Track Listing

1. Watermelon Hanging on the Vine
2. Roanoke
3. Brakeman's Blues
4. Close By
5. Kentucky Waltz
6. Blue Grass Stomp
7. Blue Moon of Kentucky
8. I'm Working on a Building
9. Angels Rock Me to Sleep
10. Wheel Hoss
11. Watermelon Hanging on the Vine
12. Katy Hill
13. True Life Blues
14. I Live in the Past
15. Wayfaring Stranger
16. Fire on the Mountain
17. Bluegrass Breakdown
18. Rawhide
19. Y'all Come
20. Cotton Eyed Joe
21. Get Up John
22. White House Blues
23. Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms
24. Kansas City Railroad Blues
25. Walls of Time
26. When He Reached Down His Hand for Me
27. Monroe Family Segment

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88116 in Music
• Released on: 1993-09-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Album Description
Previously unreleased recordings from the 1950s and '60s present Monroe concert performances, jam sessions, and festival workshops of Bill with the Bluegrass Boys and his brothers Charlie and Birch. This 75-minute collection captures Monroe with Peter Rowan, Bill Keith, Tex Logan, Bobby Hicks, Del McCoury, Hazel Dickens, Roland White, and many, many others. Includes rare photos and extensive notes by Ralph Rinzler. "...culled from both concerts and picking parties, [this recording] reveals what a holy terror [Monroe] was in front of an audience--even of friends, at 4:45 a.m." -- Newsweek

Amazon.com essential recording
"Howdy, howdy folks. We're glad to be back for another show here. As we do the numbers now, we're gonna call each fellow's name out so we can get right along with the show." And what a show. Bluegrass has always been a live-performance genre, on stage or in the studio, and Bill Monroe never sounded better on stage than during these heady years of the folk revival. He had something to share and to prove to his new audience, and he wouldn't meet them halfway, choosing instead his grittiest traditional material and singing, especially in the late '50s, with full, high yodel and wail. His voice mellowed into the '60s, but his band, including many of the best bluegrass pickers ever (Bill Keith, Peter Rowan, Richard Greene, and Bobby Hicks for starters), never gave quarter. To understand Bill Monroe and his various ensembles, one needs to hear his stage brilliance, and there's no better place to start than with these warm, clear live recordings. --Roy Kasten

Customer Reviews

An intimate glimpse at Monroe's onstage charm
A treasure trove of rare Monroe performances, from various folk fests and concerts. For the most part these live renditions don't capture the full intensity of Monroe's music, but there's certainly not a bad cut on this album. The best bit, though, is a track called "Monroe Family Segment," which consists of Q&A dialogs with fans and festival moderators asking Monroe to explain his techniques and how he learned them from various family members... Interesting in and of itself, but also a great glimpse at Bill's rapport with his fans.

The very finest example of bluegrass ever!
I knew I liked the bluegrass sound, but I didn't own any... so on a whim I found this CD in a store. I bought it because I thought I recognized the name, and it did have more songs than most. That was four years ago and I still think of it as one of the best purchases I've ever made. If you like the mandolin and high old time sound... then you must have this CD!! It's over an hour of the best bluegrass ever recorded, and the information in the cover/recorded interview with Bill (#27. Monroe Family Segment) really let you get a chance to know the man.

That was I call MUSIC.
I have gotten myself into bluegrass lately even though I'm not new to it either. I grew up hearing bluegrass music on television like the Beverly Hillbillies, Hee Haw and the Dukes of Hazzard. However, I always wanted to learn more about Bill Monroe and his music. The music on this CD is of course authentic, traditional bluegrass. I highly recommend this to any bluegrass and even non-bluegrass listener. I would like to see America get back to its music roots. We are losing it with the non substance music we hear today.