Bill Monroe Sailors Plea

[Bill McCall]

“April 23, 1951, Bill Monroe recorded Sailor’s Plea with DRUMS (sic) and ELECTRIC (sic) guitars for Decca.”

Surely that’s no part of nothing.

[allenhopkins]

Here's what Neil Rosenberg said about the 1951 sessions in his 1974 book, Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys: An Illustrated Discography:

"[Producer] Paul Cohen was also behind the only two sessions...which Monroe did without the Blue Grass Boys [for Decca]. This was an attempt to adapt an older Opry performer [Monroe] to what was later to be called 'The Nashville Sound.' In terms of country music as it was at this time, Monroe was a best-seller. These sessions were promoted by Cohen in hope of expanding Monroe's market and heightening sales....The musicians were the top Nashville studio sidemen of the period, and the concept was a sound one...It was good material, but the attempt to fit Monroe's highly individual style to a studio formula situation with electric instruments was a failure. [Owen] Bradley said that Monroe did not like the arrangement and that most of the performances were not of marketable quality. It was at this point, [Bradley] said that Decca realized that Monroe's band 'sound' was an important part of his success as a recording artist. (pp. 46-7)

Monroe recorded several covers of Jimmie Rodgers songs; some were later released on a Vocalion LP, Decca's budget line. So some of Monroe's two "electric & drums" sessions, in March and April 1951, did get released in the 1960's.