Bill Monroe - The Father of Bluegrass Music

Starring:Bill Monroe
Studio: Winstar
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Product Description
An all-star concert saluting Bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe.
Includes

Uncle Pen

Blue Moon of Kentucky

Rawhide" and much more.

Format: DVD VIDEO
Amazon.com
With acoustic string components that stretch across centuries and a "high lonesome" vocal signature that evokes windblown mountain tops, bluegrass music sounds like an artifact of a pre-industrial America. Yet, for all its hand-hewn craft and plangent "ancient tones," the style is a pure 20th-century dialect roughly contemporaneous with bebop--a small group sound designed, refined, and arguably perfected by just one man, eastern Kentucky mandolinist Bill Monroe. It's common practice for pundits to confer patriarchy on artists who popularize a style, but Monroe's paternity for bluegrass is absolute: without him, the style would not exist.

That achievement is chronicled with care and precision in Steve Gebhardt's superb 90-minute portrait of Monroe, which benefits from extensive interview footage shot three years before Monroe passed away in 1996. Under the gentle interrogation of musical acolytes, folk veteran John Hartford and country-bluegrass star Ricky Skaggs, the white-haired, hawk-faced octogenarian relives his bluegrass genesis. He recounts the pivotal influences of his fiddle-playing Uncle Pen Vandiver (inspiration for Monroe's classic "Uncle Pen") and black bluesman Arnold Schultz, discusses how he came to devise the style's classic instrumentation (fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, and "bull fiddle"), and reminisces about his 1940s emergence as an early star of WSM/Nashville's Grand Ole Opry--a media crucible for modern country music which Monroe played a vital role in building.

Both casual fans and bluegrass fanatics will revel in the completeness of Gebhardt's vision, which expertly weaves the often poignant Monroe interviews (including sweetly moving duets with Hartford and Skaggs) with additional interviews and archival film, television, and still photographs. Past and present members of Monroe's Bluegrass (née Blue Grass) Boys testify to Monroe's sure command of his lifelong franchise, as do an impressive choir of believers including Emmylou Harris, Jerry Garcia, Marty Stuart, and former Bluegrass Boys Del McCoury and Peter Rowan.

Amazon.com

The father of bluegrass is feted by peers, protégés, and spiritual descendants in this concert film, set in Nashville and featuring 15 country artists and groups performing Monroe's classic songs. The two-disc The Legend Lives On reaches deep into the heart of Monroe's canon with Ricky Scaggs's cover of "Uncle Pen" (named for Pendleton Vandiver, the family member who taught Monroe to play his trademark mandolin). Sparks fly with the populous Del McCoury Band's take on "John Henry," Charlie Daniels's propulsive "Rockin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms," and Marty Stuart's "Rawhide," complete with sweet bluesy preface. Connie Smith and the Whites pair up for a satisfying gospel excursion, "Walkin' in Jerusalem," Ralph Stanley and the Virginia Boys mix-and-match lovely bluegrass textures, a bouncing beat, and plaintive vocals in the fascinating "Can't You Hear Me Callin'," and soloist Tim O'Brien is superb on the stark "Highway of Sorrow." --Tom Keogh

Description

Friends, admirers and musicians join together on the stage of the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville for a tribute concert to the renowned father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe! Fifteen of today's best country and bluegrass musicians perform over 30 songs by Bill Monroe including Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury, Tim O'Brien, Charlie Daniels, Marty Stuart and many more!

Customer Reviews:

Tribute to Bill Monroe is a great bluegrass DVD.......2004-01-20

You get your moneys worth with this album. It is the next best thing to seeing this concert live. And in one way it is better than live, because you can view it over and over again. The close ups on the players hands and fingerings are great to study if you are a player yourself. Best of all is the sound quality coming through my stereo was unbeliveable. The balance was well done and you can hear each instrument clearly. There are no bad cuts on this DVD in my opinion.

Great, uncut, concert footage of top bluegrass acts.......2003-12-02

This DVD is excellent and probably the best video to represent bluegrass music. The two disc set features live performances from the Bill Monroe tribute concert that took place in 1997 at the Ryman Auditorium (former home of the Grand Ole Opry). In between each performance artist talk and reflect on the life of the father of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe. Unlike some bluegrass videos each song performed is shown from beginning to end, uncut, with no special effects. Highlights include the Del McCoury Band with Vasser Clements on second fiddle, Rick Scaggs and Kentucky Thunder and several other bands.
The biggest problem with this DVD is that the musicians and/or bands are not listed correctly. The Del McCoury Band for example is listed as "Del McCoury and the Clinch Mountain Boys" with the liner notes saying that Mike Bub (the bass player) is playing fiddle and Jason Carter (fiddle player) is listed as guitar player. These mistakes run rampant throughout the video so if you don't recognize the musicians you can't find out who they are, or you get the wrong name.
Overall the set is worth getting however, just keep in mind that the musicians/bands listed are not the musicians/bands you are seeing.

Bill Monroe - The Father of Bluegrass Music

Average customer rating:

Can't Get Enough of Bill Monroe
Excellent documentary on Monroe's life and music
A great documentary!
A note from the writer/co-producer
Correction

Bill Monroe - The Father of Bluegrass Music
Starring: Roy Acuff , Lester Flatt , Emmylou Harris , The Kentucky Headhunters , and Ricky Skaggs
Director: Steve Gebhardt
Manufacturer: Winstar
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00000IREE
Release Date: 1999-06-29

Product Description

An all-star concert saluting Bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe.
Includes

Uncle Pen

Blue Moon of Kentucky

Rawhide" and much more.

Format: DVD VIDEO

Amazon.com

With acoustic string components that stretch across centuries and a "high lonesome" vocal signature that evokes windblown mountain tops, bluegrass music sounds like an artifact of a pre-industrial America. Yet, for all its hand-hewn craft and plangent "ancient tones," the style is a pure 20th-century dialect roughly contemporaneous with bebop--a small group sound designed, refined, and arguably perfected by just one man, eastern Kentucky mandolinist Bill Monroe. It's common practice for pundits to confer patriarchy on artists who popularize a style, but Monroe's paternity for bluegrass is absolute: without him, the style would not exist.

Customer Reviews:

Can't Get Enough of Bill Monroe.......2004-10-10

I regret that I came to love bluegrass music after the death of Bill Monroe, I would have so loved to see him live in concert. This DVD helped me understand what it would have been like to see him in concert, as well as to sit down on the porch swing and talk to him for awhile.

This DVD was great, wish there were more bluegrass DVDs available.

Excellent documentary on Monroe's life and music.......2003-07-22

I love this video. Let me say first you will not get a lot of critical information on Bill Monroe. This is no Monroe exposé. Don't expect "Monroe - the man nobody knew."

Rather, this is a video by people who know and love the music, Monroe, and the lifestyle the music comes out of. The John Hartford porch-swing interviews with Monroe are priceless and fill in little bits of information gathered from reading books like Rosenberg's excellent "Bluegrass: A History." The combination interviews/picking sessions with Ricky Skaggs around the campfire really make you want to be there with them. Interviews with everybody from Chubby Wise to Emmy Lou Harris and Marty Stuart show their love and respect for Monroe (although you also see their sides of some of the controversies surrounding Monroe). The live recording of songs with Del McCoury like "I'm On My Way Back to the Old Home" (the first Monroe song I ever sang lead on, and still one of my favorite Monroe songs) add a great deal. (Was that actually Monroe's childhood home shown as a backdrop to that song?) Finally, the scene with Lester Flatt and Monroe onstage together in 1979 (not sure of the date, but not that long before Flatt died) nearly brings a tear to my eye every time I watch it.

If you love the music and the people who make it, you'll watch this video again and again.

A great documentary!.......2003-06-25

This film is so well done. We all know Bill Monroe is 'the man', but this film shows you some of the why. I knew it was going to be good when it opened with Bill sitting down on a porch swing, taking out his old mandolin, and playing "Tombstone Junction". Other nice moments are the humor and charisma of Bobby Osbourne. If you like Bill Monroe, this will deepen your appreciation for him. The film flows so well, I watched twice in a row! As an added bonus, the DVD is relatively inexpensive.

A note from the writer/co-producer.......2003-03-28

Hi, Larry Nager here. I wrote and co-produced Bill Monroe: The Father of Bluegrass Music and I would like to clear up a few things.
First, as to Ms. crmchs, yes, the documentary is NOT a concert film. It was never meant to be and it clearly says so on the box. Steve Gebhardt has been a film-maker since the '60s, working most notably with John Lennon and Yoko Ono as well as the Rolling Stones. My background includes more than 20 years as a music journalist (I am currently music critic for The Cincinnati Enquirer). I also wrote the Book Memphis Beat (1998 St. Martin's Press) and I have been a musician since I was 14, around 35 years ago. I played bass with Red Allen & the Kentuckians for several years and was a member of the Allen-Lilly Band. Some of those recordings can be heard on the Smithsonian-Folkways CD Classic Bluegrass and the label's Red Allen collection. I've also performed with such bluegrass and country greats as Curly Sechler, Johnny Gimble, Josh Graves, Frank Wakefield, Kenny Baker, Marty Stuart, Red Rector and currently perform with Tony Ellis and his son, William Lee Ellis.

In other words, we do know the difference between a concert film and a music documentary. And no, we didn't try to make a concert film and it somehow turned into a documentary. It was a documentary from the start, albeit one with a lot of music, including a rare reunion with Mr. Monroe, Del McCoury, Bill Keith and Chubby Wise. For any true bluegrass fan, that alone is worth the price of the DVD. Criticizing it for not being a concert film is a little bit like saying Hamlet was Shakespeare's least successful comedy.
Concerning the Eastern/Western Kentucky controversy cited in another critique, the misconception came from a typo on the cover notes, which was never corrected.
As to working on the film, it was a true labor of love for all involved and, for myself, getting to know Mr. Monroe on a one-to-one basis will always be one of the highlights of my life. Even in his 80s he was completely engaged, leading his band, writing new music every day, flirting with every pretty woman in the room. He knew the secret of life.

(and I apologize for the five stars, but they wouldn't run the text without it).

Correction.......2001-08-10

Hey quick note. In Sam's review he speaks of Bill being from Eastern KY. Not to throw my 2 cents in, but Rosine is in Western KY .Not a biggie, just want the fact straight :-). Thanks, Slippery jaw from KY

The Legend Lives On: A Tribute to Bill Monroe, Vol. 1 & 2

Average customer rating:

The Legend Lives On: A Tribute to Bill Monroe, Vol. 1 & 2
Starring: Lorrie Morgan
Director: Robert Swope
Manufacturer: Koch
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0000APVC8
Release Date: 2003-09-09

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