I’m Going Back To Old Kentucky #59

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.

  • November 28, 1946 Bruce Nemerov was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Nemerov played the banjo for Bill Monroe from July to September 1973. His tenure with the Blue Grass Boy came after Jack Hicks departed. Nemerov did not participate in any recording sessions. *
  • November 28, 1953 Recording Session – The Blue Grass Boys – Jimmy Martin [guitar], Rudy Lyle [banjo] and Charlie Cline [fiddle], assisted by studio session man, bass player Ernie Newton – recorded two songs, Wishing Waltz and I Hope you Have Learned, and the extremely popular Get Up John. For this instrumental Monroe re-tuned his mandolin, Cline adjusted the E string down to D and Lyle used a capo on the seventh fret. This was the first time back in the studio for Bill Monroe after his automobile accident on January 16, 1953, in which he suffered fractures to his back, left arm and nose.

* Grammy winner Bruce Nemerov is a musician and writer currently living in middle Tennessee.

He has composed and performed music for film and television and produced and recorded albums for a variety of companies, including Warner Bros., Flying Fish, RCA Victor, and Rounder.

Nemerov is an original cast member of NPR’s comedy show Riders Radio Theater starring Riders in the Sky, and has been a member of the California-based bluegrass band High Country and Jeannie C. Riley’s Harper Valley Band.

He now tours as a solo guitarist, and in a vocal and guitar duet called the Fedora Brothers.

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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.