The Music of Bill Monroe - Part 2 (1954-60)

Bill Monroe part 2-
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1) Introductions /Bile Them Cabbage Down - Brown County Jamboree/Bean Blossom, IN – 9/19/54
2) I Ain’t Broke (But I’m Badly Bent) - Brown County Jamboree/Bean Blossom, IN – 9/19/54
3) The Little Girl & the Dreadful Snake - Brown County Jamboree/Bean Blossom, IN - 9/19/54
4) I’m Knocking On Your Door - Brown County Jamboree/Bean Blossom, IN – 9/19/54
5) I Bowed My Head & Cried - New River Ranch/Rising Sun, MD – 5/8/55
6) When the Golden Leaves Begin to Fall - New River Ranch/Rising Sun, MD – 5/8/55
7) Tall Timber - New River Ranch/Rising Sun, MD – 5/8/55
8) When the Cactus are in Bloom - New River Ranch/Rising Sun, MD – 5/8/55
9) Uncle Pen – Town Hall Party/Compton, CA - 12/24/55
10) Put My Little Shoes Away – Town Hall Party/Compton, CA - 12/24/55
11) Cheyenne – Town Hall Party/Compton, CA - 12/24/55
12) Highway of Sorrow -New River Ranch/Rising Sun, MD – 5/13/56
3) Rubber Dolly-New River Ranch/Rising Sun, MD – 5/13/56
14) You Better Treat Your Good Man Right - Brown County Jamboree/Bean Blossom, IN – 4/13/58
15) In Despair - Brown County Jamboree/Bean Blossom, IN – 4/13/58
16) The First Whippoorwill – Brown County Jamboree/Bean Blossom, IN – 4/13/58
17) Truck Drivin’ Man– Brown County Jamboree/Bean Blossom, IN – 4/13/58
18) Sittin’ On Top of the World– Brown County Jamboree/Bean Blossom, IN – 4/13/58
19) Sally Joe – 1957/’Knee Deep in Bluegrass’ (Decca)
20) Roane County Prison – 1957/’Knee Deep in Bluegrass’ (Decca)
21) Out in the Cold World – 1957/’Knee Deep in Bluegrass’ (Decca)
22) Bluegrass Stomp – 1960/’The Great Bill Monroe’ (Harmony Records)
23) My Rose of Old Kentucky – 1960/’The Great Bill Monroe’ (Harmony Records)24) Bluegrass Breakdown – 1960/’The Great Bill Monroe’ (Harmony Records)

Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys 1958-59
Left to Right: Bill Monroe, Bobby Hicks, Bessie Lee, Gordon Terry, Jack Cook, Buddy Pennington. photo by unknown

Bill Monroe part 2 - Here's the second installment of our look at Bill Monroe's live and out-of-print musical legacy, continuing where we left off at the end of the 1940's in part one. The 1950’s found Mr. Bill Monroe and the boys chugging along, writing future classics, releasing hits on the country charts and performing everywhere, continuing building his reputation as a showman and deepening his catalog of bluegrass in ways AP Carter would be proud. This time saw the loss of his star bluegrass boys Lester & Earl and the beginning of endless changes but also saw his legacy cemented in great studio recordings for Decca, Harmony and Vocalion and later Columbia and of course MCA at the end all with a consistent sound amidst an ever-an evolving line-up. In the 1950's we visit some of the classic folding chair events like New River Ranch and Bean Blossom, and finish things off with some nice vinyl transfers of his 1957 Decca release Knee Deep in Bluegrass (I'm sure Decca employed someone to think up album titles and design the artwork for albums released through the 50's, I would love to see a doc about such a person) and also tracks from 1960's The Great Bill Monroe on Harmony Records, paving the way to part 3 as we plunge head first into the turbulent 60’s.