I’m Going Back To Old Kentucky #286

From October 1, 2010 through to the end of September 2011, we will, each day, celebrate the life of Bill Monroe by sharing information about him and those people who are associated with his life and music career. This information will include births and deaths; recording sessions; single, LP and CD release dates; and other interesting tidbits. Richard F. Thompson is responsible for the research and compilation of this information. We invite readers to share any tidbits, photos or memories you would like us to include.

  • July 13, 1953 Single released – Cabin of Love / Country Waltz (Decca 9 – 28749, 45rpm)
  • July 13, 1976 Mercury session for Tom T Hall – Bill Monroe played mandolin on Tom T Hall’s recording of Molly And Tenbrooks. *
  • July 13, 1979 The First Annual South-eastern Michigan Bluegrass Festival, Northfield Township Park, Whitmore Lake, Michigan featured Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys.
  • July 13, 1984 Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, George Jones and Mac Wiseman appeared at the First Bill Monroe Texas Bluegrass Festival, George Jones Country Music Park, Colenesniel, Texas.

* The recording was included on the LP Tom T Hall: The Magnificent Music Machine (Mercury SRM-1-1111), released in 1976.

There’s a down-home country tone to Tom T. Hall’s The Magnificent Music Machine that both new listeners and long-time fans will find relaxing. Hall has a knack for slice-of-life story songs, from telling of the cold-hearted beauty who “left me to die, like a Fox on the Run” to the mellower, more wryly humorous plaint of Momma’s Got the Catfish Blues. In between are tales of horse racing, with Molly and Tenbrooks, hunting (Fastest Rabbit Dog in Carter County Today), and the album rounds out with a nostalgic look at meeting “In the sweet bye and bye/In that “Bluegrass Festival in the Sky”. Hall has a likable voice, and his tunes get listeners humming along and joining in on the choruses.

Murrday Fisher, All Music Guide

The album was released in CD format by Copper Creek Records (CCRS 7007), released on June 22, 2004.

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About the Author

Richard Thompson

Richard F. Thompson is a long-standing free-lance writer specialising in bluegrass music topics. A two-time Editor of British Bluegrass News, he has been seriously interested in bluegrass music since about 1970. As well as contributing to that magazine, he has, in the past 30 plus years, had articles published by Country Music World, International Country Music News, Country Music People, Bluegrass Unlimited, MoonShiner (the Japanese bluegrass music journal) and Bluegrass Europe. He wrote the annotated series I'm On My Way Back To Old Kentucky, a daily memorial to Bill Monroe that culminated with an acknowledgement of what would have been his 100th birthday, on September 13, 2011.