The Childhood and Family Background Leading Up to Bill Monroe, “The Father of Bluegrass” “Families are like branches on a tree, we grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one.” That is just what the “Father of Bluegrass”, Bill Monroe did. William Smith Monroe was born on September 13, 1911 on a farm in Jerusalem Ridge, Kentucky. He was born the youngest into a family of eight children. His family was musically talented and presented him with the musical talent to inherit. Monroe learned how to play mandolin at the young age of 9 and began to fall in love with music. Monroe’s family was not rich and wealthy but they had just enough to live on and divide with neighbors who were less fortunate. "I was brought up the best way that
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He invented the style, invented the name, and for the great majority of the 20th century, embodied the art form of bluegrass. Bill Monroe’s background and steps he took to reach fame included the Monroe brothers, Blue Grass Boys, and moving to the big city. The steps Bill Monroe took were based on the impact of Bluegrass backgrounds. The bluegrass style began in 1945, when Bill Monroe recruited a quartet that included the famous Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt to form the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass is a clear-cut orchestral style to appear in the British American folk tradition in five hundred years, before the American Revolution (Smith. …show more content…
His savage, arrogant, intransigent spirit is his hallmark” (Ewing 33). Beginning with his Blue Grass Boys in the 1940s, Monroe defined a hard-edged style of country that emphasized instrumental virtuosity, close vocal harmonies, and a fast, driving tempo. The musical genre took its name from the Blue Grass Boys, and Monroe's music forever has defined the sound of classical bluegrass -- a five-piece acoustic string band, playing precisely and rapidly, switching solos and singing in a plaintive, high lonesome voice. Not only did he invent the very sound of the music, Monroe was the mentor for several generations of musicians.
Over the years, Monroe's band hosted all of the major bluegrass artists of the '50s and '60s, including Flatt & Scruggs, Reno & Smiley, Vassar Clements, Carter Stanley, and Mac Wiseman. Though the lineup of the Blue Grass Boys changed over the years, Monroe always remained devoted to bluegrass in its purest form (“About Bill Monroe”).
Bill Monroe’s best days on Earth were when he undergone surgery, said to be for colon cancer. But after a successful surgery, Bill Monroe began having trouble going on and off the stage when preforming. “Bill’s the iron man,” New England mandolinist/tenor Joe Val once confided. “You’ll
He invented the style, invented the name, and for the great majority of the 20th century, embodied the art form of bluegrass. Bill Monroe’s background and steps he took to reach fame included the Monroe brothers, Blue Grass Boys, and moving to the big city. The steps Bill Monroe took were based on the impact of Bluegrass backgrounds. The bluegrass style began in 1945, when Bill Monroe recruited a quartet that included the famous Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt to form the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass is a clear-cut orchestral style to appear in the British American folk tradition in five hundred years, before the American Revolution (Smith. …show more content…
His savage, arrogant, intransigent spirit is his hallmark” (Ewing 33). Beginning with his Blue Grass Boys in the 1940s, Monroe defined a hard-edged style of country that emphasized instrumental virtuosity, close vocal harmonies, and a fast, driving tempo. The musical genre took its name from the Blue Grass Boys, and Monroe's music forever has defined the sound of classical bluegrass -- a five-piece acoustic string band, playing precisely and rapidly, switching solos and singing in a plaintive, high lonesome voice. Not only did he invent the very sound of the music, Monroe was the mentor for several generations of musicians.
Over the years, Monroe's band hosted all of the major bluegrass artists of the '50s and '60s, including Flatt & Scruggs, Reno & Smiley, Vassar Clements, Carter Stanley, and Mac Wiseman. Though the lineup of the Blue Grass Boys changed over the years, Monroe always remained devoted to bluegrass in its purest form (“About Bill Monroe”).
Bill Monroe’s best days on Earth were when he undergone surgery, said to be for colon cancer. But after a successful surgery, Bill Monroe began having trouble going on and off the stage when preforming. “Bill’s the iron man,” New England mandolinist/tenor Joe Val once confided. “You’ll