The Bill Monroe Reader (Music In American Life)

Features of The Bill Monroe Reader (Music in American Life)

Tell em Im a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice Bill Monroe said Known as the Father of Bluegrass Music Monroe pioneered a whole new category of music and inspired generations of musicians and fans Yet from his founding of the original bluegrass band through six decades of performing he remained an enigmatic figure a compelling mixture of fierce intensity homespun modesty and musical integrityDetermined to play the mandolin in a way it had never been played before Monroe distinguished himself in the mid1930s with the Monroe Brothers then began forming his own band the Blue Grass Boys in 1938 By the mid1940s other bands were copying his sound and a new style bluegrass music was born While country music moved toward electrification Monroe maintained his acoustic ensemble and developed his high lonesome sound performing nearly up to his death in 1996In this eclectic richly illustrated reader former Blue Grass Boy Tom Ewing gathers the most significant and illuminating of the many articles that have been written about Monroe Through the writings of nearly sixty observers interviewers admirers folklorists and other scholars along with Ewings astute commentary The Bill Monroe Reader offers a multifaceted view of one of the most influential country musicians of the twentieth centuryLively heartfelt and informative The Bill Monroe Reader is a fitting tribute to the man and the musician who transformed the traditional music of western Kentucky into an international sensation