs on The Beverly Hillbillies, I reckon. Shortly after that my high-school rock band started playing little gigs around Virginia and Maryland, and at jobs like store openings or community picnics we often found ourselves sharing the bill with some of the local bluegrass greats like the Country Gentlemen. I remember being amazed at what great musicians they were, although at that point I was so into electric rock and blues that I had a hard time relating to the music.

Our bass player's dad was a patent attorney who had made his career getting the patent for the Hula Hoop, and he represented Earl Scruggs on some patent for the banjo. All these years later I suspect that it might have been for the Keith-Scruggs tuner, but I've never been able to sort out the details, and nobody seems to remember. In any case, Mr. Scruggs was over at the house while we were practicing our Beatles and Stones and Yardbirds covers in the basement and we got to meet him briefly. Wish I'd know then . . .
I just watched that episode. Great picking and a funny show as always.

My early memories came from a trip my parents took me on to see an Uncle down in Lakeland Florida. A bunch of men got together and played Bluegrass/Country. This was probably in the early 60's.

[mandognome]

Walking into my dad's office when I was little. He was listening to bluegrass, smoking his pipe, and tying flies.

[David Newton]

What a great thread!
While I remember the "Darlins" playing "Dooley" on The Andy Griffith Show, bluegrass for me began in 1973 in Tivoli, Tx. I was in the Navy in south Texas, I had bought a D-28 a couple of years before, and wasn't sure what it was for. I saw a poster nailed to a post at a country store. It said "Bluegrass Meeting" and thought "maybe I should go and see what that is about."

[caddy jim]

I agree, this is a great thread. My earliest memories are of my dad, his cousin, and a pal or two playing what they called "hillbilly" music. This was in the early fifties. We listened to the Louisana Hayride, The Grand Ole Opry, and some show out of either Columbus or Cincinnati, Ohio. Of course, Flatt and Scruggs, the Wilburn Bros. and Andy Grifffith. We'd also catch Bonnie Lou and Buster and the Wisemans out of Bristol, Va. On Sundays Rev. Mull and Mrs. Mull had a radio show featuring Bluegrass gospel, I think out of Johnson City, Tn. There were many country, gospel and bluegrass shows that played at the old city auditorium here in Asheville back then. Carl Story always brought a show to town, as did Jim and Jesse, and Don Reno and The Osbournes. I was lucky to have grown up in area rich in the traditions of this type of music, and am still blessed to be living here. Once again, great thread.

Jim