Bill Raymond is an actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre since the 1960s.

Life and career[link]

He featured in the second and fifth seasons of the HBO drama The Wire as "The Greek", the mysterious head of an international criminal organization.^[1] Other TV appearances include Miami Vice, Law & Order, Third Watch, Ed and As the World Turns. His film credits include Michael Clayton, C.H.U.D., The Crow, Quick Change, How I Got Into College, My New Gun, Stranger in the Kingdom and Dogville. The ZBS production of Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe lists Bill Raymond as the voice actor for the character "T. J. Teru". Raymond was also an active member of the experimental theater group Mabou Mines in the 1970s and 1980s. He is set for the lead role in the upcoming ghost film Foreclosure.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bill Raymond at the Internet Movie Database

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Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey, in The Fabulous Dorseys
Background information
Birth name	Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr.
Also known as	The sentimental gentleman of swing.
Born	(1905-11-19)November 19, 1905 Shenandoah, Pennsylvania
Died	November 26, 1956(1956-11-26) (aged 51) Greenwich, Connecticut
Genres	Big band Swing Jazz
Occupations	Bandleader
Instruments	Trombone Trumpet Cornet
Years active	1920s-1956
Labels	RCA Victor, Brunswick, Decca, OKeh, Columbia
Associated acts	California Ramblers Jimmy Dorsey Jean Goldkette Paul Whiteman Frank Sinatra Buddy DeFranco Buddy Rich Jo Stafford Connie Haines Glenn Miller The Boswell Sisters Dick Haymes Gene Krupa Sy Oliver Nelson Riddle
Notable instruments
Trombone -Trumpet.

Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. (November 19, 1905 - November 26, 1956^[1]) was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing.^[2] He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey.^[3] After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid-1930s, he led an extremely popular and highly successful band from the late 1930s into the 1950s.

Early life[link]

Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the second of four children born to Thomas Francis Dorsey, Sr. and Theresa (née Langton) Dorsey.^[4] The Dorsey brothers' two younger siblings were Mary and Edward (who died young).^[5] At age 15, Jimmy Dorsey recommended his brother Tommy as the replacement for Russ Morgan in the germane 1920s territory band "The Scranton Sirens." Tommy and Jimmy worked in several bands, including those of Tal Henry, Rudy Vallee, Vincent Lopez, Nathaniel Shilkret, and especially Paul Whiteman. In 1929, the Dorsey Boys had their first hit with "Coquette" for OKeh records.^[6] The Dorsey Brothers band signed with Decca records in 1934, having a hit with "I Believe In Miracles".^[7] Future bandleader Glenn Miller was a member of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra in 1934 and 1935, composing "Annie's Cousin Fanny"^[8] and "Dese Dem Dose" both recorded for Decca^[9] for the band. Ongoing acrimony between the brothers, however, led to Tommy Dorsey's walking out to form his own band in 1935, just as the orchestra was having a hit with "Every Little Moment." ^[10]

His own band[link]

Tommy Dorsey's first band was formed out of the remains of the Joe Haymes band. This began Dorsey's long-running practice of raiding other bands for talent. If he admired a vocalist, musician, or arranger, he would think nothing of taking over their contracts and careers.^{[citation needed]} Dorsey had a reputation for being a perfectionist.^[11] He was volatile and also known to hire and fire (and sometimes rehire) musicians based on his mood.^[12][13] The new band was popular from almost the moment it signed with RCA Victor with "On Treasure Island", the first of four hits for the new band in 1935. The Dorsey band had a national radio presence in 1936 first from Dallas and then from Los Angeles. Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra took over comedian Jack Pearl's radio show in 1937.^[14]

By 1939, Dorsey was aware of criticism that his band lacked a jazz feeling. He hired arranger Sy Oliver away from the Jimmie Lunceford band.^[15][16] Sy Oliver's arrangements include "On The Sunny Side of the Street" and "T.D.'s Boogie Woogie"; Oliver also composed two of the new band's signature instrumentals, "Well, Git It" and "Opus One".^[17] In 1940, Dorsey hired singer Frank Sinatra from bandleader Harry James. Frank Sinatra made eighty recordings from 1940 to 1942 with the Dorsey band.^[18] Two of those eighty songs are "In The Blue of Evening" and "This Love of Mine".^[19] Frank Sinatra achieved his first great success as a vocalist in the Dorsey band and claimed he learned breath control from watching Dorsey play trombone.^[20][21] In turn Dorsey said his trombone style was heavily influenced by that of Jack Teagarden.^[22] Among Dorsey's staff of arrangers was Axel Stordahl^[23] who arranged for Frank Sinatra in his Columbia and Capitol records years. Another member of the Dorsey band was trombonist Nelson Riddle, who later had a partnership as one of Sinatra's arrangers and conductors in the 1950s and afterwards.^[24] Another noted Dorsey arranger, who in the 1950s, married and was professionally associated with Dorsey veteran Jo Stafford, was Paul Weston.^[25] Bill Finegan, an arranger who left Glenn Miller's civilian band, arranged for the Tommy Dorsey band from 1942 to 1950.^[26]

The band featured a number of future famous instrumentalists, singers and arrangers in the 1930s and '40s, including trumpeters Zeke Zarchy,^[27] Bunny Berigan,^[28] Ziggy Elman,^[29][30] Carl "Doc" Severinsen,^[31] and Charlie Shavers,^[32] pianists Milt Raskin, Jess Stacy,^[33] clarinetists Buddy DeFranco,^[34] Johnny Mince,^[35] and Peanuts Hucko.^[36] Others who played with Dorsey were drummers Buddy Rich,^[37] Louie Bellson,^[38] Dave Tough^[35] and singers Frank Sinatra, Jack Leonard,^[39] Edythe Wright,^[40] Jo Stafford with The Pied Pipers,^[41] Dick Haymes^[42] and Connie Haines^[43] In 1944, Dorsey hired The Sentimentalists who replaced The Pied Pipers.^[44] Dorsey also performed with singer Connee Boswell^[35] Dorsey hired ex-bandleader and drummer Gene Krupa after Krupa's arrest and scandal for marijuana possession in 1943.^[45] In 1942 Artie Shaw broke up his band and Dorsey hired the Shaw string section. As George Simon in Metronome magazine notes at the time, "They're used in the foreground and background (note some of the lovely obbligatos) for vocal effects and for Tommy's trombone."^[46]

As Dorsey became successful he made business decisions in the music industry. He loaned Glenn Miller money to launch Miller's successful band of 1938,^[47] but Dorsey saw the loan as an investment, entitling him to a percentage of Miller's income. When Miller balked at this, the angry Dorsey got even by sponsoring a new band led by Bob Chester, and hiring arrangers who deliberately copied Miller's style and sound. Dorsey branched out in the mid-1940s and owned two music publishing companies, Sun and Embassy.^[48] After opening at the Los Angeles ballroom, The Hollywood Palladium on the Palladium's first night, Dorsey's relations with the ballroom soured and he opened a competing ballroom, The Casino Gardens circa 1944.^[48] Dorsey also owned for a short time a trade magazine called The Bandstand.^[48]

Tommy Dorsey disbanded his own orchestra at the end of 1946. Dorsey might have broken up his own band permanently following World War II, as many big bands did due to the shift in music economics following the war, but Tommy Dorsey's album for RCA, "All Time Hits" placed in the top ten records in February, 1947. In addition, "How Are Things In Glocca Morra?" a single recorded by Dorsey became a top ten hit in March, 1947. Both of these successes made it possible for Dorsey to re-organize a big band in early 1947.^[49] The Dorsey brothers were also reconciling. The biographical film of 1947, The Fabulous Dorseys describes sketchy details of how the brothers got their start from-the-bottom-up into the jazz era of one-nighters, the early days of radio in its infancy stages, and the onward march when both brothers ended up with Paul Whiteman before 1935 when The Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra split into two.^[50] In the early 1950s, Tommy Dorsey moved from RCA Victor back to the Decca record label.^[51]

Jimmy Dorsey broke up his own big band in 1953. Tommy invited him to join up as a feature attraction^[52] and a short while later, Tommy renamed the band the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra featuring Jimmy Dorsey. In 1953, the Dorseys focused their attention on television.^[53] On December 26, 1953, the brothers appeared with their orchestra on Jackie Gleason's CBS television show, which was preserved on kinescope and later released on home video by Gleason. The brothers took the unit on tour and onto their own television show, Stage Show, from 1955 to 1956. On numerous episodes,they introduced future noted rock musician Elvis Presley to national television audiences, prior to Presley's better known appearance on the "Ed Sullivan Show".^[54]

Married life[link]

Dorsey's married life was varied and, at times, lurid.^[55] His first wife was 16-year-old Mildred Kraft, with whom he eloped in 1922, when he was 17. They had two children, Patricia and Tom (nicknamed "Skipper"). They divorced in 1943 after Dorsey's affair with his former singer Edythe Wright.^[56] He then wed movie actress Pat Dane in 1943, and they were divorced in 1947,^[57] but not before he gained headlines for striking actor Jon Hall when Hall embraced Dorsey's wife. Finally, Dorsey married Jane Carl New ^[58] on March 27, 1948 in Atlanta, Georgia. She had been a dancer at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City. Tommy and Jane Dorsey had two children, Catherine Susan and Steve.

Death and aftermath[link]

On November 26, 1956, Tommy Dorsey died at age 51 in his Greenwich, Connecticut home. Dorsey had eaten a heavy meal and began choking in his sleep. Dorsey customarily began taking sleeping pills regularly at this time; therefore, he was so sedated that he was unable to awaken and died from choking.^[59] Jimmy Dorsey led his brother's band until his own death of lung cancer the following year. At that point, trombonist Warren Covington assumed leadership of the band with Jane Dorsey's blessing^[60] as she owned the rights to her late husband's band and name. Billed as the "Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Starring Warren Covington", they topped the charts in 1958 with Tea For Two Cha-Cha.^[61] After Covington led the band for a short period, Sam Donahue led it starting in 1961, continuing until the late 1960s.^[62] Buddy Morrow conducted the Tommy Dorsey orchestra until his death on September 27, 2010. Jane Dorsey died of natural causes at the age of 79, in Miami, Florida in 2003. Tommy and Jane Dorsey are interred together in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.^[63]

The grave of Tommy Dorsey in Kensico Cemetery

Number one hits[link]

Tommy Dorsey had a run of 286 Billboard chart hits.^[64] The Dorsey band had seventeen number one hits with his orchestra in the 1930s and 1940s including: "On Treasure Island", "The Music Goes 'Round and Around", "You", "Marie" (written by Irving Berlin), "Satan Takes a Holiday", "The Big Apple", "Once in a While", "The Dipsy Doodle", "Our Love", "All the Things You Are", "Indian Summer", and "Dolores". He had two more number one hits in 1935 when he was a member of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra: "Lullaby of Broadway", number one for two weeks, and "Chasing Shadows", number one for three weeks. His biggest hit was "I'll Never Smile Again", featuring Frank Sinatra on vocals, which was number one for twelve weeks on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1940. "In the Blue of Evening"^[65] was number 1 on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1943.^[66]

Songs written by Tommy Dorsey[link]

Written in 1929: "You Can't Cheat A Cheater" with Phil Napoleon and Frank Signorelli^[67]

1932: "Three Moods"^[68]

1937: "The Morning After"

1938: "Chris and His Gang" with Fletcher and Horace Henderson

Also, Tommy Dorsey wrote the song "Peckin' With Penguins" for a 1938 Frank Tashlin directed Porky Pig cartoon, "Porky's Spring Planting" for the studio Warner Bros.^[69]

1939: "To You",^[70][71] "This Is No Dream", "You Taught Me To Love Again",^[72][73] "In The Middle Of A Dream", "Night In Sudan".^[74]

1945: "Fluid Jive" and "Fried Chicken"^[75]

1946: "Nip and Tuck"

1947: "Trombonology"^[76]

Tommy Dorsey also co-wrote "Bunch of Beats", "Mid Riff", and "Candied Yams" with Fred Norman.^[75]

Honors and posthumous recognition[link]

In 1982, the 1941 Victor recording "I'll Never Smile Again" was the first of a trio of Tommy Dorsey recordings to be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[77] His theme song, "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" was inducted in 1998, along with his recording of "Marie" written by Irving Berlin in 1928.^[78]

Discography[link]

• 1961: The One And Only Tommy Dorsey (RCA Camden)
• 1966: Tommy Dorsey's Dance Party (Vocalion)
• 1976: Tommy Dorsey (1937 - 1941) (AMIGA) ^[79]
• The Essence of Tommy Dorsey (1935-1949 recordings under RCA, reissued under Phantom Sound & Vision)
• This is Tommy Dorsey, Volume 1 (1935-1944 recordings under RCA, reissued by Collectibles)
• 1988: All-Time Greatest Dorsey/Sinatra Hits, Vol. 1-4 (RCA)
• 1982: The Dorsey/Sinatra Sessions (RCA)
• 1990: Yes, Indeed! (Bluebird/RCA)
• 1991: Music Goes Round and Round (Bluebird/RCA)
• 1994: Stop, Look and Listen (1994) (ASV/Living Era Records)
• 1999: The V-Disc Recordings (Collectors' Choice Music)
• 1999: 1937, Vol. 3
• 2001: This Is Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Vol. 1 (Collectables Records)
• 2004: 1939, Vol. 3
• 2004: Tommy Dorsey: The Early Jazz Sides: 1932 - 1937 (Jazz Legends)
• 2004: It's D'Lovely 1947-1950 (Hep Records) ^[80][81]

Filmography[link]

• Segar Ellis and His Embassy Club Orchestra (1929)_{needs citation}
• Alice Bolden and Her Orchestra (1929)^[82]

Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra appear in the following films for the studios Paramount, MGM, Samuel Goldwyn, Allied Artists and United Artists:^[83]

• Las Vegas Nights (1941)^[69]
• Ship Ahoy (1942)^[51]
• Presenting Lily Mars(1943)^[84]
• Girl Crazy (1943)^[51]
• Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)^[51]
• Thrill of a Romance (1945)^[51]
• The Great Morgan (1946)^[85]
• The Fabulous Dorseys (1947)^[86]
• A Song Is Born (1948)^[51]
• Disc Jockey (1951)^[51]

The Dorsey Brothers appear in the 1953 sixteen-minute Universal-International film called The Dorsey Brothers Encore.^[87]

Noted sidemen[link]

• Noni Bernardi (1911–2006), big-band musician and member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council, 1961–93

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Peter J. Levinson, Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way: a Biography (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2005) ISBN 978-0-306-81111-1
• Robert L. Stockdale, Tommy Dorsey: On The Side (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1995) ISBN 978-0-8108-2951-0

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tommy Dorsey

• Website showing details of tour organized by RCA Victor for the Tommy Dorsey and Shep Fields orchestras in 1941.
• Website shows details of the CBS Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey television show in 1956.
• Tommy Dorsey at the National Radio Hall of Fame
• Tommy Dorsey at the Internet Movie Database
• Tommy Dorsey at Allmusic
• Google Songs
• Tommy Dorsey visits Bernards High School in 1943
• The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

Raymond Fairchild (born March 15, 1939) is an American banjo player from the Great Smoky Mountains. He is known for his fast playing, his fancy and intricate picking and his ability of making the banjo mimic both animals and humans.

Biography[link]

Fairchild was born in Cherokee, Swain County, North Carolina and learned music, from an early age, from his mother's side of the family. His musical influences also included Earl Scruggs, and Don Reno. When he was young he played for tips at a tourist stop in Maggie Valley.^[1] The owner of the tourist stop, Ted Sutton, taught young Fairchild about show-business.^[2] When Fairchild wasn't performing he worked as a stonemason.^[3] In the mid 1960s, he formed the Frosty Mountain Boys but soon changed the name to the Maggie Valley Boys.

Fairchild was signed by Uncle Jim O'Neal to record for the Rural Rhythm label. In the early 1970s, He made a successful performance on the Grand Ole Opry at WSM in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1975, he met the Crowe Brothers, (Wallace Crowe, and Wayne Crowe) and together they formed a trio.^[4] The bluegrass trio lasted until 1991 when Fairchild formed the New Maggie Valley Boys with his son Zane Fairchild.^[5]

Fairchild has won five awards as a champion banjo player^[6] and has scored two gold records.^[2] He has his own line of banjos, the Cox/Faichild banjo.^[7] Since he is reluctant to leave his home district he is mostly seen at the Maggie Valley Opry House.^[2]

Discography[link]

LPs[link]

• King of the Smokey Mountain 5-String Banjo Players, Rural Rhythm RR-146 (1963)
• Mama Likes Bluegrass Music, Rural Rhythm RRFM 159 (1967)
• Raymond Fairchild & the Maggie Valley Boys, Rural Rhythm RRMVB 170 (1967)
• Honky Tonkin' Country Blues, Rural Rhythm RRRF 245 (1971)
• King of the Smokey Mountain Banjo Players, Rural Rhythm RRRF 254 (1972)
• King of the Smokey Mountain 5-String Banjo Players, Rural Rhythm RRRF 256 (1972)
• King of the 5-String Banjo, Rural Rhythm RRRF 260 (1976)
• King of the 5-String Banjo, Rural Rhythm RRRF 261 (1976)
• King of the 5-String Banjo, Rural Rhythm RRRF 262 (1976)
• King of the 5-String Banjo, Rural Rhythm RRRF 263 (1976)
• Legendary Raymond Fairchild, Skyline SRO 003 (1981)
• Plays Requests, Skyline SRO 012 (1985)
• World Champion Banjo, Skyline SRO 016 (1987)

CDs[link]

• Mama Likes Bluegrass Music, Rural Rhythm RHY 159
• 31 Banjo Favorites, Rural Rhythm RHY 254
• 16 All-Time Favorites, Rural Rhythm RHY 260
• 15 Gospel Favorites, Rural Rhythm RHY 263
• 31 Banjo Favorites Vol 2, Rural Rhythm RHY 270
• Smoky Mountain Christmas, Rural Rhythm RHY 290
• The Bluegrass Banjo Collection, Rural Rhythm RHY 294
• 31 Banjo Favorites (The New Collection), Rural Rhythm RHY 324

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Rehder, John B. (2004) Appalachian Folkways, JHU Press
• Williams, Michael Ann (1995) Great Smoky Mountains Folklife, University Press of Mississippi

William Smith Monroe (September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. He is often referred to as The Father of Bluegrass.^[1]

Early life[link]

Monroe was born on his family's farm near Rosine, Kentucky, the youngest of eight children of James Buchanan "Buck" and Malissa (Vandiver) Monroe. His mother and her brother, Pendleton "Pen" Vandiver, were both musically talented, and Monroe and his family grew up playing and singing at home. Bill was of Scottish heritage. Because his older brothers Birch and Charlie already played the fiddle and guitar, Bill Monroe was resigned to playing the less desirable mandolin. He recalled that his brothers insisted he remove four of the mandolin's eight strings so he would not play too loudly.

Monroe's mother died when he was ten, followed by his father six years later. As his brothers and sisters had moved away, after bouncing among uncles and aunts, Monroe settled in with his disabled uncle Pendleton Vandiver, often accompanying him when Vandiver played the fiddle at dances. This experience inspired one of Monroe's most famous compositions, "Uncle Pen," recorded in 1950, and the 1972 album, "Bill Monroe's Uncle Pen." On that album, Monroe recorded a number of traditional fiddle tunes he had often heard performed by Vandiver. Uncle Pen has been credited with giving Monroe "a repertoire of tunes that sank into Bill's aurally trained memory and a sense of rhythm that seeped into his bones."^[2] Also significant in Monroe's musical life was Arnold Shultz, an influential fiddler and guitarist who introduced Monroe to the blues.^[3][4]

Professional career[link]

In 1929, Monroe moved to Indiana to work at an oil refinery with his brothers Birch, Charlie, and childhood friend and guitarist William "Old Hickory" Hardin. Together with a friend Larry Moore, they formed a musical group, the Monroe Brothers, to play at local dances and house parties. Birch Monroe and Larry Moore soon left the group, and Bill and Charlie carried on as a duo, eventually winning spots performing live on radio stations— first in Indiana and then, sponsored by Texas Crystals, on several radio broadcasts in Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina and North Carolina 1934 to 1936. RCA Victor signed the Monroe Brothers to a recording contract in 1936. They scored an immediate hit single with the gospel song "What Would You Give In Exchange For Your Soul?" and ultimately recorded 60 tracks for Victor's Bluebird label between 1936 and 1938.

After the Monroe Brothers disbanded in 1938, Bill Monroe formed The Kentuckians in Little Rock, Arkansas, but the group only lasted for three months. Monroe then left Little Rock for Atlanta, Georgia, to form the first edition of the Blue Grass Boys with singer/guitarist Cleo Davis, fiddler Art Wooten, and bassist Amos Garren. Bill had wanted "Old Hickory" to become one of the original members of his "Blue Grass Boys", however William Hardin had to decline. In October 1939, he successfully auditioned for a regular spot on the Grand Ole Opry, impressing Opry founder George D. Hay with his energetic performance of Jimmie Rodgers's "Mule Skinner Blues". Monroe recorded that song, along with seven others, at his first solo recording session for RCA Victor in 1940; by this time, the Blue Grass Boys consisted of singer/guitarist Clyde Moody, fiddler Tommy Magness, and bassist Bill Wesbrooks.^[5]

While the fast tempos and instrumental virtuosity characteristic of bluegrass music are apparent even on these early tracks, Monroe was still experimenting with the sound of his group. He seldom sang lead vocals on his Victor recordings, often preferring to contribute high tenor harmonies as he had in the Monroe Brothers. A 1945 session for Columbia Records featured an accordion, soon dropped from the band. Most importantly, while Monroe added banjo player David "'Stringbean" Akeman to the Blue Grass Boys in 1942, Akeman played the instrument in a relatively primitive style and was rarely featured in instrumental solos. Monroe's pre-1946 recordings represent a transitional style between the string-band tradition from which he came and the musical innovation to follow.

The "Original Bluegrass Band" and Monroe's heyday as a star[link]

A key development occurred in Monroe's music with the addition of North Carolina banjo prodigy Earl Scruggs to the Blue Grass Boys in December 1945. Scruggs played the instrument with a distinctive three-finger picking style that immediately caused a sensation among Opry audiences. Scruggs joined a highly accomplished group that included singer/guitarist Lester Flatt, and would soon include fiddler Chubby Wise, and bassist Howard Watts, who often performed under the name "Cedric Rainwater." In retrospect, this lineup of the Blue Grass Boys has been dubbed the "Original Bluegrass Band," as Monroe's music finally included all the elements that characterize the genre, including breakneck tempos, sophisticated vocal harmony arrangements, and impressive instrumental proficiency demonstrated in solos or "breaks" on the mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. By this point, Monroe had acquired the 1923 Gibson F5 model "Lloyd Loar" mandolin which became his trademark instrument for the remainder of his career.^[6]

The 28 songs recorded by this version of the Blue Grass Boys for Columbia Records in 1946 and 1947 soon became classics of the genre, including "Toy Heart," "Blue Grass Breakdown," "Molly and Tenbrooks", "Wicked Path of Sin," "My Rose of Old Kentucky," "Little Cabin Home on the Hill," and Monroe's most famous song, "Blue Moon of Kentucky". The last-named was recorded by Elvis Presley in 1954, appearing as the B-side of his first single for Sun Records. Monroe gave his blessing to Presley's rock-and-roll cover of the song, originally a slow ballad in waltz time, and in fact re-recorded it himself with a faster arrangement after Presley's version became a hit. Several gospel-themed numbers are credited to the "Blue Grass Quartet," which featured four-part vocal arrangements accompanied solely by mandolin and guitar — Monroe's usual practice when performing "sacred" songs.

Both Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe's band in early 1948, soon forming their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys, which met with notable commercial success in the 1950s and 1960s with such hits as "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", "Cabin on the Hill," and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett". In 1949, after signing with Decca Records, Monroe quickly regrouped, entering the "golden age" of his career^[7] with what many consider the classic "high lonesome" version of the Blue Grass Boys, featuring the lead vocals and rhythm guitar of Jimmy Martin, the banjo of Rudy Lyle (replacing Don Reno), and fiddlers such as Merle "Red" Taylor, Charlie Cline, Bobby Hicks and Vassar Clements. This band recorded a number of bluegrass classics, including "My Little Georgia Rose," "On and On," "Memories of Mother and Dad," and "Uncle Pen," as well as instrumentals such as "Roanoke", "Big Mon", "Stoney Lonesone", "Get Up John" and the mandolin feature "Raw Hide." Carter Stanley joined the Blue Grass Boys as guitarist for a short time in 1951 during a period when the Stanley Brothers had temporarily disbanded.

On January 16, 1953 Monroe was critically injured in a two-car wreck. He and "Bluegrass Boys" bass player, Bessie Lee Mauldin, were returning home from a fox hunt north of Nashville. On highway 31-W, near White House, their car was struck by a drunken driver. Monroe, who had suffered injuries to his back, left arm and nose, was rushed to General Hospital in Nashville. It took him almost four months to recover and resume touring. In the meantime Charlie Cline and Jimmy Martin kept the band together.^[8]

By the late 1950s, however, Monroe's commercial fortunes had begun to slip. The rise of rock-and-roll and the development of the "Nashville sound" in mainstream country music both represented threats to the viability of bluegrass. While still a mainstay on the Grand Ole Opry, Monroe found diminishing success on the singles charts, and struggled to keep his band together in the face of declining demand for live performances.

The folk revival[link]

Monroe's fortunes began to improve during the "folk revival" of the early 1960s. Many college students and other young people were beginning to discover Monroe, associating his style more with traditional folk music than with the country-and-western genre with which it had previously been identified. The word "bluegrass" first appeared around this time to describe the sound of Monroe and similar artists such as Flatt and Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Reno and Smiley, Jim and Jesse, and the Osborne Brothers. While Flatt and Scruggs immediately recognized the potential for a lucrative new audience in cities and on college campuses in the North, Monroe was slower to respond. Under the influence of Ralph Rinzler, a young musician and folklorist from New Jersey who briefly became Monroe's manager in 1963, Monroe gradually expanded his geographic reach beyond the traditional southern country music circuit. Rinzler was also responsible for a lengthy profile and interview in the influential folk music magazine Sing Out! that first publicly referred to Monroe as the "father" of bluegrass. Accordingly, at the first bluegrass festival organized by Carlton Haney at Roanoke, Virginia in 1965, Bill Monroe was the central figure.

The growing national popularity of Monroe's music during the 1960s was also apparent in the increasingly diverse background of musicians recruited into his band. Non-southerners who served as Blue Grass Boys during this period included banjo player Bill Keith and singer/guitarist Peter Rowan from Massachusetts, fiddler Gene Lowinger from New York, banjo player Lamar Grier from Maryland, banjo player Steve Arkin from New York, and singer/guitarist Roland White and fiddler Richard Greene from California.

Later years[link]

Even after the folk revival faded in the mid-1960s, it left a loyal audience for bluegrass music. Bluegrass festivals became common, with fans often traveling long distances to see a number of different acts over several days of performances.

In 1967 Monroe himself founded an annual bluegrass festival at Bean Blossom in southern Indiana, a park he had purchased in 1951, which routinely attracted a crowd of thousands; a double LP from the festival featuring Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Lester Flatt, and Jim and Jesse was released in 1973. The annual Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival is now the world's oldest continuously running annual bluegrass festival.^[9]

Monroe's compositions during his later period were largely instrumentals, including "Jerusalem Ridge", "Old Dangerfield"(stylized as Old Daingerfield), and "My Last Days on Earth"; he settled into a new role as a musical patriarch who continued to influence younger generations of musicians. Monroe recorded two albums of duets in the 1980s; the first featured collaborations with country stars such as Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, and the Oak Ridge Boys, while the second paired him with other prominent bluegrass musicians. A 1989 live album celebrated his 50th year on the Grand Ole Opry. Monroe also kept a hectic touring schedule. On April 7, 1990, Monroe performed for Farm Aid IV in Indianapolis, Indiana along with Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and with many other artists.

Death[link]

Monroe suffered a stroke in April 1996, effectively ending his touring and playing career. He died on September 9, 1996, only four days before his 85th birthday.

Awards and legacy[link]

Bill Monroe was made an honorary Kentucky colonel in 1966.^[8] He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as an "early influence") in 1997. Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Hank Williams Sr., and Johnny Cash are the only other performers honored in all three. As the "father of bluegrass," he was also an inaugural inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1991. In 1993, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1995. His well-known song "Blue Moon of Kentucky" has been covered not only by bluegrass but also rock and country artists, most notably Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, and Patsy Cline. In 2003, CMT had Bill Monroe ranked #16 on CMT 40 Greatest Men of Country Music. Artists that claimed to be influenced by or to be playing the bluegrass genre were often bullied by Bill Monroe. He always considered himself the father and caretaker of bluegrass. He would often say of new bands that did not perform to his standards, "That ain't no part of nothin'." Even those who question the scope of bluegrass refer to Monroe as a "musical giant" and recognize that "there would be no bluegrass without Bill Monroe."^[10]

Artists influenced by Monroe[link]

More than 150 musicians played in the Blue Grass Boys over the nearly 60 years of Monroe's performing career. Monroe tended to recruit promising young musicians who served an apprenticeship with him before becoming accomplished artists in their own right. Some of Monroe's band members who went on to greater prominence include singer/guitarists Clyde Moody, Lester Flatt, Jack Cook, Mac Wiseman, Jimmy Martin, Carter Stanley, Del McCoury, Peter Rowan, Roland White, Roland Dunn and Doug Green; banjo players Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, Sonny Osborne, and Bill Keith; and fiddlers Tommy Magness, Chubby Wise, Vassar Clements, Byron Berline, Kenny Baker, Bobby Hicks, Gordon Terry, and Glen Duncan. Monroe also regularly performed with flat-picking guitar virtuoso Doc Watson.

Modern bluegrass singer and mandolin player Ricky Skaggs was influenced by Monroe. Skaggs was only six years old when he first got to perform on stage with Monroe and his band. He stated, "I think Bill Monroe's importance to American music is as important as someone like Robert Johnson was to blues, or Louis Armstrong. He was so influential: I think he's probably the only musician that had a whole style of music named after his band".^[11]

Pseudonyms used by Monroe as a composer[link]

Joe Ahr; Rupert Jones; Wilbur Jones; Albert Price; James B. Smith; James W. Smith

Discography[link]

References[link]