“monroe_bill”
Bill Monroe
Live From Mountain Stage
Blue Plate Music
This release marks the first and last performance of Bill Monroe on West Virginia’s Public Radio’s Mountain Stage . It’s nice to hear all those great old songs without the scratches and pops of vinyl that I’ve endured over the years. Most of the standards that you would expect are here. “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Uncle Pen,” “I’m Working on a Building,” “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” “Beautiful Life,” they are all here. The line up of musicians is not the best of his career, nor even the best bluegrass band working at the time this was recorded, but it doesn’t really matter. Bill and his mandolin are the real stars here. Most bluegrass players in a traditional format like this are sorta restrained anyway. As a whole, and as a piece of music history that documents one of the last recordings of the legend that is Bill Monroe, this release shines like new money.
Blue Plate Music, 33 Music Square West, Suite #102B, Nashville, TN 37203; http://www.ohboy.com
