Monroe

[Moose]

Yeah!!!..."sonic vocabulary"!! - I'm gonna' drop this at my Friday nite "jam-session" - tell 'em I read it in...a book. hee.. hee..

[JMOSS99]

SPRUCE, i would agree in his later years but not in the early years. go listen to the original cry cry darlin, you'll find her name, blue moon etc, and then tell me he couldn't sing! #I would never say he's been the best but I would say he's without a doubt my favorite, with Duffy not to far behind @ #2.....Spruce dont get mad at me lets just agree to disagree ok?.....I still love to read your statements on wood....may God bless..RJ

Hi RJ...

My tongue was firmly in my cheek when I made it sound like I was dissing Mr. Bill...

Nothing could be further from the truth....

To me, he's one of the solid cornerstones of modern music, period.

I recently ran across an old reel-to-reel tape of a radio broadcast of Bill with the BGB at the Great American Music Hall in SF in late '77, and what a joy it was to relive that evening.

He played "Right, Right On", saying that it was the first time they ever played the tune.

But a really cool part of the show was after he broke a string on "My Little Georgia Rose" and was handed the opening band's mandolin while his was being restrung.
He did a few short upstroke Gmin chords, and then ripped a sizzling "Kentucky Mandolin" on an unfamiliar mandolin.

Needless to say, it sounded just like Bill. #I think that mando could have been an Ibanez and it would have sounded the same. #

That man's hands had so much tone it them...

I was there. If I remember correctly that was also a Loar
that he was handed. I also don't believe it was broadcasted,
but either recorded by me or if it is only one set then recorded
from a room back stage to a reel to reel. Even thought Bill
would let anyone record the show, there was one time that
an MCA rep caught someone with a line feed to a reel to reel
back stage and broke that up. Bill went along with it to
back MCA. That said, I had my cassette running on the
board mix from the console and no one ever noticed that.

If you want to hear and study what turns peoples props
about Monroe, you need to listen to the 1950's live
recordings as well as the 48 to 47 reissues without
the added reverb put on the LPs. Monroe's voice was
solid there and is mandolin playing on live breaks
of On and On have so much depth that it is hard for
mandolin players to even hear it let alone play it.
It is what is wonderful about Monroe and Baker both,
that the more you study it the further from it you get.
Their playing offers a lifetime of inspiration for those
who take the time to seek it out. The bends, the subtle
inflections... When you tire of all the rest, Bill will
still challenge you. He is the only mandolin player
that Frank Wakefield will listen to.

Jim Moss
FWB

[Spruce]

"I also don't believe it was broadcasted,
but either recorded by me or if it is only one set then recorded
from a room back stage to a reel to reel."

They broadcast the first set live on KNEW, and interrupted it several times for station IDs...
(Thankfully, no songs interrupted).
It's on the reel-to-reel tape that I only recently discovered at the bottom of a box...

And at the end of that set, the DJ did a classic interview with WSM which was also broadcast...
It's a great listen to hear Mr. Bill bristle when the DJ says something like "I know you didn't invent Bluegrass music"...

The second set was not broadcast to my knowledge, and might have originated from your tape, as the quality is totally different...

"It is what is wonderful about Monroe and Baker both,
that the more you study it the further from it you get."

Ain't that the solid truth....

[mandopete]

It's a great listen to hear Mr. Bill bristle when the DJ says something like "I know you didn't invent Bluegrass music"...

Yeah, go ask Louise Scruggs!

[Spruce]

Hey, does someone have a way of hosting a 11:38 long MP3 of an "interview" with "Bill Monroe" and "Lester Flatt", with Glen Ducan and Charlie Van doing their incredible Mr. Bill and Lester impersonations?

This recording is a hilarious scream, and I think everyone would enjoy hearing it (about 10 times!)...

Ducan and Van just nail Bill and Lester, with all their signiture traits...
At one point, they crack themselves up so much they can barely keep it together...

Lots of material there to work with, too... # #

Who are these guys, anyway? #(Glen and Charlie, that is)...
I hadn't heard of them till I got this CD....

[abram]

"If you want to hear and study what turns peoples props
about Monroe, you need to listen to the 1950's live
recordings"

Funny you should write that, I just got my hands on two of those from bluegrassbox-they're awesome. I'd never realized how great of a song "bile them cabbage down" was until hearing Bill do it.

Does anyone know who the guy telling jokes the whole way through the set would have been in 1954?

"I went down to the restaurant and ate so much chicken I'm in foul shape!"
"I asked the waitress, you got them frog legs? She said no, I just walk like that!"

great stuff

[Scotti Adams]

Not Sure who Charlie is but Glen is a fiddle player who done his stint with Monroe I think in the late 80's....he went on to be a highly sought after studio musician....Hes played with everybody from Doyle lawson to Reba McIntire...I think he was even apart of Rebas band for awhile. Most recently he was apart of the super group Long View now he fronts his own band Rock County....which may actually be broke up by now.

[Moose]

Hey Scotti ; this is off-topic but worth telling 'cause it's a "Sonny(ism) - Few years ago I saw Sonny and Bob at a Festival ; they had David Crow playin' fiddle ; Sonny introduced him(David) with these words... "...we got to leave right after the show 'cause I promised David's mom we would have him back for school tomorrow morning. He's in his last year at Law Schol. Would'nt 'ya know he's on the payroll of two 'ol boys that never graduated from high school!" - God bless Sonny and Bob - now back to the regular program... hee.. hee..

[Scotti Adams]

..I bet the Brothers mom told Mon to have Sonny back before school the next morning...after all he was only 14 yrs old...

[Moose]

Yup!.... hee.. hee...

[csstanley]

I picked up a double disk set from the Library of Congress on Bill Monroe and his mandolin playing. The first disk is an interview type show with Bill and John Hartford(?) and the second with Sam Bush doing some of the songs. Some of you may have seen this.

I got it because I was getting a mando for Christmas and wanted something to help me along. I knew of Bill before I started playing but really never listened to him much. At least not like I do now anyway.

In the sit down interview, Bill said something astounding to me that many artists wouldn't dare stand on today.

John asked him why the Bluegrass boys look the way that they do. Bill said basically that he wanted them to look like somebody. He didn't want them to look like they just fell off the back of a truck and then gonna try and entertain people.

Some of you may not care much about that but I think it has a deeper meaning than what he just said. Music is more than just playing music. Its about how you present yourself to people and an underlying notion that Bill was a deeply religious man. I believe that his faith in God and how he desired to portray himself in front of an audience very much carried this man to a higher plateau than many other artists today.

And this isn't meant to be offensive to any artists here. Its just an observation.

Bill, Charlie, Birch, Ralph, Carter all have DEEPER meanings to me than just names at the end of songs. Its called heritage and honor.

[Moose]

Exactly - Thanks for sharing.

[mandodebbie]

Duh..... is he related to Marilyn Monroe??? I think she played ukelayee....

[evanreilly]

To answer Abram's question about the comic in the 1954 live show, it may have been 'Uncle Puny'.

[futrconslr]

How did Big Mon come to play those monster arpeggios that is so linked with his style? Seems awfully sophistacted for a sloppy,no-good, hillybilly hack.

I would like to know that though. One of my favorite things I ever read about Monroe was a quote from Compton that basically said he thought he would start with Monroe and then after he mastered that he would move on to the other guys!!!! I think he would tell you that he is still working on Munroes style even though IMO he plays it in some ways better than Monroe did. Mr.Bill is where its at. The cool thing about listening to his music is that I hear some different nuance everytime I pop those cds into the player. I can barely remember seeing him play at the opry with my grandparents back in the 70s. I wish I had got to see him when I had more of an appreciation for his stuff.

[Spruce]

"I think he would tell you that he is still working on Munroes style #even though IMO he plays it in some ways better than Monroe did."

I sure hear this a lot...

The Monroe/Compton comparison, that is...

And yet, every time I hear Compton I hear a very distinct and recognizable style that obviously borrows from Monroe, but is a whole lot more removed from WSM than a lot of other players out there these days....
Especially on the F4 he's been playing lately...

[Frankmc]

I just got the DVD set with Monroe/Hartford/Bush also. Started watching it this morning with my 11 yr old niece. Her comments....
" Wow! That is so cool. Look how his little finger flicks out once in a while."

and..

" Isn't he a little old to be playing that fast?"

I do believe she's seen the light!~


Frankmc

[csstanley]

Frank, that is an awesome DVD set. Don't ya agree?

Hartford asked him one time why he didn't use his pinky. I assume referring to watching it flail like your neice noticed.

Bill said, "I don't need it." I like to fell out of my chair when I heard him say that. Like jees, why use when you don't need it?

[Frankmc]

LOL, Bill does have long fingers so I need to use my pinky where he may not. It's really a study in economy of motion to see his hands work. I thought I new the tunes from the TAB, but Tab just does not convey the hand motion and subtle inflections you see live.
These are going to be in my DVD player a least a year!

Frankmc

[bflat]

re- pinky; i believe Bill was meaning he didn't go up the neck alot; which seems to be evident in transcriptions of his music

re- Bill and religion, while he may? have had a strong faith, i've not heard much of it in the writings on his life, singing gospel music doesn't necessarily translate to being a faithful christian. I think the main drivers in his life were a ruthless pursuit his music and similar pursuit of women

re- Bill and his outfits; apparently he was very sensitive about being portrayed as a "hillbilly" and wished to be as far from that persona as possible. hence hat, tie, etc

no offense meant this is just what i've gathered from reading the available material on his life, there are some here who spent time around the man, maybe they could add..

re: vocals and music - its had to imagine how someone can say his vocals weren't good or his picking was simple; you really have to break it all down by periods i think

[Vincent]

One "economy of style" I hear in Monroe are the recycled breaks to various songs. he plays basically the same break in certain keys to multiple songs. Especially the arpeggio runs. Not a criticism, just an observation.
As far as style, what really intrigues me are his pychedelic (for lack of a better word) breaks to some songs he played in the 60s and 70s. Talk about pushing the envelope. very few notes, chunky chord stabs, in front and behind the beat, non-melodic "what was %$#& was that?" breaks.