Bill Monroe

For the NBC newsman, see Bill Monroe (journalist). Image File history File links Bill Monroe, American bluegrass musician (Photo by Jim DeVault) This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. ... Image File history File links Bill Monroe, American bluegrass musician (Photo by Jim DeVault) This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. ... Bill Monroe is a former television journalist for NBC News and the fourth moderator of the NBC program Meet the Press (from 1975 to 1984). ...

William Smith Monroe, (September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) 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." September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Bluegrass music is considered a form of American roots music with its own roots in English, Irish, African and Scottish traditional music. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  Ranked 37th  - Total 40,444 sq mi (104,749 km²)  - Width 140 miles (225 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ... Ercole de Roberti: Concert, c. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... A bandleader is the director of a band of musicians. ... The following alphabetical lists includes men and women commonly known as the father or mother of something. ...

Bill Monroe was born in Rosine, Kentucky. His father was a well-to-do farmer while his mother, née Malissa Vandiver, who was of Dutch extraction, was from lower down the social scale. Malissa and her brother, Pendleton "Pen" Vandiver, were both musically inclined, and Bill Monroe learned old-time music from his uncle who was an itinerant fiddler. Thirty years later, Monroe wrote a song ("Uncle Pen") in honor of him and the music. Rosine, Kentucky is a town in Ohio County, Kentucky. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  Ranked 37th  - Total 40,444 sq mi (104,749 km²)  - Width 140 miles (225 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ...

Monroe's professional career began in the 1930s when he and his older brothers, Birch and Charlie, began performing as a trio, the Monroe Brothers, at a radio station in South Bend, Indiana near Hammond, Indiana where they worked in an oil refinery. Birch left the music scene early on in the Monroes' career, and the younger two brothers continued to perform as the Monroe Brothers. They were successful enough to record 60 songs in two years for Bluebird Records. In 1939, after the brothers parted ways, Monroe formed the first edition of the Blue Grass Boys, and in October of the same year became a regular on the Grand Ole Opry. The 1930s (years from 1930-1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... Location in the state of Indiana Coordinates: County St. ... Location in the state of Indiana Coordinates: County Lake Mayor Thomas McDermott, Jr. ... Bluebird Records was a sub-label of RCA Victor created to counter ARC Records on the 3 records for a dollar market. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly Saturday night country music radio program broadcast live on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee, and televised on Great American Country network. ...

As a mandolin player, Monroe brought a virtuosity previously unknown in country music to his instrument. In 1945 he hired Earl Scruggs, who similarly elevated the role of the banjo. This version of the Blue Grass Boys, which also included singer/guitarist Lester Flatt, Chubby Wise on fiddle, and Howard Watts aka "Cedric Rainwater" on bass, made the first recordings that featured all the elements that later came to be known as bluegrass music. This particular group broke up when Flatt and Scruggs left to form their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys. Carved (electric) and round backed mandolins (front) A mandolin is a small, stringed musical instrument which is plucked, strummed or a combination of both. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (born January 6, 1924 in Shelby, North Carolina) created a banjo style (now called Scruggs style) that is one of the defining characteristics of bluegrass. ... A four-string banjo For other uses, see Banjo (disambiguation) The banjo is a stringed instrument of African origin, early or original examples sometimes being called the gourd banjo. One predecessor to the banjo is called the Akonting. ... Ercole de Roberti: Concert, c. ... A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. ... Lester Flatt (June 19, 1914 - May 11, 1979) was one of the pioneers of bluegrass music. ... The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ... Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys were an influential bluegrass band performing and recording the 1950s and 1960s. ...

Monroe quickly replaced them and within a few years had formed what many consider the classic "High Lonesome" version of the Blue Grass Boys, featuring the cutting lead singing 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 songs such as "On and On", "Memories of Mother and Dad" and "Uncle Pen", as well as instrumentals such as "Bluegrass Ramble" and the defining piece of Bill Monroe's mandolin technique, "Rawhide". Bluegrass musician Jimmy Martin Jimmy Martin (August 10, 1927 - May 14, 2005) was an American bluegrass musician, known as the King of Bluegrass. Born James H. Martin in Sneedville, Tennessee, beginning in 1949 Martin was lead vocalist for Bill Monroes Bluegrass Boys, until he formed his own band, The... Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (born January 6, 1924 in Shelby, North Carolina) created a banjo style (now called Scruggs style) that is one of the defining characteristics of bluegrass. ...

Another defining version of the Blue Grass Boys was the so-called "Northern" band of the mid-1960's, featuring musicians not of southern rural origin, including Bill Keith and later Lamar Grier on banjo, Peter Rowan as guitarist and lead singer, and Richard Greene as the fiddler. Peter Rowan Peter Rowan (b. ... For other uses, see Richard Greene (disambiguation). ...

More than 150 musicians played in the Blue Grass Boys over the years. Many later became stars in their own right, including Mac Wiseman, Clyde Moody, Sonny Osborne, Don Reno, David "Stringbean" Akeman, Del McCoury, Vassar Clements, Buck Trent, Peter Rowan, Byron Berline, Kenny Baker, Carter Stanley, Doug Green, and Randall Franks. Malcolm B. Wiseman (born May 23, 1925 in Waynesboro, Virginia) is a bluegrass singer. ... Clyde Moody (born September 19, 1915 in Cherokee, North Carolina, died April 7, 1989 in Nashville, Tennessee), also known as the Hillbilly Waltz King and sometimes as The Genial Gentleman of Country Music was one the great founders of American Bluegrass music. ... The Reverend Don Wayne Reno is a banjo player who created his own playing technique. ... David Akeman (June 17, 1915 - November 11, 1973) was an American country music banjo player and comedy musician best known for his role on the hit television show, Hee Haw. ... Del McCoury Delano Floyd McCoury (born February 1, 1939 in Bakersville, North Carolina) is an American bluegrass musician. ... Cover of Old and in the Way (1975) Vassar Clements (April 25, 1928-August 16, 2005) was an American fiddle player. ... Charles Wilburn Buck Trent is an American country music instrumentalist. ... Peter Rowan Peter Rowan (b. ... Byron Berline is an American fiddle player. ... Kenny Baker (born June 26, 1926), is an American fiddle player best known for his tenure with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys at various times between the 1950s and the 1980s. ... Carter and Ralph Stanley The Stanley Brothers (Carter Stanley, 1925-1966, and Ralph Stanley, born 1927) - American bluegrass musicians. ... Riders in the Sky is a Western music and comedy group which began performing 1977. ... // RANDALL FRANKS The glow of dozens of kerosene lanterns fill the rural night in the Appalachians of North Georgia as neighbors dance to the sound of an old black fiddle played by A.J. “Harve” Franks. ...

Bill Monroe was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970, the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor as an inaugural inductee in 1991, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as an "early influence") in 1997. He is the only performer honored in all three. In 1993, he recieved the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1995. His well-known song "Blue Moon of Kentucky" has been covered not only by bluegrass but also rock and country artists, most notably Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline. This official history of the Country Music Hall of Fame skirts the scandals well-documented by veteran Music Row historian Stacy Harris. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Induction to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor is managed by the International Bluegrass Music Association, and the Hall itself is maintained at the International Bluegrass Music Museum. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at sunset. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording [1]. This award is distinct from the Grammy Hall of Fame Award, which honors specific recordings rather than individuals, and... The National Medal of Arts is an award and title bestowed on selected honorees by the National Endowment for the Arts. ... Blue Moon of Kentucky is a bluegrass song, written by Bill Monroe in 1947 and recorded by his band, The Blue Grass Boys. ... Elvis Aron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), often known simply as Elvis and also called The King of Rock n Roll or simply The King, was an American singer, musician and actor. ... Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was a Country music/Pop music singer, who enjoyed Pop music cross-over success during the era of the Nashville Sound in the early 1960s. ...

In 2003, CMT had Bill Monroe ranked #16 on CMT 40 Greatest Men of Country Music. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... CMT can refer to: Cadmium Mercury Telluride Canal Metropolitano Televisión Catalog Management Table Certified Market Technician Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease Childrens Musical Theatreworks of Fresno, California Chip Multi Threading Comision del Mercado de las Telecommunicaciones, the Spanish communications industry regulator. ...

External links

• Discography at Discography of Bluegrass Sound Recordings

• List of the members of the Blue Grass Boys. The site includes biographies of particularly notable members.

• Recording of "Wayfaring Stranger" from the 1993 Florida Folk Festival (available for public use from the State Archives of Florida

• Biography from the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum
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• Bill Monroe CD reviews at Country Standard Time