Very best Monroe style player

[mandotool]

I would generally stay out of a "best ...player" type thread ..
but i would have to go with Mike Compton on this one .
Also takes the cake for evangelizing Monroe style..(in my humble opinion)

[Ivan Kelsall]

If i may include a player who's 'passed on',i'd have to say that of all the Monroe stylists i've heard to date,that Ralph Rinzler is by far the best i've heard. Listen to either of the Greenbriar Boys recordings "The Greenbriar Boys" or "Ragged But Right" & you'll hear some of the finest Monroe style playing ever recorded. It wasn't for nothing that RR became Bill Monroe's manager for a while,
Ivan

[Ivan Kelsall]

I just heard Mike Aldridge the mandolin player in Al Batten's band "The Bluegrass Reunion" playing some very,very good Monroe style Mandolin in the song "The Old Crossroads",in fact some of the best Monroe style of any 'modern' player i've heard to date,
Ivan

[AlanN]

Mike has been a force for years. The Bass Mountain Boys were a main attraction in NC for a long time, one recording was produced by Butch Baldassari, and yielded the tune 18 Wheels. His sons Brian and Daniel are in the very fine local band Constant Change, banjo and mandolin, respectively. Daniel has that right hand downstroke thing down.

Mike picks a C.E. Ward, I believe.

[Wesley]

Like a few other posters here I'm unqualified to talk about who is the "best". Favorites is something else.

[Big Joe]

The ONLY Monroe style player that has lived was Bill Monroe himself. Others can play his material or have a Monroesque feel, but they each seem to emphasize Monroe at a different phase of his career. Like all of us, Monroe developed over many years and his style is a bit different from time to time while still having Bill in there at all times. The others may have a good hint of Monroe as an influence, but they are not Bill. Mike Compton is a great mandolin player, and a really cool guy, but he plays like Compton and that is nothing to be upset about. He certainly has strong hints of Monroe at a phase of Monroe's career, but he still sounds like Mike Compton playing. That is certainly better than trying to clone someone. These are my opinions, and I've heard them all and love their playing, but they are not Bill, and he was not them.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Big Joe - I understand your comments perfectly,but nobody's saying that a Monroe 'style' player plays exactly like BM.The broader meaning is that a player uses certain 'Monroesque' phrases & techniques in their playing- ie.many more ''down strokes'' than what's normally used,thus playing in a 'style' closer to that of BM than other players. Back in my teens,i used to sport a Tony Curtis hair 'style',but nobody ever thought that i WAS Tony Curtis - leastways i never got the cash,
Ivan

[Brian Ray]

I would agree with Big Joe about Compton sounding like Compton... and though that should go without saying, I'm aware that it does need to be said out loud from time to time. But I disagree with Big Joe as I feel there certainly are many Monroe-style players and consider myself one. And since we're stating the perceived obvious, I'll offer that I am not Bill, but if I was, I might be flattered that in addition to Fathering a genre of music (an incredible feat), I would also be recognized for birthing a style of playing; one that would profoundly affect many.

But that begs the questions: What is Monroe-style mandolin playing? But I'll leave that for another thread and folks who care to weigh in on the subject.

[SkitownPicker]

IMHO, and I'm suprised he was only mentioned once, Red Henry.....his son Chris is also a great Monroe "style" player as well but to me, Red is the other man....that's my opinion anyway!

[DataNick]

Whilst certainly not "one of the best" check out my young buddy Josh Gooding and his other "Young Guns" called "The Blue Js" from The Great 48 a couple weeks ago. Josh is 13 or 14 I think...

[GTison]

I love Red Henry's playing. But he is not a Monroe purist. I think that it takes that to be "the best Monroe style player." I think Red has a lot of 4 string banjo chord structure to a lot of his music. I hear Norman Blake and Sam Bush and Bill Monroe in Red's playing. (at least going way back) Listen to "Perfect Mason", Or "Hundred and Six Star Rag" what great instrumentals ! Red was a big part of me playing the mandolin.
Chris is more of a Monroe player to my ears.

Now It like the joke they told in "Bluegrass Breakdown" the video. Up in heaven, there high up on a hill stood a mandolin player with a big cowboy hat on playing the mandolin. A passer by asked is that Bill Monroe up there? Angel says No!, that's GOD he thinks he's Bill Monroe.

Fit anyone you know?

[J Mangio]

Looks like those Blue Js are on their way.

[John MacPhee]

MC for me. See him live close your eyes and Bill appears.
John

[Timbofood]

What about best WSM personal sound "snip" I like the one from the "Dusty Miller" thread from Tony Williamson! This covers a couple of acres of fun! Personal, musical, humorous, and teasing! Just another slice of the pie. That's in the song project column.
Then there's the old guest spot of the late Keith Whitley as Lester Flatt doing "Rub it in" on an old Ralph Emery show......
There is the whole "homage" facet to all this, might we say that most traditional "Bluegrass mandolin players" attempt to echo or, attempt to pay some respect to Mr. Monroe? Then again, there are those who don't care. I may be getting too old for this....

I am really starting to see some fascinating patterns in the plaster in my corner!

[Ivan Kelsall]

I listen to a LOT of the 'newer' style of Bluegrass,by bands such as Blue Highway / Special Concensus / Balsam Range & others,& for much of it, ''straight ahead Monroe style'' wouldn't fit too well (IMHO).The songs & instrumentals aren't based around a style like BM had,they're more 'open' & use far more 'runs of notes' than BM used - if you get my drift. There are some players such as Mike Compton & Ronnie McCoury,who do bring a 'Monroe style' kick to a lot of the tunes that they play & it's great,but,they don't use it all the time. I'm sure that there must be many players who do hold more to the Monroe style,maybe in bands that i haven't heard,but i'd suggest that they also play more of the old songs/tunes as well. It seems to me that as Herschel Sizemore says in his tuition DVD,that Bill Monroe's style is maybe a tad too difficult for many players.Herschel says that using all those 'down strokes' was too difficult for him,so he used Bill Monroe's 'other' style,the one Bill Monroe named 'Violin' style - all the single string work. So, we could say that ALL current Bluegrass mandolin players are playing ''Monroe style'' - or,at least ''one of 'em'' !,
Ivan

[Nick Gellie]

My vote goes for Chris Henry. He has his own take on the Monroe mandolin style:

See this video taken at IBMA last year:



And here is another one:



And I almost forgot this one taken in their last gig in Australia in 2015:

[AlanN]

If you track the players who have been around for some time, there are examples of them changing their styles, attack over the years. Skaggs and Roland White come to mind. Early on, they played it much differently than they do now. When I was first learning, Roland was a huge influence. His playing was hot, fast, full and 'Monroe-flavored'. Plus, he was right next to his brother, who played like nobody else. So, Roland was on top of it all with his fingers in a great big pie. Very tasty.

Skaggs played it hot, cool and swingy. His soloing on his Rebel Records 'That's It!', ca. 1975, was very hip - Vassar meets Grappelli. When he was in The New South, he brought a new dimension to mandolin style, Monroe with a twist. Boone Creek saw him pick it hot and a bit wild. I loved it. Now, he's more Monroe than ever.

[AlanN]

Chris Henry's playing is excellent.

[John MacPhee]

Is that George Jackson the Aussie playin fiddle?
John

[Tom Coletti]

I've grown to respect Monroe for his individualistic outlook on musical style, so it's rather odd that a person who often spoke of trying to "carve out a music of his own without copying others" now has a large following that tries to quantify emulation.

Beyond that, I'm never quite sure what is meant by "very best." Is it a person who precisely matched Monroe's sound, or a person who strayed as far from his sound as their own input allowed? One follows Monroe's ideas, and another follows his values, thus creating a modern conflict of interpretation between traditional (purists) and progressive (subgenres and genre hoppers).

Does progress defy the tradition, or is progress the tradition itself? It's a paradox, and in the past, I made the mistake of trying to defend one side without seeing that the two are permanently intertwined with no single clear-cut truth.

When I see and hear Chris Henry, I find someone that walks the line between these two camps: His strap placement and economy of motion in the right hand's continuous eighth notes are very reminiscent of Monroe's general approach to playing, but everything built upon that is entirely different from the exact things that Monroe did in his playing. Chris follows certain thematic elements and dual lines of notes in harmony that stray very far from Monroe's runs and mannerisms, and even the his tone and expression are different, almost vaguely along the lines of a ringy, airy sort of bright Italian bowlback sound which adds a light subtlety rather than a midrange drive.

All in all, it adds up to Chris Henry carving out a music of his own without copying others, so he didn't do exactly what Monroe did, but in another sense, he did exactly what Monroe did.

Have a good weekend,
--Tom

[Nick Gellie]

Is that George Jackson the Aussie playing fiddle?
John

Yes it is. He is a mighty fine player. He did some might fine solos when I saw them perform at Mountaingrass at Harrietville. They were all excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed the joy and bought Chris Henry's CD - Water Music.

[mcgroup53]

I got to take a class with Chris at last year's Monroe Mandolin Camp. Great guy, amazing player. Showed us a series of exercises I use everyday now to work on improving my tone, speed and accuracy. Mis Monroe Approved CD is fantastic, too.

[Nick Gellie]

I couldn't resist this one as it shows Chris Henry's unusual monroesque style to perfection. I think he has since improved his technique and tone even further based on what I saw him play at Harrietville last year:

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

I couldn't resist this one as it shows Chris Henry's unusual monroesque style to perfection. I think he has since improved his technique and tone even further based on what I saw him play at Harrietville last year:

Great video Nick. BTW I just checked Chris Henry's tour schedule and he's going to be all over Australia between now and early April. Hope you get to see him on stage again:

http://christopherhenry.net/tour-dates/

[Austin Koerner]

I just heard Mike Aldridge the mandolin player in Al Batten's band "The Bluegrass Reunion" playing some very,very good Monroe style Mandolin in the song "The Old Crossroads",in fact some of the best Monroe style of any 'modern' player i've heard to date,
Ivan

Ohhh yeah. Mike is the man!