Tag Archives: Bill Monroe

The Folk Music Revival (Monterey, CA 1963)

“I always wanted to play different from anybody else . . . and it turned out to be bluegrass music.”
-Bill Monroe,
Monterey California, May 18, 1963 Continue reading

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The Origins of Bluegrass Music

I think Bill Monroe might have hired Stringbean more as a comedian to break the ice than for his banjo picking. Either that or because he was a good shortstop! Many early bluegrass bands had at least one member who did the rube comic act . . . a relic from minstrel and medicine show times. Continue reading

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The Sixties in Folk Music / 9. Peter Feldmann

A Swiss Hillbilly Discovers America Peter Feldmann My family emigrated from Switzerland shortly after World War II. I recall landing at Burbank Airport in the middle of August (LAX had not yet been built.) The temperature was an even 100 … Continue reading

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Arnold Shultz: Black fiddling and bluegrass music

The first time I met Bill Monroe (regarded as the “Father of Bluegrass Music”) in May of 1963, he mentioned some of the people that influenced the development of the musical style that was later to be named after his … Continue reading

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Wade Mainer, Laxatives, and the Grandfather of Bluegrass?

Wade told me once, that Bill Monroe asked him to play banjo for the Blue Grass Boys . . . this was before Stringbean. Wade turned him down. He explained to me that he didn’t want to become a sideman. Continue reading

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