Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. Rocky Road Blues
2. Kentucky Waltz - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
3. True Life Blues - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
4. Nobody Loves Me - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
5. Goodbye Old Pal - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
6. Footprints in the Snow
7. Blue Grass Special - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
8. Come Back to Me in My Dreams
9. Heavy Traffic Ahead - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
10. Why Did You Wander? - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
11. Blue Moon of Kentucky
12. Toy Heart
13. Summertime Is Past and Gone - (previously unreleased)
14. Mansions For Me
15. Mother's Only Sleeping
16. Blue Yodel Number 4
17. Will You Be Loving Another Man?
18. How Will I Explain About You?
19. Shining Path
20. Wicked Path of Sin
DISC 2:
1. I'm Going Back to Old Kentucky - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
2. It's Mighty Dark to Travel - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
3. I Hear a Sweet Voice Calling
4. Little Cabin Home on the Hill
5. My Rose of Old Kentucky
6. Blue Grass Breakdown - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
7. Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
8. Old Cross Road, The - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
9. That Home Above
10. Remember the Cross - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
11. Little Community Church
12. Along About Daybreak
13. When You Are Lonely
14. Molly and Tenbrooks (The Racehorse Song)
15. Shine Hallelujah Shine - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
16. I'm Travelin' on and On
17. Can't You Hear Me Callin' - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
18. Travelin' This Lonesome Road - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
19. Blue Grass Stomp
20. Girl in the Blue Velvet Band, The
| Details | | Distributor: | Sony Music Distribution ( | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Mono | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Includes a 40-page booklet with liner notes, track information and historic photos.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
This is part of the Columbia Country Classics series.
Before Bill Monroe, bluegrass music simply did not exist (the genre itself takes its name from Monroe's band, the Bluegrass Boys). Throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s, Monroe toyed with different ways to present bluegrass, which he envisioned as a muscular, virtuoso approach to the sentimental ballads and religious numbers of the old-time repertoire. The music gelled in 1945, not coincidentally when Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs joined the band. THE ESSENTIAL BILL MONROE... chronicles Flatt and Scruggs' tenure with the band as well as one session each prior to their arrival and after their departure.
Unsurprisingly, the music included here is exceptional. Whether powering their way through "Heavy Traffic Ahead"--Monroe's tribute to touring--or harmonizing on a gospel number, Monroe and company deliver the goods both in terms of passion and precision. The final session is no letdown, documenting Monroe's inauguration of another classic band (featuring Mac Wiseman and Chubby Wise). The only knock against this set is that 16 of its 40 tracks are alternate takes. Though these performances are fine, this peculiar editing decision means that many of Monroe's master takes from this era remain hard to find.
| See an error? Submit a change request |
All rights reserved.
