BILL MONROE

BILL MONROE:

BORN: September 13th, 1911.
DEATH: September 1996.
INFLUENCES: Jimmie Rodgers, Charlie Monroe, Pendleton Vandiver, General Blues.
GENRE: Blues.
STYLE: Bluegrass, Blues, Country, honky tonk, Western Swing, Gospel, Cowboy.
SIMILAR ARTISTS: Jimmie Rodgers, Stanley Brothers, Moon Mullican, Delmore Brothers, Mac Wiseman, Flatt & Scruggs, Cliff Bruner, Bob Wills, Yank Ratchell, Ricky Skaggs, Louvin Brothers, Charlie Monroe.
ARTISTS MONROE INFLUENCED: Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Carl Perkins, Charlie Feathers, Steve Earle, Del McCroury, Osborne Brothers, Gatlin Brothers, Bob Dylan, George Jones.

Bill Monroe was born in Rosine Kentucky in September 1911. His earliest influences came from the blues played by the local black community, his uncle Pendleton Vandiver’s and his mother’s fiddle playing and country blues singer Jimmie Rodgers. The gospel music from the community church also had a huge influence on Monroe.
Bill’s earliest performances were with his brother, Charlie. Between 1936 and 1938, Charlie & Bill recorded as the Monroe Brothers and sang and played mainly gospel songs in vocal harmony. Such performances included "This world is not my home" and "What would you give in exchange for your soul".
In 1938, Bill & Charlie split and both set up their own bands. Bill’s band was first called the Kentuckians and then the Bluegrass Boys. In 1940, Bill recorded "Muleskinner blues - Blue yodel #8" and received his first local hit. The song was originally by Bill’s idol, Jimmie Rodgers. The record was probably the first true example of bluegrass - it had the blues feeling, frenetic mandolin solos and fiddle. Basically, it combined all of the styles Monroe grew up with. After this recording, Bill had estbalished a new country-blues style which he called bluegrass and he firmly established the genre with such performances as "Rocky road blues", "Blue yodel #3", "My old pal", "Kentucky waltz" and "Blue moon of Kentucky" in the 1940s. Some of these were gutbucket blues, others were waltzes - but all shared the bluegrass feel. Many singers sang with Monroe during this period (Flatt & Scruggs, Mac Wiseman, etc.) but none had the blues feeling of Monroe’s own voice. The major highlights of Monroe’s 1940s recordings were the ones Monroe himself sang lead on.
The 1950s saw trends move away from the traditional forms of country music to a more country-pop sound. Monroe was never one to compromise what he believed in and didn’t want to make his music into a form of pop. Rock ‘n’ roll was an even deadlier enemy of bluegrass - but some of the so-called rock ‘n’ roll performers (like early Elvis Presley) were basically blues and bluegrass orientated artists who were mislabelled and helped to popularise much of the bluegrass with younger fans. However, others like Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran were so much pop that they had little or no country and blues influences and only served to kill off any chances of roots music ever being high on the charts.
Monroe recorded many classics in the ‘50s such as "New muleskinner blues", "Travelling blues", "Brakeman’s blues", "Gotta travel on", "New John Henry blues", "White house blues", "Uncle Pen" & "Prisoner’s song".
In the 1960s, there was a big revival in country music and Monroe had a newfound popularity and saw his influence touch many artists from Flatt & Scruggs to Elvis Presley to Tom T. Hall. Between the 1970s and 1990s, Monroe continued to record and tour and influence many people. Cancer and heart conditions interrupted him at times, but he pulled through and lived a long life and sounded excellent on his 1991 gospel album. He died in 1996.
Patrick Wall,
August 21st, 1999.

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