Biography

One of the giants of 20th-century music, Kentucky-born Bill Monroe was the undisputed creator of bluegrass. His mandolin-picking and plaintive tenor are among the genre's most moving and distinctive sounds. His band, the Bluegrass Boys, provided the launching pad for innumerable bluegrass careers, graduating such luminaries as Flatt and Scruggs, Reno and Smiley, and Peter Rowan. Though his period of greatest popularity was the '40s and '50s, Monroe was a tireless performer who continued to play live into the '90s, even after treatment for cancer and a double bypass operation. By the time of his death in 1996, he had been crowned several times over as the king of bluegrass and proved a seminal inspiration to several generations of musicians.

Top Tracks

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• Anniversary Blue Yodel

• Big River

• Blue Grass Special

• Blue Grass Stomp

• Blue Moon Of Kentucky

• Bluegrass Breakdown

• Can't You Hear Me Callin'

• Cripple Creek

• Dark Hollow

• Darling Corey

• Foggy Mountain Breakdown

• Foggy Mountain Top

• Footprints In The Snow

• Get Down On Your Knees And Pray

• He Will Set Your Fields On Fire

• I Hear A Sweet Voice Calling

• I Saw The Light

• I'm Going Back To Old Kentucky

• I'm Sitting On Top Of The World

• In The Pines

• Jimmy Brown The Newsboy

• Katy Hill

• Kentucky Waltz

• Little Cabin Home On The Hill

• Little Cabin On The Hill

• Little Joe

• Live And Let Live

• Lonesome Road Blues

• Long Black Veil

• Lord, Lead Me On

• Molly And Tenbrooks

• Mule Skinner Blues

• Muleskinner Blues

• My Old Kentucky And You

• My Rose Of Old Kentucky

• My Sweet Blue Eyed Darlin'

• My Sweet Blue-eyed Darlin'

• New Mule Skinner Blues

• Nine Pound Hammer

• On The Banks Of The Ohio

• Orange Blossom Special

• Paddy On The Turnpike

• Rawhide

• Red Wing

• Remember The Cross

• Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms

• Roll On Buddy, Roll On

• Sailor's Hornpipe

• Sally Goodin

• Salty Dog Blues

• Shuckin' The Corn

• Six White Horses

• Soldier's Joy

• Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes

• The Old Brown County Barn

• This World Is Not My Home

• Toy Heart

• Travelin' This Lonesome Road

• Turkey In The Straw

• Uncle Pen

• What Would You Give In Exchange

• What Would You Give In Exchange For Your Soul?

• With Body And Soul

• Y'all Come

Discography

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• Live at Mechanics Hall

  Acoustic Disc

  2004

• Live at Vanderbilt

  Bear Family Records

  2002

• Blue Moon of Kentucky 1936-1949

  Bear Family Records

  2002

• Live, Vol. 1

  Rural Rhythm

  2001

• Live from Mountain Stage

  Blue Plate / Blue Plate

  1999

• Silver Eagle Cross Country Presents Live: Bill Monroe

  Silver Eagle Records

  1999

• Cryin' Holy Unto the Lord

  MCA

  1991

• Live at the Opry: Celebrating 50 Years on the Grand Ole Opry

  MCA

  1989

• Bill Monroe & Friends

  MCA

  1984

• Bean Blossom

  MCA

  1973