Bill Monroe the Father of Bluegrass
Bill Monroe was born on Sept. 13, 1911, in Rosine, Ky. Credited as "The Father of
Bluegrass," the music he created evolved from the folk and country music he heard growing up in a musical family as the youngest of eight children. As a child, he also backed up his uncle Pendleton Vandiver ("Uncle Pen") at local dances.
Monroe eventually moved to Chicago and formed a group with his brother Charlie as the Monroe Brothers, finding their most enthusiastic audiences at Charlotte, N.C.'s radio station WBT. They soon recorded several sides for RCA's Bluebird label, including "John Henry," "Nine Pound Hammer" and "What Would You Give in Exchange for Your Soul."
In the 1940s, Monroe began adding lyrics to his melodies and wrote such classic hits as "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Uncle Pen." He hired banjo picker Earl Scruggs, singer-guitarist Lester Flatt and fiddler Chubby Wise on fiddle to create what is widely recognized as the most important bluegrass band ever.
Monroe was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970, and he earned the National Endowment for the Arts' esteemed Heritage Award. His Southern Flavor LP won the first Grammy award ever given for bluegrass music in 1989, and he earned the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement award in 1993. In 1995, he was awarded a National Medal of Honor by President Clinton at a ceremony conducted at the White House. Monroe died on Sept. 9, 1996. A year later, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him as an early influence of rock 'n' roll.
Monroe described his beloved bluegrass as music with "a hard drive to it. It's Scotch bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound. It's plain music that tells a good story. It's played from my heart to your heart, and it will touch you. Bluegrass is music that matters."