Jango Song Of The Day-Bill Monroe & The Monroe Brothers

Artist:Bill Monroe & The Monroe Brothers
Song:In The Pines
Album:The Essential Bill Monroe & The Monroe Brothers



Bill Monroe is the father of bluegrass music. He even invented the name "bluegrass". This CD covers his earliest recordings but even his later recordings were pure bluegrass. He never changed. He was born Sept. 13, 1911 in Rosine, KY. His father was a step dancer and his mother sang. His uncle Pen Vendiver was a popular fiddle player and his brothers and sister also played. Monroe learned mandolin and when his parents died, he went to live with uncle Pen and started playing in his band. He also learned to play the blues guitar from Arnold Shultz who developed thumb picking. In 1929, Monroe and brothers Charlie & Birch went to Indiana to work at an oil refinery and play gigs at night. They landed on the WLS Jamboree in Chicago. Birch left in 1934 but Bill & Charlie continued to appear on radio shows as the Monroe Brothers. This led to a contract with RCA's Bluebird label in 1936 and recorded for two years until Charlie left to form The Kentucky Pardners. Bill Monroe moved to Atlanta and planned to create a new kind of music that mixed old time country with blues and challenging musicianship. He formed The Blue Grass Boys and debuted at The Grand Ole Opry in October 1939 and then went on tour. Monroe's high tenor and mandolin were something new in country music. In The Pines is one of several songs he recorded for Bluebird in 1941 and those recordings are on this comp. The musicians strike prevented Monroe from recording and by the time he recorded for Columbia in 1945, he had a different band including Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Monroe had some chart success but Flatt & Scruggs left in 1948 to start their own band. Monroe left Columbia for Decca in 1949 because he was annoyed with Columbia for signing The Stanley Brothers. He thought they were imitating him. Decca tried to get Monroe to make his sound more mainstream. But he never did and though he made occasional appearances on the country charts, Monroe's constant touring kept him going and the 60s folk boom helped too. He was incucted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1970 and continued to record and tour despite being diagnosed with cancer in 1981. After suffering a stroke in early 1996, bluegrass legend Bill Monroe died on Spt. 9, 1996 at age 84. Here's Bill Monroe performing In The Pines probably in the 80s.