Best Known As: Kentuckian called "The Father of Bluegrass Music"
Name at birth: William Smith Monroe
Bill Monroe was a Kentucky mandolin player and songwriter whose influence on country music earned him the nickname "The Father of Bluegrass." Monroe was the youngest child in a family of amateur musicians. His parents died when he was a boy, and Bill went to live with his uncle, Pendleton Vandiver, an accomplished fiddler. Under the tutelage of "Uncle Pen" and black blues musician Arnold Schulz, Monroe learned country music and the world of performing. With older brothers Charlie and Birch, Monroe moved to Indiana in 1929. During the early 1930s Monroe performed on the radio with his brothers (Birch dropped out in 1934). Eventually Bill went his own way, formed a band called The Kentuckians and landed a job on the radio in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1939 he auditioned for the Grand Ole Opry and was signed to a contract; The Kentuckians became the Bluegrass Boys, an ever-changing line-up that included many future stars, including Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt. Although Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys didn't produce hit records, they had steady sales and toured regularly. In the 1960s they found a new audience at folk music festivals, and since then Monroe has been considered one of the giants of country music. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970, was made a member of the Nashville Songwriters' Association in 1971 and was recognized by the United States Senate in 1986 for his contribution to American culture. His most famous songs include "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Scotland" and "When The Golden Leaves Begin To Fall."
In 1951 Monroe bought a parcel of land in Brown County, Indiana called Bean Blossom. He established a park there and began annual bluegrass music festivals, which continue to this day... Monroe learned to play the mandolin because nobody else in his family played it... Birch Monroe played fiddle, Charlie Monroe played guitar.
Bill Monroe is the father of bluegrass. He invented the style, invented the name, and for the great majority of the 20th century, embodied the art form. Beginning with his Blue Grass Boys in the '40s, Monroe defined a hard-edged style of country that emphasized instrumental virtuosity, close vocal harmonies, and a fast, driving tempo. The musical genre took its name from the Blue Grass Boys, and Monroe's music forever has defined the sound of classical bluegrass -- a five-piece acoustic string band, playing precisely and rapidly, switching solos and singing in a plaintive, high lonesome voice. Not only did he invent the very sound of the music, Monroe was the mentor for several generations of musicians. Over the years, Monroe's band hosted all of the major bluegrass artists of the '50s and '60s, including Flatt & Scruggs, Reno & Smiley, Vassar Clements, Carter Stanley, and Mac Wiseman. Though the lineup of the Blue Grass Boys changed over the years, Monroe always remained devoted to bluegrass in its purest form.
Monroe was born into a musical family. His father had been known around their hometown of Rosine, KY, as a step-dancer, while his mother played a variety of instruments and sang. His uncle, Pendelton Vanderver, was a locally renowned fiddler. Both of his older brothers, Harry and Birch, played fiddle, while his brother Charlie and sister Bertha played guitar. Bill himself became involved with music as a child, learning the mandolin at the age of ten. Following the death of his parents while he was a pre-adolescent, Monroe went to live with his Uncle Pen. Soon, he was playing in his uncle's band at local dances, playing guitar instead of mandolin. During this time, Monroe met a local blues guitarist called Arnold Shultz, who became a major influence on the budding musician.
When Monroe turned 18, he moved to East Chicago, IN, where his brothers Birch and Charlie were working at an oil refinery. Monroe also got a job at the Sinclair oil refinery and began playing with his brothers in a country string band at night. Within a few years, they performed on the Barn Dance on WLS Chicago, which led to the brothers' appearance in a square dance revue called the WLS Jamboree in 1932. The Monroes continued to perform at night, but Birch left the band in 1934. Ironically, it was just before the group landed a sponsorship of the Texas Crystals Company, which made laxatives. Charlie and Bill decided to continue performing as the Monroe Brothers.
The Monroe Brothers began playing in other states, including radio shows in Nebraska, Iowa, and both North and South Carolina. Such exposure led to record label interest, but the Monroe Brothers were initially reluctant to sign a recording contract. After some persuasion, they inked a deal with RCA-Victor's Bluebird division and recorded their first session in February of 1936. One of the songs from the sessions, "What Would You Give in Exchange," became a minor hit and the duo recorded another 60 tracks for Bluebird over the next two years.
In the beginning of 1938, Bill and Charlie parted ways, with Charlie forming the Kentucky Pardners. Bill assembled his own band with the intention of creating a new form of country that melded old-time string bands with blues and challenged the instrumental abilities of the musicians. Initially, he moved to Little Rock, where he formed the Kentuckians, but that band was short-lived. He then relocated to Atlanta, where he formed the Blue Grass Boys and began appearing on the Crossroad Rollies radio program. Monroe debuted on the Grand Ole Opry in October of 1939, singing "New Muleskinner Blues." It was a performance that made Monroe's career as well as established the new genre of bluegrass.
In the early '40s, Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys spent some time developing their style, often sounding similar to other contemporary string bands. The most notable element of the band's sound was Monroe's high, piercing tenor voice and his driving mandolin. The Blue Grass Boys toured with the Grand Ole Opry's road shows and appeared weekly on the radio. Between 1940 and 1941, he cut a number of songs for RCA-Victor, but a musicians' union strike prevented him from recording for several years. The classic lineup of the Blue Grass Boys fell into place in 1944, when guitarist/vocalist Lester Flatt and banjoist Earl Scruggs joined a lineup that already included Monroe, fiddler Chubby Wise, and bassist Howard Watts. This is the group that supported Monroe when he returned to the studio in 1945, recording a number of songs for Columbia. Early in 1946, he had his first charting hit with "Kentucky Waltz," which climbed to number three; it was followed by the number five hit "Footprints in the Snow."
Throughout 1946, the Blue Grass Boys were one of the most popular acts in country music, scoring hits and touring to large crowds across America. At each town they played, the band would perform underneath a large circus tent they set up themselves; the tent would also host a variety of other attractions, including Monroe's baseball team, which would play local teams before the concert began. During the late '40s, the Blue Grass Boys remained a popular act, landing five additional Top 20 singles. Numerous other acts began imitating Monroe's sound, most notably the Stanley Brothers.
Flatt & Scruggs left the Blue Grass Boys in 1948 to form their own band. Their departure ushered in an era of stagnation for Monroe. After Flatt & Scruggs parted ways from his band, he left Columbia Records in 1949 because they had signed the Stanley Brothers, who he felt were simply imitating his style. The following year, he signed with Decca Records, who tried to persuade Monroe to attempt some mainstream-oriented productions. He went as far as cutting a few songs with an electric guitar, but he soon returned to his pure bluegrass sound. At these sessions, he did meet Jimmy Martin, who became his supporting vocalist in the early '50s.
Throughout the '50s -- indeed, throughout the rest of his career -- Monroe toured relentlessly, performing hundreds of shows a year. In 1951, Monroe opened a country music park at Bean Blossom, IN; over the years, the venue featured performances from a number of bluegrass acts. Monroe suffered a serious car accident in January of 1953, which sidelined his career for several months. The following year, Elvis Presley performed Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" at his one and only Grand Ole Opry appearance, radically reworking the arrangement; Presley apologized for his adaptation, but Monroe would later perform the same arrangement at his concerts.
Monroe released his first album, Knee Deep in Bluegrass, in 1958, the same year he appeared on the country singles chart with "Scotland"; the number 27 single was his first hit in almost a decade. However, by the late '50s his stardom was eclipsed by Flatt & Scruggs. Monroe was not helped by his legendary stubbornness. Numerous musicians passed through his band because of his temperament and his quest for detail, he rarely granted press interviews and would rarely perform on television; he even canceled a concert at Carnegie Hall because he believed the promoter, Alan Lomax, was a communist. In the '60s, Monroe received a great career boost from the folk music revival, which made him popular with a new generation of listeners. Thanks to his new manager, ex-Greenbriar Boys member Ralph Rinzler, Monroe played bluegrass festivals across the U.S., frequently on college campuses. In 1967, he founded his own bluegrass festival, the Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Festival, at his country music park, which continued to run into the '90s.
In 1970, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame; the following year, the Nashville Songwriters Association International Hall of Fame. Throughout the '70s, he toured constantly. In 1981, Monroe was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment for the disease successfully. After his recovery, he resumed his busy touring schedule, which he kept into the '90s. In 1991, he had surgery for a double coronary bypass, but he quickly recovered and continued performing and hosting weekly at the Grand Ole Opry. In 1993, the Grammys gave Monroe a Lifetime Achievement Award. After suffering a stroke in early 1996, Monroe died on September 9, 1996, four days short of his 85th birthday. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Career Highlights: The Money Pit, High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe: Father of Bluegrass Music
First Major Screen Credit: The Money Pit (1986)
Biography
The undisputed father of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe did not appear as an actor in films. He did, however, perform occasionally on film and on movie soundtracks. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
(born Sept. 13, 1911, Rosine, Ky., U.S. — died Sept. 9, 1996, Springfield, near Nashville, Tenn.) U.S. singer, songwriter, and mandolin player, inventor of the bluegrass style. Monroe began to play professionally in 1927 and later toured with his brother Charlie. They made their first recordings in 1936 and recorded 60 songs over the next two years. He formed the Blue Grass Boys in 1939. His bluegrass sound emerged fully in 1945, when banjoist Earl Scruggs (b. 1924) and guitarist Lester Flatt joined his band. The Blue Grass Boys established the classic makeup of a bluegrass group — mandolin, fiddle, guitar, banjo, and upright bass — and bequeathed its name to the genre itself. Monroe continued to perform until shortly before his death.
(William Smith Monroe), 1911–96, country singer, musician, and songwriter, often called the “father of bluegrass,” b. Rosine, Ky. A mandolin and guitar player, Monroe founded the Blue Grass Boys in 1938, and the group began playing country and western music that mixed rural string-playing, folk ballads, blues, and white gospel–a style later known as bluegrass. Featuring Monroe's high tenor voice and virtuoso mandolin along with the fiddle, bass, guitar, and banjo, the band became known for its beautiful harmonies and driving rhythms. From 1945 on the group made a series of popular recordings, including “New Muleskinner Blues” and “Kentucky Waltz.” Monroe's own songs include “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “I Hear a Sweet Voice Calling.” He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Bibliography
See biography by R. D. Smith (2000); N. V. Rosenberg, Bluegrass: A History (1985); Rooney, J., Bossmen: Bill Monroe and Muddy Waters (1991); T. Ewing, ed., The Bill Monroe Reader (2000); The Music of Bill Monroe: From 1936 to 1994 (4 CDs, 1994); High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass Music (documentary film, 1994).
William Smith Monroe (September 13, 1911 –
September 9, 1996) was an American musician who developed the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of
Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and
bandleader. He is often referred to as "the father of bluegrass."
Early life
Monroe was born on his family's farm near Rosine, Kentucky, the youngest of eight
children of James Buchanan "Buck" Monroe and Malissa Vandiver Monroe. Malissa and her brother, Pendleton "Pen" Vandiver, were
both musically inclined, and Monroe and his siblings grew up playing and singing music in the home. Because his older brothers
Birch and Charlie had already laid claim to the fiddle and guitar, respectively, young Bill was left with the smaller and less
desirable mandolin during family picking sessions. Monroe later recalled that his brothers
insisted that he remove four of the eight strings from the instrument so that he would not play too loudly.
Monroe's mother died when he was ten years old, followed by his father six years later. Because his siblings had moved away
from Rosine, Monroe lived for about two years with his uncle Pen Vandiver, often accompanying him when Vandiver played the fiddle
at local dances. This experience later inspired one of Monroe's most famous compositions, "Uncle Pen," recorded in 1950; on a
1972 album, Bill Monroe's Uncle Pen, Monroe recorded a number of traditional fiddle tunes often performed by Vandiver.
Professional career
In 1929, Monroe moved to Indiana to work at an oil refinery with his brothers Birch and
Charlie. They quickly formed a musical group, the Monroe Brothers, to play at local dances and house parties. Birch Monroe soon
left the group, and Bill and Charlie carried on as a duo, eventually winning spots performing live on radio stations--first in
Indiana and then in several cities in the Midwest and South. RCA Victor signed the Monroe
Brothers to a recording contract in 1936. They scored an immediate hit single with the gospel song "What Would You Give In
Exchange For Your Soul?" and ultimately recorded 60 tracks for Victor's Bluebird label
between 1936 and 1938.
After the Monroe Brothers disbanded in 1938, Bill Monroe formed the first edition of the Blue Grass Boys with singer/guitarist
Cleo Davis, fiddler Art Wooten, and bassist Amos Garren. In October 1939, he successfully auditioned for a regular spot on the Grand Ole Opry, impressing Opry founder George D. Hay with his
energetic performance of Jimmie Rodgers's "Mule Skinner Blues." Monroe recorded that song, along with seven others, at his first solo recording
session for RCA Victor in 1940; by this time, the Blue Grass Boys consisted of singer/guitarist Clyde Moody, fiddler Tommy Magness, and bassist Bill Wesbrooks.[1]
While the fast tempos and instrumental virtuosity characteristic of bluegrass music are apparent even on these early tracks,
Monroe was still experimenting with the sound of his group. He seldom sang lead vocals on his Victor recordings, often preferring
to contribute high tenor harmonies as he had in the Monroe Brothers. A 1945 session for Columbia Records featured an accordion, soon dropped from the band.
Most importantly, while Monroe added banjo player David "'Stringbean" Akeman to the Blue Grass Boys in 1942, Akeman played the
instrument in a relatively primitive style and was rarely featured in instrumental solos. Monroe's pre-1946 recordings represent
a transitional style between the string-band tradition from which he came and the musical innovation to follow.
The "Original Bluegrass Band" and Monroe's heyday as a star
A key development occurred in Monroe's music with the addition of North Carolina banjo prodigy Earl Scruggs to the Blue Grass Boys in December 1945. Scruggs played the instrument with a distinctive
three-finger picking style that immediately caused a sensation among Opry audiences. Scruggs joined a highly accomplished group
that included singer/guitarist Lester Flatt, fiddler Chubby
Wise, and bassist Howard Watts, who often performed under the name "Cedric Rainwater." In
retrospect, this lineup of the Blue Grass Boys has been dubbed the "Original Bluegrass Band," as Monroe's music finally included
all the elements that characterize the genre, including breakneck tempos, sophisticated vocal harmony arrangements, and
impressive instrumental proficiency demonstrated in solos or "breaks" on the mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. By this point, Monroe
had acquired the 1923 Gibson F5 model "Lloyd Loar" mandolin which became his trademark instrument for the remainder of his
career.[2]
The 28 songs recorded by this version of the Blue Grass Boys for Columbia Records in 1946 and 1947 soon became classics of the
genre, including "Toy Heart," "Blue Grass Breakdown," "Molly and Tenbrooks," "Wicked
Path of Sin," "My Rose of Old Kentucky," "Little Cabin Home on the Hill," and Monroe's most famous song, "Blue Moon of Kentucky." The latter was recorded by Elvis
Presley in 1954, appearing as the B-side of his first single for Sun Records. Monroe
gave his blessing to Presley's rock-and-roll cover of the song, originally a slow
ballad in waltz time, and in fact re-recorded it himself with a
faster arrangement after Presley's version became a hit. Several gospel-themed numbers are credited to the "Blue Grass Quartet,"
which featured four-part vocal arrangements accompanied solely by mandolin and guitar--Monroe's usual practice when performing
"sacred" songs.
Both Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe's band in early 1948, soon forming their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys, which met with notable commercial success in the 1950s and 1960s with such hits
as "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," "Cabin on the
Hill," and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett." Monroe quickly regrouped with
what many consider the classic "high lonesome" version of the Blue Grass Boys, featuring the cutting lead vocals and powerful
rhythm guitar of Jimmy Martin, the banjo of Rudy Lyle (replacing the fuller sound of Earl
Scruggs), and dynamic fiddlers such as Merle "Red" Taylor and Charlie Cline. This band recorded a number of bluegrass classics,
including "My Little Georgia Rose," "On and On," "Memories of Mother and Dad," and "Uncle Pen," as well as instrumentals such as
"Get Up John" and the mandolin feature "Raw Hide." Carter Stanley even joined the Blue
Grass Boys as guitarist for a short time in 1951 during a period when the Stanley
Brothers had temporarily disbanded.
By the late 1950s, however, Monroe's commercial fortunes had begun to slip. The rise of rock-and-roll and the development of
the slick, polished "Nashville sound" in mainstream country music both represented threats to the viability of bluegrass. While still a mainstay on the Grand
Ole Opry, Monroe found diminishing success on the singles charts, and struggled to keep his band together in the face of
declining demand for live performances.
The folk revival
Monroe's fortunes began to improve during the "folk revival" of the early 1960s. Many
college students and other young people were beginning to discover Monroe, associating his style more with traditional folk music
than with the country-and-western genre with which it had previously been identified. The word "bluegrass" first appeared around
this time to describe the sound of Monroe and similar artists such as Flatt and Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Reno and Smiley, Jim and Jesse, and the Osborne Brothers. While Flatt and Scruggs immediately recognized the potential for a lucrative new
audience in cities and on college campuses in the North, Monroe was slower to respond. Under the influence of Ralph Rinzler, a young musician and folklorist from New Jersey who briefly became Monroe's manager in
1963, Monroe gradually expanded his geographic reach beyond the traditional southern country music circuit. Rinzler was also
responsible for a lengthy profile and interview in the influential folk music magazine Sing
Out! that first publicly referred to Monroe as the "father" of bluegrass.
The growing national popularity of Monroe's music during the 1960s was also apparent in the increasingly diverse background of
musicians recruited into his band. Non-southerners who served as Blue Grass Boys during this period included banjo player
Bill Keith and singer/guitarist Peter
Rowan from Massachusetts, fiddler Gene Lowinger from New York, banjo player Lamar Grier from Maryland, and singer/guitarist Roland White and fiddler
Richard Greene from California.
Later years
Even after the folk revival faded in the mid-1960s, it left a loyal audience for bluegrass music. Bluegrass festivals became
common, with fans often traveling long distances to see a number of different acts over several days of performances. Monroe
himself founded an annual bluegrass festival at Bean Blossom in southern Indiana which routinely attracted a crowd of thousands;
a double LP from the festival featuring Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Lester Flatt, and Jim and Jesse was released in 1973. With his most
artistically innovative days behind him, Monroe settled into a new role as a musical patriarch. He recorded two albums of duets
in the 1980s; the first featured collaborations with country stars such as Emmylou
Harris, Waylon Jennings, and the Oak Ridge
Boys, while the second paired him with other prominent bluegrass musicians. A 1989 live album celebrated his 50th year on
the Grand Ole Opry. Monroe also kept a hectic touring schedule. On April 7, 1990, Monroe performed for Farm Aid IV in Indianapolis, Indiana along with Willie Nelson,
John Mellencamp, Neil Young and with many other
artists.
Monroe suffered a stroke in April 1996, effectively ending his touring and playing career. He
died on September 9, 1996. Emmylou Harris said of Monroe after his death:
“
We all knew that if he [(Monroe)] ever got to the point that he couldn't perform that
he wasn't going to make it. Music was his life.
Search for answers directly from your browser with the FREE Answers.com Toolbar! Click here to download now. Get Answers your way! Check out all our free tools and products.
