Bill Monroe....43 years ago

[sprucetop1]

After 43 years, I've just found these pics. I took of Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys taken on their UK tour in May 1966. Was clearing out the junk room and nearly threw out the box of negatives without looking inside to see what was there........ Pic.quality not great....but here thay are ! Bill, with James Monroe, bass, Richard Greene ,fiddle, Pete Rowan , guitar and Lamar Grier, banjo.

[sprucetop1]

....and if memory serves me correctly, that was a free admission concert too in a park in South London....

[Mandolusional]

Very cool! Like finding hidden treasure, thanks for sharing the photos.

[Spruce]

Know of any recordings kicking around from that little tour, sprucetop1?

It's always been kind of a gap for Monroe live show collectors...

[Man of Wax]

Did Rowan do his annoying vertical guitar thing even then?

[sprucetop1]

Spruce.....I don't know of any recordings from that tour, but I bet they exist. The BG Boys played quite a few dates over (probably) a ten day period. I saw four or five shows I think. Just found some more pics. and I'll see if any are worth posting here. They'll be grainy and scratched, but I tell myself that adds to the period charm.......

[sprucetop1]

Yep....here's a couple more pix. The poster shows the date of the show to be May 31st. 1966, and as I thought...admission was FREE... The 35 mm negative of the band shot has got "Uncle Pen" on a sticker on the neg....so maybe that's what they were singing....

[evanreilly]

I have to make my opinion known about Rowan's 'Vertical Guitar' style. I think Peter was one of the strongest guitar men who played in the BGB and his playing put a bit of fire under Monroe, whose mandolin playing from that era is maybe the best. I think that Monroe recorded and played more tunes on the mandolin than with any previous band, partially as a direct result of how tight the band was, and Rowan was a major factor. I always like when a guitar man sticks the guitar up into the mic and pounds out the runs! Rowan perfected that.
P.S. - Monroe's English tour was a great success! Thanks for the pix!!

[Paul Kotapish]

Thanks for the cool photos, Spruce.

Interesting to note that Diz Disley was the compere (M.C.) for that show. Diz seems to have been interested in and playing every sort of music in those days, before he became so closely associated with Stephane Grappelli. This must have been about the time that he was doing some work with Dave Swarbrick and Martin Carthy.

[eightmoremiles]

That was a great band that WSM had in 1966. Richard Greene may have been the best fiddler Monroe ever had (apologies to the long tenured Kenny Baker). Greene was fabulous at the Fincastle, VA festival that summer.

[Don Grieser]

Lots of live recordings of this band, but very few studio recordings. The shows of this band at the Gaslight are classic.

Rowan, Jimmy Martin, Ed Mayfield, & Tom Ewing were the best guitar players Monroe had.

Someone should forward these photos to Peter Rowan. He'd love to see them. I burned a bunch of his live shows with Monroe for him one time and heard them blaring in his car as he was leaving the festival.

[Phillip Tigue]

re: post #7...

Does the fiddler stink?

[woodwizard]

What a band that must have been! I too really like Pete Rowans guitar showmanship. Great pics... thanks for sharing... makes the imagionation run wild.

[Man of Wax]

I have to make my opinion known about Rowan's 'Vertical Guitar' style. I think Peter was one of the strongest guitar men who played in the BGB and his playing put a bit of fire under Monroe, whose mandolin playing from that era is maybe the best. I think that Monroe recorded and played more tunes on the mandolin than with any previous band, partially as a direct result of how tight the band was, and Rowan was a major factor. I always like when a guitar man sticks the guitar up into the mic and pounds out the runs! Rowan perfected that.
P.S. - Monroe's English tour was a great success! Thanks for the pix!!

No question he's a great player and a true innovator. I'm just not into the flamboyance. Anyway, great photos. Thanks for sharing.

[Ivan Kelsall]

That was the line up when my band opened for Bill Monroe & the Boys when they played the Manchester Sports Guild (MSG) in '66. Bill Clifton was second on. I managed to get the autograph of Bill Monroe & Lamar Grier on the back of Bill Monroe's LP "Bluegrass Ramble". Peter Rowan,Richard Green & James Monroe had all gone off for a drink,so i never got their autographs. The MSG's resident photographer took photos of all the artistes on that night & our Guitarist had a stack of them,but as i haven't seen him for over 40 years,i'm not likely to see the photos again either,
Saska
Aaaaaaah ! - I see it's you Mr.Field (it's also me - Ivan Kelsall)

PS - Bill Clifton was sitting next to me when Bill & the Boys were playing.When he heard Richard Green play,he turned to me & whispered "He's half fiddle" - he still is !!! .The band with that line-up made only one recording,"Bluegrass Time". I managed to get a good 'used' copy of it through a specialist record dealer.

[man dough nollij]

Saska, you opened for Bill 43 years ago? I had no idea I was in such company! That gives you even a little more credibility in your rabid Fernitis.

Lee

[sprucetop1]

Here's some more pix. from the same show. I don't know how many gigs they played on that tour, but I remember seeing them at 5 venues....Coventry, Cambridge, Stevenage, S. London (where these pix. were taken) and the big concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

[sprucetop1]

PS. Those pix. were taken from about 50 meters from the stage with a Zeiss Contax 35mm. camera from the 1940's....which still works !

[Scott Tichenor]

Priceless photos. Thank you so much for posting those to sprucetop1.

Comment about Peter Rowan's guitar playing. About 20 years ago a bluegrass band I was in warmed up for him in a local bar. He came up to us after our first set and asked if we'd do his second set with him and do all Monroe and traditional bluegrass numbers. I got to stand next to him for that 45 minutes and his guitar playing (and singing of course!) was astounding. A real workhorse guitar man. Bluegrass school was in session and we had a lesson with a master. We had a blast and got to hear some great Monroe stories between sets. Won't ever forget that opportunity.

For those that may have missed it, I'd like to use this opportunity to link to Darryl Wolfe's remarkable bluegrass pictures thread. There may be other good collections of vintage bluegrass pictures on the web, but I've yet to see one that beats this collection.

[Chad Thorne]

Man, ya gotta cherish those pictures, Sprucetop. Thanks for sharing them!

[sprucetop1]

Wow....thanks for appreciative comments re. the pix. I was unsure whether to post them as I didn't think there would be any interest.... I've got another 6 or so from the same show, and I'll post those as well later today...John

[sprucetop1]

OK....here's the rest of the pix. I think that's all of them.......enjoy !!!

[AlanN]

Great pix.

Greene is 'gettin' down'!

[Ernie Campbell]

Lots of live recordings of this band, but very few studio recordings. The shows of this band at the Gaslight are classic.

Rowan, Jimmy Martin, Ed Mayfield, & Tom Ewing were the best guitar players Monroe had.

Someone should forward these photos to Peter Rowan. He'd love to see them. I burned a bunch of his live shows with Monroe for him one time and heard them blaring in his car as he was leaving the festival.

I think Del Mccoury belongs on the list of Monroe guitar players.

[mandozilla]

I think Peter was one of the strongest guitar men who played in the BGB

Evan you're so right. As a long time rhythm guitarist, Peter is one of my BG rhythm guitar heroes.

I think Del Mccoury belongs on the list of Monroe guitar players.

Haleyjo, I'm with you on Del...and Lester was no slouch either.


Re;the picture of the show poster on post #7...Bluegrass Music is NOT 'Folk Music' ! It's only a few years older than Rock and Roll!