Karen Cannon has painted a new tribute to our beloved Father. The painting is titled Salute!, and honors both Bill Monroe and the mandolin he used to create the bluegrass music we know and love.

Karen has painted Bill Monroe and his mandolin before, and she explains how the image for this new original pastel painting came to mind…

“I wanted to do a painting that would pay tribute to ‘the instrument behind the man.’ In this case, I’m paying homage to perhaps the most famous mandolin in the world, Bill Monroe’s faithful Gibson Lloyd Loar F-5.

The new open-edition art print will be featured in my exhibit at the California Bluegrass Association Father’s Day Festival in Grass Valley next week.”

Might this be a candidate for a Bill Monroe postage stamp design?

You can see all of Karen’s bluegrass-themed art on her web site, where you can also sign up for her studio newsletter.

Tomorrow, September 9, 2006, marks the 10 year anniversary of the passing of Bill Monroe, the beloved Father of Bluegrass Music. Those who knew him well and watched him slip away breathed a sigh of relief when his discomfort and suffering came to an end, but all who loved the music he created knew that something irreplaceable had been lost when he left us.

Our friend, Richard Thompson, has composed a lovely remembrance of Mr. Monroe, including several quotes from former Bluegrass Boys. We will publish it in several parts on Saturday morning as a tribute to Bill Monroe.