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Art Wooten, Bill Monroe, Cleo Davis, Amos Garren. Becoming an Opry Regular Very early photograph of Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys. When they went their separate ways in 1938, Bill formed his renowned band, The Blue Grass Boys, its name a nod to his home state of Kentucky. With the help from WBT’s strong signal and the release of “What Would You Give in Exchange for Your Soul,” Bill and Charlie created a nice audience for themselves. In 1936, producer Eli Oberstein of RCA recorded the brothers for the first time. The pair based themselves at Charlotte, North Carolina’s 50,000-watt station, WBT. The Birth of Bluegrass Bill Monroe with Epiphone mandolin posing in front of WSM mic.Īfter Birch broke off from the group, Bill and Charlie set their sights on the Carolinas. The family act eventually dissolved into a duo and then a solo career, but the youngest brother had the staying power that later defined an entirely new genre of music. In the 1930s, they formed a band, the Monroe Brothers, alongside friends William Hardin and Larry Moore. Monroe stuck with the mandolin, Charlie played guitar, and Birch was on the fiddle. When he got a little older, Monroe and his older brothers, Charlie and Birch, began playing together, inspired by the old-time music they listened to on the phonograph. More than seven decades after the genesis of this distinct genre of American music, we’re revisiting the legacy of the man who made it happen: Bill Monroe.īy Matthew McCloy | Updated DecemBorn to PlayĪt 8 years old, Bill Monroe was already a committed student of the mandolin, his love for music was cultivated by his mother and uncle, fiddler Pendleton Vandiver. He leaves quickly afterwards to avoid arousing suspicion.In December of 1945, bluegrass was born on the famed Ryman Auditorium stage. His 1930’s self having a memory forever, and a Bill Monroe from the 1940’s furiously writing down the lyrics in the shadows. He kicks off Kentucky Waltz and gives the performance of a lifetime. WIth the coast clear he proceeds to ask his long deceased Uncle Pen if he can sit in for a number. He waits for his 1930’s self to ask his sweetheart to dance. With one more mighty tremolo Bill generates the 1.21 gigawatts necessary and plunges himself once more into the mid 1930’s this time old and wiser. Years later in November of 1985, Bill Monroe looks in the mirror and recognizes the stranger who had been playing with Uncle Pen some 50 years earlier. Feeling guilty over the theft of a beautiful song from a stranger, Bill decides the Loar will not be used for its intended purpose of time travel and vows to only use it to rip sweet syncopated blues lines over bluegrass standards. Three years later in 1946 Bill Monroe releases Kentucky Waltz listing himself as the composer.

He returns to his time confused and inspired. Maybe he was playing a dance with Uncle Pen and he sat out on a tune so he could dance with her.īill quickly writes down the words to this song and commits the chords to memory. A woman that he shared some special moments with. A woman he met right in his hometown of Rosine, Kentucky. See before Bill met Carolyn, Bessie, or Wanda there was another love. Oh wait, you’re supposed to put that before you say the spoiler, damn it. So maybe Bill didn’t have the best love life, if only he could go back to a simpler time.

However, the case was dismissed after it came to light Wanda had threatened Bill’s life and a gun was found in her truck. She accused Bill Monroe of cheating and asked him to swear on a Bible that he hadn’t, Bill allegedly beat her silly with that same Bible. To finish let’s do a deeper cut, Wanda Huff. You may know their daughter as “Little Georgia Rose”. As a long standing Bluegrass Boy bassist, her relationship with Bill allegedly bore an illegitimate child. Or the infamous mistress Bessie Lee Mauldin. Notably, Carolyn Brown, Bill’s first wife who inspired the song “Along About Daybreak” after stabbing Bill in the leg with an ice pick. Kentucky Waltz is a love song, but about who? There’s more than a few women that come up in the story of Bill Monroe’s life.