The band consisted of Kenny Baker, Wayne Lewis and Mark Hembree.
Kentucky mandolin bill monroe mac#
Mac Martin, the great singer/stylist from Pittsburgh still mentions to me the time he saw me play that day. The crowd was very supportive, as I was from that general area (Chardon, OH).
With all the great talent there, folks were surprised to see me up there with the Father of Bluegrass, and no one really knew until we tool the stage. He came to me, asked if I’d do it, and told me to shave and clean up some. Though there were many banjo players willing to offer their services that day, he went to his old friend, Jerry Williamson, who had been running sound all weekend, and asked him to find a banjo player. When Monroe arrived at the festival grounds, word had preceded him that he was without a banjo player. I was performing with my band, Hotfoot Quartet, had played all weekend and that day was a day off to enjoy the bigger tour bands. The date was Sunday, July 5, 1981, in Geneva, Ohio, just a day or two after Butch Robbins left.
Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, but he made me feel like he wanted me to BE a Blue Grass Boy for that day, loaning me a matching tie and hat, three-eights, just my size. *** Paul Kovac recalls the events surrounding his time he worked for Bill Monroe …. He was among the session players with Monroe for Tom T Hall’s recording of Molly And Tenbrooks (Mercury Records). He helped with the recording of Kentucky Waltz, My Little Georgia Rose, Tallahassee, Kiss Me Waltz, Jenny Lynn and Millenburg Joy. ** Banjo player Bobby Thompson participated in four recording sessions during the early1970s.Īn early originator of the chromatic style of playing, Thompson was a top studio session player. He recorded with Kenney Haddock and during the late 1970s he had two fiddle albums on the Old Homestead label. Later the duo worked together when McCoury formed the Dixie Pals. In 1964 Baker and Del McCoury formed the Shady Valley Boys and recorded for Rebel Records. He never formally recorded while working with Monroe, but he is featured on a pirated radio transcription session (July 23, 1963) and while playing during Bill Monroe’s first appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, July 26 and 27, 1963. * Billy Baker played for Bill Monroe for three spells, one in 1961, another for two months in 1963 – as a replacement for his namesake, Kenny Baker – and again in the winter of 1963/1964. Others on the bill included Ralph Stanley and Larry Sparks.
Thompson is responsible for the research and compilation of this information. This information will include births and deaths recording sessions single, LP and CD release dates and other interesting tidbits. I'll be sure and post a video if I ever make it work.Īs you point out, it was Bill's day job, so I'm not going to beat myself up if I can't do it like he does, but you never know where it will take you when you try something new.From Octothrough to the end of September 2011, we will, each day, celebrate the life of Bill Monroe by sharing information about him and those people who are associated with his life and music career. It takes a lot of time because I have to fight my natural inclinations, and as you speed up you still have to catch the strings just right to make them sing, like skimming a stone. Upstrokes are another thing I tend to lose as I go faster, but Bill doesn't. I'm also keeping the pick much flatter than I usually would, to help even up the upstrokes. So I'm just trying to keep the pick floppy enough in my fingers that it still sounds good. The faster you pick, and the louder you play, the more tempting it is to grip the pick tighter, but when you do, you lose heaping shovelfuls of tone. When I listen to Bill's playing, I imagine I hear a pretty loose grip on the pick. Now, I can play a tune like Rawhide at that speed, but it doesn't have any of the fiddly string-crossing this one has. Well Don, I'm not sure it's even going to pay off, since currently I can only do it comfortably at just over 100bpm, where your Bill is more like 150.