Oldtime.ca: The Acoustic Pages

The Essential Bill Monroe
& The Monroe Brothers
Bill Monroe (RCA Records)

Vintage recordings are very much like vintage instruments. They have a patina and a character that some people cherish, and others dismiss as flaws. The patina is not only a result of their distance in time, but also of differences in the technologies available when they were originally made. Before the invention and widespread use of reel-to-reel tape, for example, records were literally "cut" on disc cutters, then reproduced by pressing negatives of these masters onto shellac 78s. Far from being flaws, these artifacts are part of the history of these early recordings, and provide a doorway through which we can perhaps better understand the past.

My favourite collection of vintage bluegrass recordings are compiled on The Essential Bill Monroe & The Monroe Brothers (RCA Records). I return to these recordings often, largely because they traverse a crucial period in the development of bluegrass music, but also because of the diverse influences they reveal at the heart of Bill Monroe's music.

When he and his brother parted ways in 1938, it was only a matter of months before Bill Monroe had abandoned the duet format, so common on radio stations at the time, and embraced the growing demand for full string bands. In an effort to pursue his personal musical vision, Monroe also began exploring a new sound, which was to eventually lay the foundation for an entire genre of acoustic music named for his Blue Grass Boys.

Although The Essential Bill Monroe & The Monroe Brothers is filled out with a handful of recordings that Bill Monroe made with his brother Charlie from 1936 to 1938, the bulk of the material featured on this compilation is actually a complete series of recordings that he made with his then relatively new group, the Blue Grass Boys, for Victor in 1940 and 1941. For enthusiasts of early bluegrass music, these recordings are nothing short of thrilling. As documents of the kind of music the Blue Grass Boys were playing at this time, in personal appearances and on the Grand Ole Opry, they demonstrate how early the basic forms of what would become known as "bluegrass" music were laid down, despite the fact that Bill Monroe didn't even have a banjo player at this point.

Of the stylistic shift that occurred in the years leading up to his 1938 Opry debut with the Blue Grass Boys, Bill Monroe has commented: "Charlie and I had a county beat I suppose, but the beat in my music - bluegrass music - started when I ran across 'Mule Skinner Blues' and started playing that. We don't do it the way Jimmie Rodgers sung it. It's speeded up, and we moved it up to fit the fiddle and we have that straight time to it, driving time."

Appropriately, "Mule Skinner Blues" is the first track on The Essential Bill Monroe. Unlike his 1950 rendition, which opens with a powerful mandolin run, guitar is the lead instrument on this early recording. Already at this early date, the Blue Grass Boys had undergone personnel changes. Clyde Moody had fairly recently replaced Cleo Davis on guitar and accompanying vocals, Tommy Magness had replaced Art Wooten on fiddle, and comedian Bill Wesbrooks (aka "Cousin Wilbur") had replaced Amos Garin on bass (who, in turn, had replaced a jug player named John Miller). This incarnation made eight recordings in 1940, including three prototypical bluegrass numbers: the tenor vocal and fast pace of "Mule Skinner Blues," the swinging Monroe instrumental "Tennessee Blues," and the up-tempo gospel quartet "Cryin' Holy Unto My Lord," embellished with trademark Monroe mandolin runs.

Shortly after this session, Clyde Moody left and was replaced by Pete Pyle, who was already a solo member of the Opry cast. With Art Wooten returning as fiddler and Bill Wesbrooks on bass, another set of recordings were made for Victor in 1941. This session included another Jimmie Rodgers tune, "Blue Yodel No. 7," the first recording by the Blue Grass Boys of "In the Pines," and three instrumentals, two showcasing the fiddle - "Orange Blossom Special" and "Back Up and Push" - and the third a Monroe composition called "Honky Tonk Swing." These 1941 sessions also represent the first recorded instance of the Blue Grass Boys tuning a half step above standard pitch, which would be one of their trademarks for the next decade.

When listened to with an open ear, these recordings still convey a freshness and vitality. Perhaps they will never be as exciting today as they were when they were originally recorded, but they do serve to remind us that old things were once new.

To find out more about Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music, visit billmonroefoundation.com