Customer Reviews

The Very Best Of Bill Monroe And His Blue Grass Boys

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This is a generously programmed, slam-bang collection of the best songs recorded by Bill Monroe and his band (in its various early incarnations) on the Decca/MCA label. With 22-tracks total, this is perhaps the ideal album to pick up if you only want to get a single disc of Monroe's work... and it's all really great stuff. Kudos to MCA/Universal for doing such a good job on this well-made, thoughtful reissue!

Word to the wise: Although this best-of is really good, keep in mind that all the songs on here are *also* included on the equally fab 50 track, 2-CD "Anthology" collection, which cam out a year later, in 2003. Either way you go, though, this stuff is the very definition of "high lonesome," super-authentic bluegrass music. Highly recommended!!

Bill Monroe of Rosine, Kentucky (pop. 200) had just 9 charted Billboard hits from 1946-1959. There is vastly more to his career than that statistic. It certainly lasted longer! He is the designated Father of Bluegrass music and if anyone is a legend in his time, it is he. "The Very Best of Bill Monroe" is a sharply produced CD with excellent, almost piercing sound. The harmony and diction by Monroe and his backups are tops. Do we remember that line from "The One On the Left"? A very informative insert accompanies the CD. (Serious country fans should ALWAYS read those inserts). We learn for example that Monroe was a stern taskmaster, who encouraged "turnover" in his bands and made them dress in suits for concerts! Just like Willie Nelson! Of the 21 tracks, only the overplayed "Mule Skinner Blues" and "Gotta Travel On" disappoint. This CD is virtually educational. The time span here covers 34 years-from "Kentucky Waltz (1946) to the haunting instrumental "My Last Days on Earth". Bill wrote that one lying in a hospital bed in 1980-afraid he was dying of colon cancer. This reviewer would urge serious country listeners to be adventurous by trying a Monroe album , expanding their musical horizons and rounding out their collections. Sometimes that advice appears trite but not in this case.

THIS C.D. IS A GREAT COLLECTION OF THE FATHER OF BLUEGRASS'S WORK. HIS STYLE WILL NEVER GO OUT OF STYLE.