It has been suggested that bluegrass music was “born” in 1946 when Bill Monroe introduced the new line up of his Blue Grass Boys on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. Of course, there existed something approaching the sound of bluegrass before this date, but Monroe’s post-war sound solidified the style of the music he fathered; he patented the instrumentation, consolidated the high-lonesome vocal style and fixed the repertoire of bluegrass.
This set has been compiled to represent the three most commercially successful groups of the post-war explosion of traditional bluegrass from its “labour pains” in 1945 through its widespread acceptance in the late 1950s shortly before the revolution in progressive bluegrass. As with the beginnings of all new music, early bluegrass was fraught with animosity between rivals and former colleagues, incestuous relationships between the personnel of the first bands and professional jealousy, but these three CDs contain arguably the greatest examples of this newly-minted music from its greatest purveyors.
Our first disc is devoted to Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, drawing on sessions for Columbia between 1945 and 1949, which produced seven country hits and a slew of titles that are now regarded as bluegrass standards, including “Kentucky Waltz”, “Footprints In The Snow”, “Blue Grass Special”, “Little Cabin Home On The Hill” and “Blue Grass Breakdown”. By 1950 Monroe was recording for Decca, notching up further hits and re-recording “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” in the wake of Elvis Presley’s cover.
By the time they jumped the Monroe ship in late 1947, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs were stars in their own right. The Foggy Mountain Boys began recording for Mercury in 1948, laying down such gems as “My Cabin in Caroline”, “Down the Road”, “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms”, “Old Salty Dog Blues” and their signature tour-de-force “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”. A switch to Columbia in 1950 brought their first hit, but despite some strong offerings which displayed a very rock ’n’ roll attitude, they failed to chart again until the dawn of the bluegrass renaissance in 1959 with “Cabin On The Hill” and “Crying My Heart Out Over You”.
Another former Blue Grass Boy, banjo maestro Don Reno teamed with guitarist known as Red Smiley. As Don Reno, Red Smiley & The Tennessee Cutups, they recorded a mammoth session for King in 1952, which resulted in Reno originals like “I’m Using My Bible For a Road Map”, “I’m Gone, Long Gone”, “There’s Another Baby Waiting For Me Down The Line” and storming “Lazy Finger Blues” and “Tennessee Cut-Up Breakdown”. In 1954 they recorded further breath-taking instrumentals including “Hen Scratchin’ Stomp”, “Reno Ride” and the hilarious “Barefoot Nellie”. Two years later “Country Boy Rock ‘n’ Roll” acknowledged new influences.
