Episode10: Old Time Bluegrass Standards

Old Time Bluegrass Standards Playlist on Spotify

This week we are going talk about some of the standards that seemed to start it all fof the Bluegrass music genre.  

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Welcome to Mixtapes of Today, episode 10. I'm your host, Suze Jones. This week we are going to tap our toes and slap our knees with some good old-time bluegrass standards. Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in African American genres like blues and jazz, and Northern European genres such as Irish ballads and dance tunes. Unlike country, it is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments, such as the fiddle, mandolin, banjo, guitar, and upright bass. Bluegrass papurists will tell you that true bluegrass music will have no electric instruments. But over the years, they have progressed a little bit there. Bluegrass tunes often take the form of narratives on the everyday lives of the people whence the music came. Aside from laments about loves lost, interpersonal tensions, and unwanted changes to the region, bluegrass vocals frequently reference the hardships of living in Appalachia and other rural areas with modest financial resources. The music now known as bluegrass was frequently used to accompany a rural dancing style known as bucket dancing, flat-footing, or clogging. As the bluegrass sound spread to urban areas, listening to it for its own sake increased, especially after the advent of sound recording. In 1948, what would come to be known as bluegrass emerged as a genre within the post-war country Western music industry, a period of time characterized now as the golden era, or wellspring of traditional bluegrass. Bluegrass is not a style that is normally performed as a solo. You will notice that traditional bluegrass is performed in groups, duos, and even entire families. I have 10 tracks for you this week of Bluegrass, The Heart of the Appalachians. So check out my Spotify link in the description. Track 1, Blue Moon of Kentucky by Bill Munro and his Bluegrass Boys. William Smith Munro, born in 1911, was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter who basically created the bluegrass music genre. For this reason, he is often called the father of bluegrass. As I mentioned, the genre takes its name from his band, the Bluegrass Boys, who named their group for the Bluegrass of Monroe's home state of Kentucky. He described the genre as Scottish bagpipes and old-time fiddling. It's Methodist and Holiness and Baptist, it's blues and jazz. And it has a high, lonesome sound. The 28 songs recorded by the Bluegrass Boys for Columbia Records in 1946 and 1947 soon became classics of the genre. Blue Moon of Kentucky is a waltz written in 1945 by Munro and recorded by his band. Monroe's earliest known performance of Blue Moon of Kentucky was on the Grand Old Opry in 1945. He first recorded it for Columbia Records on September 16th, 1946, at the Wrigley Building in Chicago, Illinois. That recording was released in early 1947.

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Shine on the one that's gone in front of.

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Carter and Ralph reunited in 1951 to front their Clinch Mountain Boys again. Man of Constant Sorrow is a traditional American folk song that was first published by Dick Burnett, a partially blind fiddler from Kentucky. The Stanley brothers recorded a version of the song they had learned from their own father. They contributed to the song's popularity in urban folk song circles during the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. The song also saw a resurgence in popularity in 2000 from Dan Teminsky's version recorded for the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou. Track 3. Flatt's rhythm guitar style and vocals, and Scruggs' three-finger style banjo playing gave them a distinctive sound that won them many fans. In 1955, they became members of the Grand Ole Opry. Rollin' My Sweet Baby's Arms is an American traditional song that seemed to have developed from lyrics in the cowboy song My Lula Gal. The Flat Scruggs version was first released as a single by Lester Flat, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys on December 14th, 1951. Buck Owens also released a version of the song 20 years later in August of 1971. The Osbourne brothers, Sonny, born in 1937, and Bobby, born in 1931, were an influential popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s. The Osbornes were born in Roark, Kentucky, on Jack's Creek, but the family moved to Hydon after their house had burned down. The family later moved near Dayton, Ohio, where the brothers grew up and performed as entertainers in southwestern Ohio. Upon their breaking into the bluegrass scene, the Osborne brothers quickly became known for their virtuoso instrumentation and tight, melodic vocal harmonies. During the 1960s, the Osborne'cause caused minor controversy among bluegrass music purists by incorporating electronic and percussion instruments in their live acts and studio work. Rocky Top was written by Felice and Boodlow Bryant in 1967 and first recorded by the Osborne brothers later that same year. Brumley was born in Spyro, Oklahoma in 1905 into a family of sharecroppers. He spent much of his early life chopping and picking cotton in his family's farm. In 1926, he enrolled in the Hartford Musical Institute of Hartford, Arkansas, and studied there through 1931. Ranked Strangers to Me was not popularized until the Stanley Brothers recorded it in 1960 under the title Rank Strangers. Though it is often reported that the brothers recorded the tune in Nashville, various sources indicate otherwise, that it was actually tracked at a remote facility in Jacksonville, Florida, near the end of May or early part of June of 1960. The Stanleys were at the time headlining a live weekly radio show, The Suwanee River Jamboree from Live Oak, Florida. The recording was released later that year on their Sacred Songs from the Hill album over the Star Day label. The Leuwin Brothers were an American musical duo composed of brothers Ira Neluder Milk, born in 1924, and Charlie Neluder Milk, born in 1927. They adopted the name Leuven Brothers in the 1940s as they began their career in gospel music. The brothers wrote and performed country, bluegrass, and gospel music. After joining and becoming regulars at the Granville Opry and scoring a string of hit singles in the late 1950s and early 60s, the Leuven Brothers broke up in 1963. In the Pines is a traditional American folk song originating from two songs, In the Pines and The Longest Train, both of whose authorship is unknown and date back to at least the 1870s. The Leuven Brothers recorded In the Pines for their debut album Tragic Songs of Life from 1956. The Dillards are an American bluegrass and country rock band from Salem, Missouri. They are considered to be pioneers of country rock and progressive bluegrass. The band was originally brothers Doug Dillard and Rodney Dillard, plus Mitch Jane and Dean Webb. They had had some successful singles in Missouri and moved to Los Angeles in 1962. Within weeks of their arrival, they were signed by both Electra Records and the William Morris Agency, which soon had them booked on the Andy Griffiths show, playing a family of mountain musicians called the Darlings. This was a recurring role, running from 1963 to 1966. Old Home Place is a renowned bluegrass standard written by Mitch Jane and Dean Webb of the Dillards. It originally appeared on the Dillard's 1963 album Back Porch Bluegrass. Salty Dog Blues is a folk song from the early 1900s. Musicians have recorded it in a number of styles, including blues, jazz, country music, and bluegrass. Their first reported recording was released by the Morris brothers in 1938, and they claim to have written the song, although it has been recorded before their group had even formed. The earliest record of the song was a version by blues musician Papa Charlie Jackson in 1924, and with many folk songs the lyrics can vary depending on the style and who is singing it. Salty Dog Blues was recorded by Lester Flat and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1950, and released in May of 1952 as a bluegrass song with their iconic fiddle, banjo, and flat pick guitar playing. Jim McReynolds born in 1927, and Jesse McReynolds born in 1929. They were born and raised in Carfax, a community near Coburn, Virginia. Jesse played the mandolin with a unique, self-invented cross-picking and split-string playing method, and Jim sang as a high tenor and played guitar. They played with their backing band, the Virginia Boys, consisting of a five-string banjo, fiddle, and bass player. The song, Nine Pound Hammer, is a bluegrass standard, and the origins were said to be from slaves and convicts working on the railroad after the United States Civil War. And the first version of the song was heard in bluegrass circles as far back as 1927, recorded by Al Hopkins. Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys bluegrass version was recorded in 1963. Uncle Penn performed by Jimmy Martin. Martin was born in Sneadville, Tennessee, and was raised in the hard farming life of rural East Tennessee. He grew up near Sneadville, singing in church and with friends from surrounding farms. His mother and stepfather, who used to sing gospel, were his first influences. In the winter of 1949, Mac Wiseman had just left Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys. Martin, who wanted to apply for the vacant post as guitarist, rode the bus into Nashville. He snuck in backstage at the Grand Old Opry. While picking his guitar, he was overheard by Bluegrass Boys banjo player Rudy Lyle, who brought him forward and presented him to Bill Munro. Martin sang two songs with Monroe and was hired. Beginning in 1949, Martin was lead vocalist for Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys. Martin's high voice, mixed with Monroe's tenor, came to be known as the High Lonesome Sound. Uncle Pen was actually written, and originally recorded by Bill Monroe, to honor his uncle, Pendleton Van Diver, a fiddle player. Jimmy Martin is often associated with the song due to his time as lead vocalist and guitarist for Bill Monroe. The song Uncle Pen has been recorded by many artists over the years, such as Porter Wagner in 1956, and Ricky Skaggs hit the country charts with his version in 1984. This concludes this episode of Mixtapes of Today. 10 tracks of old time bluegrass standards. Please check out the Spotify playlist link in the description. Thanks for listening to Mixtapes of Today. We will be back next week. Talk to you soon.