Check your closets, everybody. If you can scrape together $49,000, you can purchase a 1965 tour bus previously owned by Bill Monroe. If you’re feeling lucky, it only takes $19,000 to open the bidding at ebay Motors for a chance to drive home with Big Mon’s bus.

The seller offers the following details:

It is a driving operating fun bus that was bought from the king of bluegreass in Nashville TN on 4-23-1994. It has 3 bullet holes in the edge of the door where Monroe was apparently shot at leaving one of his concerts. This bus contains THE ORIGINAL CLAWFOOT TUB from a house he had installed. It has the table(pictured) which Monroe counted his money on and prepared his business contracts during traveling. It has a 318 Detroit that was rebuilt by Monroe shortly before the sale.

So… what are you waiting for?

HT - Ryan Baker, Sugar Hill Publicity

Here’s a bit of lighthearted bluegrass history for your post-Christmas climbdown…

The anecdote comes from multi-instrumentalist and singer Orrin Starr. It involves a phone conversation between fiddler Jim Moss and James Monroe. Jim is a prominent west coast fiddler, and he spoke with James (son of Bill Monroe) while Bill was in the office many years ago.

It’s an old story, which Moss swears is true, and some of you may have encountered it before. All the same, it is a lovely glimpse into the Monroe world.

The discussion, as Jim has related it to Orrin, is as follows:

Jim Moss: So, ah.. James… can you ask your father something for me?
James Monroe: What is it?
Jim Moss: Well, it is about the song Foot Prints In The Snow….
James Monroe: The boy on the phone wants to ask you something about Foot Prints In The Snow.
Bill Monroe: What does he want?
Jim Moss: Ask him… (testing the waters) if in the song it is snowing?
James Monroe: The boy wants to know if it is snowing in the song..
Bill Monroe: Yes, it is snowing..
James Monroe: Yeah, it’s snowing
Jim Moss: I thought so.. (that worked all right)
Jim Moss: OK, ask him, does the girl gets lost out in the forest?
James Monroe: The boy from California wants to know if the girl gets lost out in the forest?
Bill Monroe: Tell him yes the girl is lost. (it sounds like Bill is reading or doing something else)
James Monroe: Yes the girl is lost.
Jim Moss: (also, now I am the boy from California!!, I wonder what the meaning of that is?)
Jim Moss: OK, ask him if she dies in the snow.. When he finds her is she dead?
James Monroe: The boy wants to know if she dies in the snow?
Bill Monroe: ( pause.. ) Yes she dies out in the snow.
James Monroe: She dies in the snow.
Jim Moss: Well, now here is one last question, James: Why is it that he blesses that happy day when Nellie lost her way only to die in the snow? Why is he happy that she is dead?
James Monroe: The boy wants to know why is you are happy that she is dead?
Bill Monroe: (…real long pause….)
Bill Monroe: Those old songs… Who knows what they mean!
James Monroe: We have work to do here, is there anything else I can do for you?

Classic… God Bless Bill Monroe!

When I saw Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder perform in 2005, they dedicated a portion of their show to reminding the audience that the following year (2006) would mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of bluegrass music.

It is widely held that bluegrass was born when Bill Monroe performed with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs at The Grand Ole Opry in 1946, along with Chubby Wise and Howard Watts. Though Monroe had named his group The Bluegrass Boys before these men joined the band, it was this combination of musicians who gave the music we now know so well its defining parameters.

Skaggs made a point of referring to this event, and the music that these pioneers made, before the band played a number of songs from that era, in a style remarkably faithful to the original recordings. I’m not sure if this is still a staple of his live show, but I’m sure it will be next year when his next CD hits.

Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and ‘47’ is scheduled for release on March 25, 2008. The 12 tracks are envisioned as a tribute to the Original Bluegrass Band, comprised of songs they recorded over that seminal two year stretch. The list is one sure to stir the passions of any die-hard traditionalist.

Why Did You Wander		Mighty Dark To Travel
When You’re Lonely		Toy Heart
Remember the Cross		Bluegrass Breakdown
Mansions For Me		Little Cabin Home On The Hill
I Hear A Sweet Voice Calling		I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky
The Old Cross Roads		Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong

And Skaggs has the band to pull this off. Banjo picker Jim Mills is a serious student of Earl Scruggs’ music, and tenor singer Paul Brewster can soar as high as Monroe ever did. Skaggs is, of course, a gifted vocalist and a fine Monroe-style mandolinist himself. Fiddler Andy Leftwich, though a youngster, can surely emulate these “ancient tones,” and guitarist Cody Kilby and bass player Mark Fain are equally up to the task.

Ricky said that the idea for this CD came to him when he came across some live recordings of Monroe’s band in ‘46 and ‘47, and he felt that he had a chance to both honor the men who brought this music to life, and also tell their stories in the music.

“We wanted to tell their stories through music, honoring their arrangements and their tempos, bringing 1946 to the present for the next generation of listeners. Every generation needs to be educated. If you don’t tell the stories of the fathers (of the music), the next generation will forget. That’s what this record is about.”

Yep… 2008 is shaping up to be a fine year for recorded bluegrass music.

The fate of Bill Monroe’s mandolin hangs in the balance. The instrument is currently housed at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN. The museum acquired the mandolin when Tennessee business man, Bob McLean, donated an undisclosed amount to the museum for that purpose.

The problem is that McLean has come under legal scrutiny in the last few months and is accused of defrauding investors of some $40 million. Investors filed the involuntary backruptcy suit in July. Due to appear in court on September 26th, McLean ended his own life on September 25, 2007.

Legal action following his death includes an auction of his personal property to recoup the money owed to investors. Under bankruptcy law McLean’s donations could be considered fraudulent and recovered to pay back creditors. Those donations include money used to purchase both Monroe’s mandolin and Mother Maybelle Carter’s guitar, as well as two of Johnny Cash’s guitars.

Robert Waldschmidt is the trustee tracing McLean’s finances for the investors who originally filed the suit. Waldschmidt has been in discussions with the museum concerning the gifts, but hasn’t commented further at this point. Other investors have through December to file their own claims.

It would be nice to hear Monroe’s mandolin used occasionally for a recording project or such, but let’s hope the instrument doesn’t end up on the auction block to pay for the shady dealings of an unscrupulous stock broker.

Our British correspondent, Richard Thompson, has an overview of a CD collection that was released back in August ‘07.

Time Life has released a further collection of bluegrass recordings. Classic Bluegrass Collection is a compilation featuring three CDs of well-known bluegrass recordings across a variety of record labels. The boxed set includes music by Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman, Jim & Jesse, Reno & Smiley, the Osborne Brothers, Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Del McCoury, Rhonda Vincent, Doyle Lawson, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless and selections from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

In addition to the above-mentioned famous names of the bluegrass genre, there are recordings by some lesser-known, but nonetheless important names also. Among these are Buzz Busby, Jim Eanes, Charlie Moore and Bill Napier, The Stonemans, Carl Story, Red Allen, Kentucky Colonels, Lilly Brothers, The Bluegrass Cardinals, Country Gentlemen and Joe Val. Additionally, Time Life has made available a selection of signature songs from a wide range of present-day working bands.

This is a good collection that brings together music from the time of the birth of bluegrass through to the 21st century. It is a good start point for those who are beginning to explore the genre. Whether the experts would agree on the selections is another matter.

Classic Bluegrass Collection reflects Time Life’s ongoing commitment to bringing top quality bluegrass music to a wider audience. In just the past year, the company has released a set by The Stanley Brothers, an anthology, Gloryland: 30 Bluegrass Gospel Classics, from leading bluegrass label Rebel Records and has issued their first bluegrass documentary film, Bluegrass Country Soul.

A detailed track listing follows …. (more…)

Bill Monroe is the subject of a recent article published as a web exclusive on the Newsweek Entertainment section of MSNBC.com.

The article is written in remembrance of the man who influenced so many, and forever altered the landscape of American music.

It’s a nice article that includes good observations by Malcolm Jones, who writes like someone knowledgeable about bluegrass music. The article also includes a nice flash audio player with three song clips cued up and ready for people to listen as they read.

Here’s one statement that particularly resonated with my own experience.

It was a curious thing, though, watching him from the audience in those last years. In a way, he seemed indestructible, as though he would go on doing this for years…It came as a genuine shock to realize that Monroe was mortal.

Bluegrass mandolinist, singer and band leader David Davis was the subject of an interview this past weekend in the Seattle Times. He and his band, The Warrior River Boys, performed at the Darrington Bluegrass Festival on July 21, and spoke with Diane Wright of the Times’ Snohomish County Bureau at some length.

Among other topics, they discussed the Davis family’s bluegrass pedigree.

His dad’s older brother Cleo led the way in the profession. He answered an ad in a newspaper in 1938 and became the first member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys.

Davis first met Monroe in 1974. “I was going into the sixth grade. It was like Mount Rushmore. I had always heard about him. It was really awesome.”

You can read the entire article online at the Seattle Times web site.

Audio samples from him latest CD, Troubled Times, and the tour schedule for the band on the official David Davis & The Warrior River Boys web site.

Former Blue Grass Boy Larry Richardson passed away on Fathers Day, June 17, after a six-month long battle with colon cancer. He died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Lake Butler, Florida.

Born August 9, 1927, in the Galax area of Virginia, Richardson was a highly-rated old style mountain banjo player, someone who epitomised the early days of bluegrass music. He was from the old school of lead/tenor singers, crystal clear and high and real lonesome. Also, as can be heard on his work with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, he was a talented lead guitarist.

He penned Don’t Forget Me, the perennially popular Pain in My Heart, Will I Meet Mother in Heaven and Lonesome, Sad and Blue with Bobby Osborne, each of which was recorded in March 1950 while the duo were with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers. These recordings are also found on an album in Rounder’s Early Days Of Bluegrass series, Vol. 3 - New Sounds Ramblin’ from Coast to Coast.

Richardson worked with Bill Monroe during the 1950-1951 period.

Larry Richardson can be heard in the form of several tracks on the 1957 Various Artists LP American Banjo Three-Finger and Scruggs Style (Folkways FA 2314, re-issued on CD as Smithsonian Folkways 40037), Dear Old Dixie, Little Maggie, Take Me Back To the Sweet Sunny South , Bucking Mule and Lonesome Road Blues.

Another Larry Richardson recording is found on a later Folkways album, Galax, Virginia; Old Fiddler’s Convention (Folkways FA 2435, 1964). Accompanied by Sonny Miller and Johnny Jackson, Richardson plays a fine rendition of Turkey In The Straw. (more…)

The Bill Monroe Memorial Music Park & Campground, site of the famous Bean Blossom bluegrass festival, as well as home to the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum, is up for sale.

Banjo player, and former Bluegrass Boy, Dwight Dillman has owned the park for over ten years, but is now ready to pass the torch on to someone else.

The park has such a history in bluegrass music that it always makes one apprehensive to see such a historical site up for sale, fearing the new owners might not honor the traditions associated with the site.

We contacted the staff at the park and asked about the conditions of the sale. They were quick to assure us that the sale would only be made to someone who commits to continuing the park’s rich tradition.

The new owner not only has to love bluegrass, but must agree to continue both the Bill Monroe Memorial Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival (June) and the Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Uncle Pen Days Festival (Sept) every year.

Mr. Dillman has done much to improve the the facility in the last ten years, and we applaud him for his efforts, his passion, and his commitment to finding the right person to continue the park’s legacy.

The Southern Arts Federation (SAF), a non-profit arts organization based in Atlanta, is currently presenting it’s first ever touring exhibit in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The exhibit is dedicated to the music and musicians of the South and is appropriately titled Rhythm & Roots.

Utilizing text panels, artifacts, fieldwork, photographs, and sound recordings, the exhibit provides context for music traditions and their relationship to community. The exhibit features an audio component that allows museum visitors to experience the voices and music of Southern music traditions.

Rhythm & Roots is currently on display in Huntingdon, TN, at the Dixie Carter Performing Arts & Academic Enrichment Center. The exhibit covers a wide range of music genres found in the south, and as one would expect bluegrass is well represented.

Rhythm & Roots showcases key Southern musicians and the instruments they play. Thus, there is a part of the exhibit dedicated to the mandolin and the Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe. Other bluegrass greats recognized with a place in the exhibit include Snuffy Jenkins, Earl Scruggs, and Wade Mainer. The exhibit also includes a great number, and variety, of instruments.

Rhythm & Roots will remain in Huntingdon, TN through August 14, 2007. It will then travel to the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, NC and be on display there from August 22 through December 31, 2007. The exhibit is then scheduled to make it’s first 2008 stop at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, GA, with other 2008 locations to be announced soon.

The 100th anniversary of the birth of Bill Monroe is still four years away, but long term strategic planning is already underway to commemorate the occasion. This morning’s (6/25) edition of the Owensboro, KY Messenger-Inquirer has a story about this effort, and the collaboration among a number of entities to bring it all together.

The article notes that the centennial efforts hope to tie together the Birthplace of Bill Monroe in Rosine, KY (and the nearby site of the Jerusalem Ridge festival), The International Bluegras Music Museum (IBMM) in Owensboro and the Bean Blossom festival which Monroe started more than 40 years ago in Indianna. The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) is also expected to be involved.

From the article by Keith Lawrence:

“We need a commission to work on this,” said Gabrielle Gray, executive director of the bluegrass museum. “This has enormous potential for Kentucky - if we’re unified in our approach. In one short weekend, you could walk the paths Bill Monroe walked as a boy, visit his boyhood home and grave and explore the whole history of bluegrass music at the museum.”

“I strongly suspect it will be big,” said Dan Hays, executive director of the Nashville-based International Bluegrass Music Association. “Some folks are already talking about what needs to be done. It is, and rightly should be, a big deal. We’ve got it on our long-range planning agenda.”

The article doesn’t seem to be available online from The Messenger-Inquirer without a paid subscription, but it is posted at PopMatters.com.

The latest effort from noted bluegrass music author Neil Rosenberg, The Music Of Bill Monroe, which Richard Thompson profiled for us late last year, is now shipping from the University of Illinois Press. It was written in conjunction with the late Charles Wolfe.

This is what might be described as a bio-discography, including a complete listing of the many Monroe commercial recordings, along with biographical essays. The book had originally been meant for a Fall 2006 release, but was delayed until just recently. The publisher told us that the distributor began shipping pre-orders and dealer orders on May 29.

Neil mentioned that he will be attending the Bill Monroe Bean Blossom festival which starts next weekend (6/9-16), and will have copies with him available for sale.

Here’s another post from our all-the-more regular correspondent, Richard Thompson. He writes from England, where he is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor.

Recently we posted a story about the poor state of Clarence ‘Tater’ Tate’s health. Tate is currently undergoing a course of chemotherapy to counteract the effects of lung cancer.

Sunday, April 15, The Appalachian Cultural Music Association (ACMA) in partnership with the East Tennessee State University Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music program will present a reunion of former Blue Grass Boys to aid the fund raising to assist Tate with his medical expenses.

The history of reunions for Blue Grass Boys stretches back to almost a quarter of a century, as Doug Hutchens, the organiser of these reunions relates,

“The first what we could now call a ‘Reunion’ would have been September 1982 in Louisville, Kentucky. I had the idea that something should be done for Bill’s birthday. He had come through a lot of health problems in the prior 18 months and that was the year I had the case made. Red Taylor, Gordon Terry, Bryon Berline and Cleo Davis was there. Tex Logan, while never really a member of the band officially, was also there plus the regular members, Wayne [Lewis], Kenny [Baker], Blake [Williams] and Mark [Hembree]. Those went on in or around Bill’s birthday until the early 1990s when I changed jobs and didn’t have the flexibility to do them any longer.

The first ‘Reunion’ as we know it today was in May of 2000 when James [Monroe] called me in the winter of 1999 and said that he was going to start a festival to honour Bill in Rosine and asked if I would arrange and do a reunion of band members. A typical Blue Grass Boy Reunion as we have done it is a stage set with stools and mikes. I have been the moderator to keep things moving and to make sure that everyone get some time. I usually try to watch time, move from member of one instrument to another, to keep some variety, ask certain questions that will get stories going or lead them in certain directions that always get stories going. Then after every two or three stories ask each lead singer to do a song that they did in the band, or fiddler or fiddlers to do a number, the same with the banjo while the bass players usually tell their stories and grin a lot. (more…)

Here’s a chance for bluegrass lovers everywhere to “give back” to a man who has contributed mightily to the development of our music.

Clarence “Tater” Tate, who spent many years on stage as a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, is currently being treated with chemotherapy for lung cancer. Tater was with Monroe until the end, and spent time with Red Smiley, Lester Flatt and Hylo Brown as well.

He had been working as a part time instructor in the bluegrass music program at East Tennessee State University in recent years, and Raymond McLain, who directs the program at ETSU, has set up a fund to help Tater with the medical expenses he is facing.

Raymond urges Tater’s many friends and admirers in bluegrass to send along whatever contribution they can, along with well wishes and words of encouragement to him via ETSU.

Checks should be made payable to Clarence Tate.

A benefit concert has also been scheduled for April 15 in Bristol, TN which will reunite Tater with several other former Bluegrass Boys at the Appalachian Cultural Music Association’s Pickin’ Porch in the Bristol Mall. Billed as An Afternoon with Tater Tate, it will feature special guests Bobby Hicks, Butch Robbins, Tom Ewing, Robert Bowlin and many others.

All proceeds from the Bristol show will go to Tater Tate. Find more details on the ACMA site.

Here’s a fun site with images of vintage music show posters. It’s run by Mitch Diamond, who calls himself The Kardboard Kid.

Mitch has been collecting these posters and hand bills since 1970, and has amassed a substantial number of these classics of advertising art. He is also something of a celebrity in the world of poster collectors, having established the record for the highest price ever paid for a show poster when he purchased an original 1966 Beatles Shea Stadium poster, now on display at The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.

In addition to an assortment of rock and roll, blues and jazz posters, Mitch also has a good many early country and bluegrass posters displayed on his site. I found original posters of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Reno and Smiley, The Osborne Brothers and The Stanley Brothers.

Mitch buys and sells in addition to collecting, and invites people with an interest in his collection - or who may have articles to sell - to contact him by email.

See all the posters at The Kardboard Kid site.

Our friends at The Bluegrass Ireland Blog found a terrific video on YouTube that is sure to be a treat for bluegrass mandolin fans.

It features Jethro Burns performing a talking blues tribute to the greats of the mandolin, with able assistance from Red Rector. Jethro and Red each take a turn with a solo, and are joined at the end by a very special guest.

It’s a classic clip, and a great reminder of what a clever performer Jethro was - as well as a fine picker.

Find the clip on YouTube.

Mel Bay has released Classic Bluegrass Solos for Mandolin, a collection of 22 transcriptions by Todd Collins. The thrust of this collection is the mandolin playing of Bill Monroe.

The book contains a mix of kickoffs, turnarounds and solos from some popular Monroe recordings. Bluegrass Stomp, I’m Working On A Building, Rawhide and Uncle Pen are transcribed in this 48 page book.

You can find the complete song list and some sample pages on the Mel Bay site.

Continuing with a Bill Monroe/Neil Rosenberg theme…

I recently had occasion to correspond with Neil about his upcoming book, The Music Of Bill Monroe, written with the late Charles Wolfe, and due for a 2007 release by the University of Illinois Press.

It is described as a bio-discography, combining a complete list of all commercial recordings Monroe made in the course of 60 years, with essays that describe his musical career and the musicians with whom he was performing at various points during that time.

The discography begins with the first Monroe Brothers recording in February 1936, and carries to his last, with Billy and Terry Smith, in February of 1996. In all, more than 1,000 recorded performances are detailed in the book.

The authors collected the information necessary to compile the discography by accessing the recordings themselves, record company files, union session documents, interviews with musicians and producers, and the work of other researchers.

I asked Neil how they separated Monroe’s recorded work into segments for the book.

“The nine chapters are arranged chronologically (1936-38, 1939-41, 1942-45, 1946-49, 1950-56, 1957-62, 1963-72, 1973-1980 and 1981-96). Each consists of an essay discussing Monroe’s musical activities and introducing the musicians with whom he was involved during the period covered, followed by discographical data: each recording session with such information as date, place, personnel, pieces recorded, record numbers, etc.”

Rosenberg had become fascinated with Bill Monroe’s music as a young man, and began to build a list of his recordings after getting a chance to fill in with The Bluegrass Boys on banjo in 1961. That personal compilation eventually led to the publication of his first book.

“I had wanted to become more familiar with Monroe’s repertoire so that it would be easier for me to play his music. (more…)

Earlier this week I posted about the new Bear Family box set of Bill Monroe material. In an effort to clarify which Monroe albums are represented in the set, Richard Thompson did a little independent research.

Richard correctly concluded that tracks on the box set where taken from the following LPs.

• Master Of Bluegrass 1981
• Bill Monroe & Friends 1983
• Bill Monroe and Stars of the Bluegrass Hall Of Fame 1985
• Bluegrass ‘87 1987
• Southern Flavor 1988

This, however, still doesn’t account for all the tracks in the box set. 10 tracks on the first CD in the set were unaccounted for as were the majority of tracks on the fourth CD in the set.

Noted bluegrass historian Neil Rosenberg was kind enough to pass along some information that clears up the mystery surrounding these tracks.

In addition to the albums listed by Richard Thompson, Bill’s last two MCA CDs, Live at the Opry and Crying Holy, are included. Also included is the contents of a live gospel concert done at Cathedral Caverns in Alabama in 1982. This was recorded by MCA for an album that was never released. In addition there are a few tracks from other sources. I don’t think any of them qualify as alternate takes.

So there you have it folks, as a complete a list of original source recordings as we’re going to get until the box set itself is released with the accompanying bio-discography.

This should be a collection any true Monroe fan would wish to own, especially with the inclusion of an entire, previously unreleased, live record. As stated previously, January 2007 is the planned release date and the box set is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com for $132.49.

Bear Family Records recently announced an upcoming CD box set from the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe. The set consists of 4 CDs containing material recorded by Monroe between the years of 1981 and 1994. The tracks come from

• Master of Bluegrass - 1981
• Bill Monroe & Friends - 1984
• Monroe with Stars of Hall of Fame - 1985

Also included are a number of previously unreleased takes.

This is the fourth Monroe box set to be released by Bear Family and a January 2007 release is planned.

The set contains a total of 94 90 tracks and will retail for $132.49 at Amazon.com where it is currently available for pre-order. It can also be purchased directly from Bear Family for 92.03 EUR.

UPDATE 5:31 PM: Regular contributor Richard Thompson writes in to tell us that the Bear Family website incorrectly lists 94 tracks when there are actually only 90, they had some haphazard line breaks in their code and I didn’t catch them. Richard also insists the tracks on this set come from these LPs:

• Master Of Bluegrass 1981
• Bill Monroe & Friends 1983
• Bill Monroe and Stars of the Bluegrass Hall Of Fame 1985
• Bluegrass ‘87 1987
• Southern Flavor 1988

My list of original recordings was based on info from Mandolin Cafe. Richard may well be correct, but I would note that at least some of the tracks are previously “unreleased takes,” which may indicate that they are alternate takes of tunes that were released on the LPs Richard noted.