Pete's Bluegrass Weblog - or Blog

Subjects: bluegrass, old time music, and vaguely related items. You are invited to join in, as you wish. E-mail them to us and we'll add your comments, which are very welcome.

It's almost time to start practicing writing "04" on your checks. It's been a good year in many ways, though it has had some strange moments. To end it appropriately, my friend Robin Frost will sit in with the S.B. Symphony on New Year's Eve at Santa Barbara's Arlington Theater. While he is known as a serious composer, chorale director, arranger, cornet and piano player (besides performing with Créme Brûlè), Robin is also one of the world's few accomplished Theramin players. He's built one from a kit and will bring it to the Arlington tomorrow evening, plug it in, and stand back.

[Above]: Robin playing a bit of The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise.

We also look forward to meeting with friends over the holidays. Among those who came to visit this year were Ken Keppler and Jeanie McLerie of Bayou Seco, along with Frannie Leopold and Peter Barg, down from Mendicino.     [Below: Jeanie and Frannie, w/ Peter Barg]

We've had an interesting discussion in the news group rec.country.old-time re. the music of Charlie Monroe following his split with his brother Bill in 1938. Here's a part of what we were discussing:

Joel Shimberg writes:
>I'm putting together a couple of CDs of what I have of the Monroe Brothers. The only way to order the cuts that makes sense to me is chronologically by recording. I've found most of what I have in the on-line discography project, which has (I think) all of the Bluebird information, but I'm left with the following recordings, for which I would like to find Master No., Recording Date, Catalog No., Issue Date >& Label, and Personnel (when there's more than just Bill and Charlie). (Bringin' In The Georgia Mail has a fiddle and a harmonica, for example.):

>No Home, No place To Pillow My Head,
>The Great Speckled Bird,
>Once I had A Darling Mother,
>Rosa Lee McFall,
>Bringin' In The Georgia Mail,
>Don't Forget me Little Darling,
>Mother's Not Dead, She's Only A-Sleeping.
>
>Thanks for any help.
>
>Joel Shimberg
------------------------

Hi Joel,

While the titles above may _sound_ like the "Monroe Brothers", they are not the Monroe Brothers. Rather, they are early Victor recordings of Charlie Monroe &
Band, which came to be known as the Kentucky Partners. The mandolin player you hear is not Bill Monroe, but is Zeke Morris, who sounds eerily close to Bill's mandolin and vocal styles of the time. Bill and Charlie split in 1938, with Charlie and Zeke recording the following tunes:

Rock Hill, SC, 9/29/1938
===================
No Home, No place To Pillow My Head,
The Great Speckled Bird,
Once I had A Darling Mother,

Recorded after 1942:
===============
Rosa Lee McFall, (w/ Red Rector on mandolin, superb!)
Bringin' In The Georgia Mail,
Don't Forget me Little Darling,
Mother's Not Dead, She's Only A-Sleeping.

Bill did not record again until 1940, with a new band he called "Bill Monroe And The Blue Grass Boys". (Probably nothing will come of that!).  All recordings for the Victor Company. Oh yes, Bill and Charlie recorded a full 60 titles together for Victor between 1936 and 1938. All of these have been magnificently reissued by Bear Family records on CD and by Japan Victor on Lp.
--
Peter Feldmann

---------------------------------
Eerily is just the word for it. I was tooken in. It's all great stuff. Thanks for the additional help, Peter.

Joel

---------------------------------

You're welcome. Understand though, that we're just scratching the surface of a fascinating story here.

Bill and Charlie played a _lot_ in the Carolinas as "The Monroe Brothers". Wiley and Zeke Morris were around as "The Morris Brothers", and made some wonderful music including their great recording of the "Salty Dog Blues" for Victor. Also hanging around there was a kid banjo player known as Earl Scruggs who heard Wiley and Zeke and worked out "Salty Dog" on his banjer.

Then there was Wade Mainer, a fine singer and banjo picker in the two-finger, finger lead style, who had hired Zeke into his band to make the classic "Ridin' On That Train 45" with fiddler Steve Ledford.

I was staying with Big Jim Griffith in Tucson a few years ago when Wade and Julia came by for 3 days in their camper. We got a chance to talk a bit (and pick a few tunes). I asked Wade about Bill Monroe. He mentioned that at one point, close after Bill and Charlie broke up in '38, that Bill had asked Wade about the possibility of him playing banjo for the BG Boys. Now Wade is about 10 years older than Monroe. He replied in effect, that perhaps he would hire Bill as a mandolin player in _his_ band.

I didn't follow up or do too much thinking about that at the
time (probably because I was half asleep), but after ten years of thought I realized that this was a _musical community_ back there. They all knew each other, and swaped musicians and ideas much more than most of the country history books let on. Zeke Morris was a fine musician, and _of course_ he would know how to "mock" (as they say back there) Bill on vocals and mandolin. Charlie liked the sound the Monroe Bros. had developed and wanted to keep on that track, at least through '38 - '45, when he began hiring harmonica and electric guitar players to broaden the sound of his band, now named "The Kentucky Partners". (Lester Flatt played mandolin and sang tenor for Charlie for a while, before joining
the BG Boys).

There was _lots_ going on in the Carolinas back in those days, and I'm right in the middle of an investigation. As it happens,I've compiled a Charlie Monroe CD to help in my research of mandolin styles and the roots of bluegrass. It has the following titles:

1) Georgia Mail 02:49
2) Beautiful Picture 02:15
3) Rubber Neck Blues 02:18
4) Darling Mother 03:16
5) Youll Find Her Name 02:42
6) I'm coming Back But I Don't Know When 02:48
7) Down In Caroline 03:02
8) Down In The Willow Garden 02:18
9) When World's On Fire 02:02
10) Good Morning 02:27
11) Great Speckled Bird 02:00
12) Jesus Is Calling 02:26
13) My Lords Goona Move This Wicked Race 02:06
14) No Home 02:04
15) It's Only A Phonograph Record 02:31
16) Red Rocking Chair 02:30
17) Rosa Lee McFall 02:31
18) So Blue 02:39
19) Farther Along 04:49
20) Sugar Cane Mama 02:15
21) That Wild Black Engine 02:35
22) Time Clock Of Life 02:23
23) Whos Calling You Sweetheart 02:32
24) Mothers Not Dead 02:48
25) Without Me Are You Blue? 02:16

If you're interested in a copy, send me an e-mail.

__Peter
peterf@silcom.com

Have a merry
Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc.

Many musicians tend to make a living off of what are called "casuals", music jobs where they are hired to provide music for weddings, wine tastings, etc. While some of these jobs can be trying (since the music isn't at the center of attention), in other instances they can be quite rewarding. Personally, there is nothing quite as fun for me as to get together with muscian friends and just make music.

This past Friday was such an occasion for me, when I was asked to put together a string band for a contra dance at a local dude ranch. I managed to get a fine group together for an impromptu dance party, with an
Tom Lee, Peter, Tom Sauber, Brad Leftwich, Steve Lewis

"ante bellum" theme. Folks were decked out in "Gone With The Wind" - style outfits. We performed some Stephen Foster tunes, and several songs mentioning Dixie, but the main thrust of the evening was old time dance tunes, at which Brad Leftwich, Tom Sauber, and Steve Lewis excell. I filled in on mandolin and Tom Lee did the honors with string bass. A fun evening, and I hope we can play sometime in this formation for the general public.

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