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From: HotRocker41
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  • Bill Monroe is at the top of the heap when it comes to bluegrass .Reno & Smiley stand next to Bill. This is just my opinion and I listen to my likings. I have boxed sets of Flatt&Scruggs Stanleys Martin and they seem to stay in their boxes. I always have a Monroe or Reno&Smiley ready to pop into the cd player

  • you cant beat good old bluegrass music . it is the greatest.

  • free download:

    ht tp://c-starsound.bandcamp.com/­track/a-m-e-r-c-on-a-nu-grass-­b-monroe-old-cross-road-mix

  • These are some low down stink fart rotten tooth hillbillies, not like the wannabe country singers of today.

  • I love this music. It is even better Live!

  • Is he really an Uncle?

  • @mike54101527 Yes, he was! "Uncle Pen" was one of Bill Monroe's first hits, written in honor of his mother's brother, "Uncle" Pendleton ("Pen") Vandiver, who raised Bill when both his parents died. Pen was a fiddle player who took young Bill to many of his gigs. Bill, who had been raised playing mandolin with his brothers while young, learned to accompany his Uncle Pen. When Pen died, Bill wrote this hit about him.

  • the cma should give him an award. just cause.

  • youtube :)

    

  • If you listen closely to Monroe's mandolin playing he's adding some insane rhythm figures, like the B section of the intro or right before the vocal break in the first chorus.

    I heard a story that he played at the Opry early on and the rhythm section was coming in so hot they told him to tone it down because the crowd was getting to rowdy lol.

  • Oh mercy me! For this I'd go through the woods, cross three holler's and sit there listen be in bliss!

  • great song

  • Hmm. I forget then I see or hear him again.....then I miss him all over again

  • No substitute on earth for being genuine.

  • many thanks for sharing this wonderful video of Bill Monroe I have live in the very best era of wonderful the real country and blue grass entertainers . God Bless

  • it seems that as society,politics,entertainment all have degraded into a rotten cortpse,as has music...the originators of the past whether it be uncle dave macon,buddy rich,robert johnson ect all the way thru the 70s THESE ARTISTS SHINE SO MUCH BRIGHTER THAN THE ABSOLUTE WASTE SPEWING FORTH FROM CORPORATE OUTLETS NATION WIDE...so when all else spirals into a whirlwind of chaos turn on a device of your choice and crank the real artists who made the music and never sold coke products to do so.

  • 100 YEARS Bill Monroe . Thank you for your influence.

  • Kick yer heels to that old Bluegrass!  Still the best music in the known universe,

  • i hate that he had to die

  • we heard this song in music class plz subscribe to my videos

  • wonder where his old mandolin is today? smithsonian?

  • @SHADOWMAN296 I agree it should be in the smithsonian right beside the star bangled banner. But I think it is in Nashville at the country musice hall of fame. Pay the outrages admission fee and you can go look at it.

  • what i would'nt give to have been there

  • Sooooo sick! 

  • I may be friggin' nuts but I think the Led Zepplin song Black Dog may have been inspired by this song. Does anyone else hear any resemblence?

  • @md65000 After thinking about it, yeah I can totally see where your coming from, but I think they just share the same kind of format. Then again, Led Zeppelin had a bunch of songs directly inspired by American music that came from American folk/blues tunes like gallows pole and travelling riverside blues to name a few.

  • @md65000 its safe to say that this song influenced generations of musicians, so it's completely possible.

  • does anyone know of a video of the actual recording from the album, not live? i wanna download it

  • Never did like bill monroe. I respect him for what he did for bluegrass though. Never did like flatt and scruggs either. GO JIMMY MARTIN and LARRY SPARKS. DR RALPH STANLEY IS THE GREATEST!!!!!!!!!!!! No one can beat that man

  • Watseka Theatre Watseka Illinois Summer 2011 Country Music Concert Series; July 2 Marty Stuart; July 15 The Bellamy Brothers; August 5 Josh Thompson; August 26 Ricky Skaggs; September 3 Jerrod Niemann.

  • The be-bop jazz virtuosos got nothin on these guys.

  • Brill, I see the Master in England in the early 70s My Brother Gerry Hale played fiddle on stage with the band. Good old Days, Bob Hale.

  • badass!

  • I LOVE BILL MONROE BEST BLUEGRASS BAND EVER!!!! <3

  • Man that Martin sounds amazing. That run he's doing on that guitar makes this song...I've never heard it done better than he's doing it! Man what a cannon of a guitar!

  • Excellent!

  • I think that's Noah Crase on the 5-string.

  • is it posible to send back justin beiber and give us Bill back :)?

  • @SixMoreMiles1 one can only hope haha this is real music right here!

  • @SixMoreMiles1 we tried it with biggie. didn't work with him probly wouldn't for poor bill either

  • The man with the guiter looks like Bush, hahahaha

  • i would love to have a time machine i would go back and sit in the audience of this show..brilliant

  • phish version of this song = awesome

    Yy_B7IgaasA

  • MORE MANDOLIN!!!!

  • Get Down! Original mountain music. I love it. Sounds better than some of the so called country junk( and I am being nice here) on what is so called radio.

  • love this

  • wow, what a gem, I'm speechless

  • wow... what a gem... i'm speachless

  • Can't quite understand why 11 people would dislike this.....

    That's a good old a pickin' and a grinnin'!

  • The fiddler is HOT!!!

  • It wouldn't surprise me any if the ol boy on the guitar couldn't do a lot more than that G run...Spot on!....Man that Martin sounds good

  • This was during the hight of segregation and the civil rights movement.

  • Thats Bobby Hicks sawin the fiddle..And he sawed it again with Ricky Skaggs in 1983 when Ricky had his biggest hit with Uncle Pen also.

  • Kewl true story i once saw Herman Alvy play Pendolin Vandiver Fiddle aka Uncle penn Wow what a great day that was RALPH STANLEY was there number 2 Ricky scaggs was there the whites a day i wont forget

  • Just to think this Appalican string music was perserved for centuries( evolving to bluegrass/country) from t he colonial days &then along comes the father of Blue grass..Bill Monroe and how he brought it all out ..Amaizing talent. what's out there today? a comercialized digital arrangement? nice tribute to his uncle here

  • i ate breakfast with him a couple times in the early 90's i was young tho

  • COULDNT BE MORE PROUD TO BE FROM EASTERN KENTUCKY

  • Actually, according to my sources, that banjoist is probably Noah Crase...

  • If I had to guess I'd say either Rudy Lyle or maybe, Bill Keith... I think that's a young Del McCoury on guitar in that one too... Could be wrong about all that.

  • Who is the banjo picker in this video?

  • great song!

  • that is so cool!

  • Ohhhhhhhhhhh yeah!!!!! Durn Shootin-  this gooooood!

  • thats alright(classic)

  • Many of the Rock n Roll players trace their sound from ol Bill's mandolin licks. The man was a true genius.

  • @rskurow a young Bobby Hicks, fresh out of Greensboro, NC.

  • @karakittle no im from madison, but i live on a road called owsley fork

  • THIS FUCKIN RULES!!!!!!!Pass the Makers Mark!

  • THIS FUCKIN RULES!!!!!!!

  • Who is the fiddler?

  • @rskurow might be a young Bobby Hicks.

  • @BruceKap440 Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Bobby gave me lessons for two weeks in 1969 or 70 when he was playing in Las Vegas as part of the Judy Lynn Review. I think that's him in this video.

  • Bill Monroe is amazing, I can't get enough of his great music

  • Earl Scruggs having fun; killer diller!

  • There may never be another bill monroe, but dr. ralph stanley comes close. Pure mountain music from the heart that just seems to grab hold of you.

  • god what a badass

  • Hot dam!

  • That's Noah Crase playing the 5-string isn't it?

  • Happy Birthday Bill Monroe!

  • Happy Birthday Bill Monroe! The father of bluegrass would have been 99 today.

  • @westoftexas Isn't the father of bluegrass Jimmy Martin ?

  • @Neverregretperson no Jimmy Martin is actually considered the King of Bluegrass.

  • @Neverregretperson NO NO NO NO NO. BILL MONROE!!!!!!!!!!

  • @westoftexas He was a great entertainer, musician, and all around gentlement. I could listen to his music forever. They just don't have entertainers like Bill Monroe or Flatt and Scruggs anymore.

  • @westoftexas Oh what a special moment in my life it was at Gettysburg bluegrass fest in '86 to have able to have shaken his hand and eaten a piece of his 75th birthday cake backstage! What a great man he was and National Treasure he'll forever be!

  • This is were its at folks

  • Heard this song on the jute box at Pop Staggs pool hall when I delivered papers 60 years ago.

  • Wow, i cant believe Kurt Cobain liked this guy's music.

  • @TheMrAwesomeDx Apparently, he had more taste than you. LOL!!

  • Man I'd like to have that Martin guitar

  • @bigmrclean That's Del McCoury playing that Martin and singing!

  • @SteveGaines Actually Joe Stuart, see previous posts for band details.

  • country isnt like this anymore because no one lives that lifestyle of the backwoods and country gatherings...its all at Tim McGraws million dollar mansions

  • best song in the 1950s agree

  • if you like bluegrass check out mud thump

  • I just found out that Bill Monroe is my dad's second cousin on his mom's side.

  • original rap

  • Recent post in latest B.U. (Blugrass Unlimited mag) is that the bass player is William "Buddy" Killen, who was an Opry staff bassist. Source of this info was from none other than the late Charlie Cline, one of the great Bluegrass Boys during the 50's. So I'll go with that, even though I have seen photos of Killen and the bass player in the vid just doesn't quite look like him.

  • went to Bill's homeplace in Rosine Fri and saw a photo of Uncle Pen--kinda nice to see the man behind the tune

  • i rememer when my my pops use to say bill had talent,but i didnt know until i listened to it

  • Father of bluegrass!!!

  • beautiful ol timey

  • Anyway, turn off yer TV and corporate country radio and dig this REAL DEAL. Hicks was and is still awesome. Stuart was "Mr. Utility" - played all instruments w/ Monroe. Noah Crase recently passed away - a great banjo man. Q: anyone got an idea what that large disc is on the headstock of Stuart's Martin - a big button or something?

  • Like virtually everyone else who has replied, I agree - this is an awesome video of Monroe & his boys in the 50's. The line-up here is: Bobby Hicks, fiddle; Joe Stuart, guitar; "The Great" Noah Crase, banjo and not sure on the bass man. Latest B.U. mag has folks writing in saying it's Doug Morris (played w/ Stanleys) or Ernie Newton (Opry staff bass man) or Buddy Killen (also Opry) - I'd go with Newton or Morris. Great to see relatives of some of these players writing in here.

  • @starboydc

    Sorry I can 't confirm who it is, but I can confirm it isn't Ernie Newton! If you want to see Ernie in action with Monroe see the"Roanoke " clip here on YouTube.

  • my grandmother an some of my old school family members played with him at a bluegrass festival b4 he died. i play, but im no bill monroe...

  • The Father of the Mandolin,..Just some Ol dancin music,..Makes Ya want to dance,.well unless yer Dead,...Wait,Iv seen it make some dead Ass People Get up and Dance Too,..He was The Master,...he brought joy to so many of Us!!,..His Spirit will Life On!,..

  • Amazing!!!!!!!!!Thanks for the upload!!!!!!!!!!

  • great song

  • this is the best. why cant music be the same now

  • I just turned my television off in total disgust at the garbage on there, and came to youtube to get some real entertainment listening and watching the old-time and all-time greats!

  • (c)rap ain't nothin compared to this, true music is this the older stuff is the best. comin from a 16 year old

  • So great to be able to watch Bill Monroe on here!!! Thank you!

  • It doesn't get any better than this!

  • bill monroe is my great great great uncle

  • Thank God for Bill Monroe.I love this song.White Pride Forever...

  • I knew an old man whose name was Pen. I won't mention his name because he made moonshine in northwest Florida. I know this for a fact since I helped him with his still a couple of times.....this was 25 years ago, incidentally.

  • Why can't music be like this? It all had meaning back then , but No , we can't have it now. Nowadays all we got is that Disney channel bullshit and those perverted rap and hiphop singers.

  • uncle pen touched me

  • Like this

  • who is the fiddler on this?

  • @DitmarMadSrings  Quite a few earlier posts have ID him as Bobby Hicks. All around, this lineup of BG Boys is hard to beat. Bill did this number thousands of times, I can't imagine a better version.

  • Fantastic!!!

  • The rumours say Elvis recorded this song as well - at least he should have done it live. It all makes sense but no proof have survived yet. Never heard the song before. Thanks for posting.

  • Gah...Greatness...just greatness

  • Scottish people listening to this are listening to their own folk music.

  • its not country, its bluegrass, and it is jazz from the white perspective, so I love it.. i play it now after five years of parker ayler and trane, saunders zorn and coleman... ornette that is.. love it.. bluegrass hasnt stopped evolving by any means, if fact, it is the most interesting music i have found when one considers how it is being applied modernly

  • I never appreciated this kinda music as kid- I must be getting old cause I sure love it now!

  • Probably my favorite Bluegrass song of all time!

  • I like it how some guy wanders through the set at 1:13. Who's that on banjo?

  • @TruegrassBoy See page 4. Noah Crase is playing a very hot banjo

  • Saw him Live at Interlochen Arts academy---

    Fantastic!

  • I was fortunate to have seen Bill perform at the University of Calgary (Alberta) in December of 1978. The great Kenny Baker was on fiddle, and his son James on guitar. Can't recall who was on bass or banjo. Poor guys almost froze to death traveling through the mountains from Vancouver in B.C. The heater broke down on their bus and they had to drive through a snowstorm. They pretty cold when they got in, but like the true professionals that they were, they put on an excellent show.

  • The first time I ever saw Bill sitting while playing. Doesn't hurt his picking any. This is a fabulous version of the song, Joe Stuart really nails those guitar runs. More vintage Bluegrass please!

  • whoooo weeeeee what a tune!!!!!!

    Tiocfaidh ar la!!!!!

    Free Palestine. Free Ireland!!! YEEEE haaaa±!

  • Plus the bass itself, a light one with a sweeping scroll.

  • Isn't this a young Jake Tullock on bass?

    His ring, way he puts his fingers out over the neck and thin face and dark brows suggest that it is young Cousin Jake.

    Yr Thoughts?

  • GET THE ROPE !!!

  • This song is so great. I love how it skips a 1/2 measure at the end of the chorus. I wish I was half that cool.

  • is that bobby hicks on fiddle

  • sure looks like it.

  • This is MY America!

  • amen

  • @rampcleaner  I'm Italian and...my music is alo this...

  • wow powerful thx 4 posting

  • ricky skaggs is a great bluegrass singer but he needs to learn respect for his elders that duet he done with bill monroe looked more like he was trying to rubb it in his face , i think thats disrespectful

  • i agree this is the stuff.

  • this was great.

    :)

  • Fabulous mid 50s footage of Bill & the boys in action. Young Bobby Hicks is also a joy to see in action !!

  • a Very young Bobby Hicks on fiddle.

  • such a happy

    soul

    is bill monroe

  • man i wish music was still like this now adays now we have all that wanna be country bullshit with no true meaning......therell never be another bill monroe!!

  • @jaimev21 um,bill Monroe played Bluegrass,big difference between Country and Bluegrass xD lolz

  • @jaimev21 youR"e comment is the most true and on my level of thinking

  • Never a truer statement was ever spoken!

    Today country music is filled with copycats, wannabes and outright frauds, and how ridiculous most of them look. Whatever happened to being yourself, instead of trying to copycat some great musician who's been dead for years or even decades? It is a national disgrace.

  • @jaimev21  I hope not! A pioneer maybe, but he could"nt sing

  • @Hd28cw Maybe not to your liking, Still good enough to be inducted into the Coiuntry, Rock and Roll and Bluegrass Halls of Fame. Check it out, the only musician to be so honoured.

  • @jaimev21 Amen.

  • @jaimev21 Amen to that brother

  • @jaimev21 country is country, this is bluegrass.. and this is way better.. just sayin.. :)

  • @jaimev21 Have you taken it up with your maker, after bein sure to obey all his hundreds of commandments?

  • That's the best bluegrass ever! Best!

    Never gonna be anyone can outplay these old boys. Mighty fine!

  • Comment removed

  • @sktaber2000 the man singing is my First Cousin Bill Monroe! that is so cool. :DD

  • this is about bill monroe's uncle penn

  • Check the Bill Monroe Blue Grass Boys, it cross references his players by date, name and instruments. By that account everyone is wrong.

  • aw man i luv this

  • pretty sure that is a young Del McCoury on guitar

  • The guitar player is Joe Stuart. Joe played for Bill off and on for several years and played other instruments in the band as well.

  • I didn't see him good, but your right--Del worked for BM for about a year.

  • I would like for anyone that would like to share insights on a question I have about Mr. Monroe.

    I recall him saying on several occasions that he never drank, as it also states in his biography. Yet, I have talked with a couple of people who saw him in person years back, who swore that he was drunk on stage. Any comments?

  • Oh man, what a question! Bill Monroe was 'drunk' on stage from playing the best bluegrass music he and his band could deliver. He was 'high' on his fans and his music. And the man was a gifted genius and gentleman to all. Read Tom Ewing's "The Bill Monroe Reader" and Bob Black's "Come Hither to Go Yonder". Bill did share a glass of wine with me once after a show in Portland, OR, back in the 80s. He even picked up the tab. Bill did not want his boys to drink beer, but whiskey..........

  • American legends.