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.
- October 20, 1976 Recording session – In an early evening session Monroe, assisted by his son James, Wayne Lewis, Kenny Baker, Joe Stuart, Blaine Sprouse, Bill Holden and Randy Davis, recorded My Cabin in Caroline, No Place to Pillow my Head and My Sweet Blue-Eyed Darling. Only the last-named was issued as a single, but all are included on the LP Sings Bluegrass, Body and Soul (MCA 2251).
- October 20, 1984 Tatsuya Imai played bass with the Blue Grass Boys on the first of five dates during Bill Monroe’s Japanese tour. The tour took place shortly after Kenny Baker left the band. Imai, who was born in 1962, first heard bluegrass music on the radio while a junior high student. He took up the bass while in college and now plays with the Kyoto-based bluegrass band, Rosine. *
- October 20, 1992 CD released: Bill Monroe – The Essential Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys 1945-1949 (Sony C2K 52478)
* Clarence ‘Tater’ Tate played the fiddle during this tour.
Bill Monroe – The Essential Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys 1945-1949 (Sony C2K 52478)
2-CD box set; four of the six recording sessions chronicled in this set featured the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup, which disbanded early in 1948. Several of the 40 recordings are alternate takes and, as an alternative to the Bear Family Records 6-CD set, Blue Moon Of Kentucky 1936-1949 (BF BCD 16399 FL), this can be paired with the album 16 Gems (Columbia Legacy CK 53908) to provide a very good sampling of the stellar talents of that trend-setting quintet. (see March 12)
Track listing – Rocky Road Blues, Kentucky Waltz, True Life Blues, Nobody Loves Me, Goodbye Old Pal, Footprints in the Snow, Blue Grass Special, Come Back to Me in My Dreams, Heavy Traffic Ahead, Why Did You Wander? Blue Moon of Kentucky, Toy Heart, Summertime Is Past and Gone, Mansions for Me, Mother’s Only Sleeping, Blue Yodel No. 4, Will You Be Loving Another Man? How Will I Explain About You? Shining Path Wicked, Path of Sin, I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky, It’s Mighty Dark to Travel, I Hear a Sweet Voice Calling, Little Cabin Home on the Hill, My Rose of Old Kentucky, Bluegrass Breakdown, Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong, Old Cross Road, That Home Above, Remember the Cross, Little Community Church, Along About Daybreak, When You Are Lonely, Molly and Tenbrooks [The Racehorse Song], Shine Hallelujah, Shine, I’m Travelin’ on and On, Can’t You Hear Me Callin’, Travelin’ This Lonesome Road, Blue Grass Stomp and Girl in the Blue Velvet Band.
