WILLIAM SMITH MONROE WAS BORN SEPTEMBER 13, 1911 IN ROSINE, KENTUCKY. HE DIED SEPTEMBER 9, 1996 JUST 4 DAYS SHORT OF HIS 85TH BIRTHDAY. HE GREW UP IN A MUSICAL FAMILY, HIS BROTHERS, CHARLIE AND BIRCH PLAYED FIDDLE AND GUITAR. HIS UNCLE PEN VANDEVER WAS A FIDDLE PLAYER. THE SONG "UNCLE PEN" WAS WRITTEN ABOUT HIS UNCLE. BILL OF COURSE PLAYED THE MANDOLIN WHICH HE REDEFINED TO THE DELIGHT OF MANDOLIN PLAYERS EVERYWHERE TODAY.
BILL AND HIS BROTHERS PLAYED LOCAL CLUBS IN CHICAGO AT NIGHT AND WORKED AT LOCAL REFINERIES DURING THE DAY. AFTER THEIR MUSIC BECAME POPULAR IN 1938 BILL SIGNED WITH THE VICTOR RECORD LABEL, AT THIS TIME HIS BROTHERS MOVED ON BECAUSE OF CONFLICTS WITH THEIR MUSICAL IDEAS.
BLUEGRASS MUSIC HAD IT'S BEGINNING IN 1938. THE MUSIC MIGHT HAVE BEEN CALLED KENTUCKIAN, BUT BILL DIDN'T LIKE THE NAME, SO BLUEGRASS MUSIC WAS BORN.
HIS FIRST BAND WAS CALLED THE KENTUCKIANS. THEY HAD A JUG PLAYER INSTEAD OF A BASS PLAYER. IN 1938 HE MADE HIS FIRST RECORDING THAT BECAME HIS TRADEMARK SONG, THE "MULE SKINNER BLUES". THIS SONG WAS RECORDED ON OCTOBER 7, 1938. HE RECORDED THIS SONG THREE TIMES. HE ALSO AUDITIONED FOR THE GRAND OLE OPRY IN 1938. JUDGE HAY TOLD BILL "IF YOU EVER LEAVE HERE, IT'LL BE BECAUSE YOU FIRED YOURSELF."
IT WAS IN 1940 THAT BILL AND THE BLUEGRASS BOYS RECORDED THEIR FIRST DISC. SOME OF THE EARLY MEMBERS OF THE BLUEGRASS BOYS ALSO INCLUDED A FEMALE ACCORDIAN PLAYER AND DAVE (STRINGBEAN) AKEMAN. NOT LONG AFTER HE CHANGED THE MAKE UP OF THE BAND. AT THIS TIME HE ADDED A SINGER, LESTER FLATT AND EARL SCRUGGS, A BANJO PLAYER. SCRUGGS HAD MASTERED THE THREE FINGERED STYLE OF PLAYING. IN THE '40s, SCRUGGS BANJO STYLE WAS CONSIDERED RADICAL, THE STYLE OF MUSIC WAS CONSIDERED PART OF THE FOLK MUSIC TRADITION EVEN THOUGH IT WAS CONSIDERED OFF THE WALL. THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WAS HAVING DIFFICULTY DETERMINING WHAT STYLE OF MUSIC IT WAS AND WHAT CATEGORY IT FIT INTO. THIS DELIMNA WAS TO CONTINUE FOR A LONG TIME TO COME.
IN THE '50s BILL JOINED A NEW RECORD LABEL. DECCA SIGNED HIM AND THIS BECAME A MULTI-DECADE MARRIAGE FOR THE BAND AND THIS LABEL. DECCA LATER BECAME MCA. WHEN HE DIED HE WAS STILL WITH MCA.
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