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From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -
William
Smith ("Bill") Monroe, known as "the father of Bluegrass
music," was born September 13, 1911, near Rosine, Kentucky. He was the
youngest of eight children born to James Buchanan and Malissa (Vandiver)
Monroe. His Ohio County birthplace lies in western Kentucky, miles from
the Bluegrass
area and even farther from the eastern Kentucky mountains traditionally
associated with bluegrass music.
Monroe
came from a musical family. His mother sang and played the fiddle for local
dances, his brother Birch played the fiddle, and his brother Charlie played the
guitar. Bill Monroe, so the story goes, chose the mandolin so that he would
have a better chance to perform with his brothers. After his parents died and
his brothers left home for work in the factories of Detroit in 1921, Monroe
lived with his uncle, Pendleton ("Pen") Vandiver, whom he credits with
teaching him to play the mandolin. By the time Monroe left Rosine to join his
brothers, he had already absorbed what would be the primary influences in
bluegrass music: the timing of his fiddle-playing Uncle Pen, the high-pitched,
emotional singing he had heard in the country churches and singing schools, the
mandolin playing of Walter Taylor (Ohio County
's "Mandolin King"), and -- perhaps most important for the
development of bluegrass music as opposed to mountain string band or western
swing -- the blues-style guitar playing of Arnold Shultz, a black who let
Monroe play alongside him at dances. Monroe's distinctive chordal
"chop" on the mandolin emphasized the second and fourth beat, which
gave bluegrass its drive. In the early 1950s this style was first referred to
as "bluegrass."
Bill
and Charlie Monroe, working as the Monroe Brothers, performed on North Carolina
radio shows beginning in 1927. It was in the Carolina mountains, not those of
Kentucky, that Bill was influenced by mountain ballads and mountain-style
string bands. In 1938 Charlie and Bill split up, Charlie forming the Kentucky
Partners, and Bill the Blue Grass Boys. Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys
band, which later included Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and Chubby Wise, joined
Nashville's WSM radio in 1939. Monroe then moved to Goodletsville, Tennessee.
During the 1940s Monroe combined baseball with bluegrass in traveling
throughout the South. He made certain his backup performers could play baseball
and often he could field two teams. At its peak the Monroe road show traveled
in seven trucks and a stretched-out bus, carrying 1,000 folding seats and a
7,000-capacity tent, a generator-run light plant, a complete kitchen, and the
baseball paraphernalia.
Although
Monroe has recorded for over fifty years and sold more than 25 million records
(under the RCA Victor label during 1936-41, Columbia 1941-49, and Decca/MCA
1950), he considers himself an in-person performer. His performances invariably
include ballad-style tunes that he calls "true songs." Monroe is
especially well known for his high-pitched, fast-moving renditions of
"Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Molly and Tenbrook," "My
Rose of Old Kentucky," and "Muleskinner Blues." He has performed
in all the states except Alaska, as well as in Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan,
and England. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970.
Bill
and Caroline Monroe, his first wife, had two children, Melissa and James,
before their divorce. His second marriage ended in separation.
GAIL KING, Entry Author
Selected Sources from UK Libraries:
Monroe, Bill, and Blue Grass Boys. Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. New York, NY: Columbia/Legacy, 1992. Columbia Country Classics.
Gebhardt, Steve., Larry. Nager, Bill Monroe, and WinStar Home Entertainment. Bill Monroe Father of Bluegrass Music. S.l.]: WinStar Home Entertainment, 1999.
Rosenberg, Neil V. Bluegrass : A History. Urbana: U of Illinois, 1985. Print. Music in American Life.
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