555Glenn - Posted - 10/14/2009:  10:33:06

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I have played with Bill Monroe many times and I never seen him being unjust to anyone.

I think it was just time to move on for Earl and Lester.

quote:

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Originally posted by banjerman

Hey A:
Bill was notoriously hard to please or get along with for any length of time. It was his way or the highway...period. He could be real nice or ornery as heck depending on his mood. Hard to put up with that day to day.
Wally

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Check Out www.TheBluegrassAcademy.com

Fishrrman - Posted - 10/14/2009:  18:47:22

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Ken wrote:
"He loved his music and had to sacrifice and work very hard for it. He NEVER sold out or compromised his creative integrity. He was STRONG like few people are today and he had a vision, a passion, and a purpose. Monroe was made of the same cloth as Coaches Lombardi and Knight and he likewise had a competitive streak in him and a strong drive to excel."

Well said.

I don't know how many folks reading this are familiar with Ayn Rand (or her book "The Fountainhead"), but I believe that Bill Monroe was the Howard Rourke of American music. A true-life example.

- John

BvilleDon - Posted - 10/14/2009:  19:03:05

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Sandy,

Sorry for listing you mainly as a banjp picker for Monroe, even though one site has you listed as doing so, at least at some times, much as you have just related. The other source, which I misremembered and blame on my stroke addled brain was a quote someone made talking about an eighteen year old kid who "nearly knocked Monroe out of the way to get to the mike". That eighteen year old was Sandy Rothman! I was wrong in thinking it was to pick a banjo break, the quote went on to say you were getting to the mike to play a booming G-run on guitar! I guess I am lucky to have a stroke to blame for mis-statements!

Don

SandyR - Posted - 10/14/2009:  19:44:24

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Not to worry, Don. The quote you mention from David Dickey (via Steve Pottier) has its own doubt, as David never saw me in 1964 when I played a short time with Bill. Maybe he dreamed I nearly did that! Sure glad I didn't, although Bill forgave far more than something like that. I was so green in '64, I was just lucky he gave me a chance to try.

DHutchens - Posted - 10/16/2009:  09:25:01

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Folks,
I will get back with you on this, but I have been sicker than a moose with the flu since monday afternoon and its hurts to even think right now.

Doug

southerndrifter - Posted - 10/16/2009:  09:32:48

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quote:

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Originally posted by DHutchens

Folks,
I will get back with you on this, but I have been sicker than a moose with the flu since monday afternoon and its hurts to even think right now.

Doug

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Oh my goodness, first swine flu, now MOOSE flu!!!?? What next, flathead flu??

Hope you feel better soon, Doug!

Lynwood Lunsford


If we had some ham, we could have some ham & eggs.........if we had some eggs!

JNHOLTBANJO - Posted - 10/16/2009:  12:39:09

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Doug,
I hope you get to feeling better soon! I hope that moose flu don't spread to KY!

quote:

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Originally posted by DHutchens

Folks,
I will get back with you on this, but I have been sicker than a moose with the flu since monday afternoon and its hurts to even think right now.

Doug

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ambpicker - Posted - 10/16/2009:  13:46:30

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Drifter, I hope you get feeling better soon. Take care of yourself.

Leslie

fgodbey - Posted - 10/16/2009:  14:17:20

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quote:

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Originally posted by SandyR

...David never saw me in 1964 when I played a short time with Bill. .... I was so green in '64, I was just lucky he gave me a chance to try.

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I don't know about David's experience, but on Aug. 16, 1964, I saw Sandy on banjo with Monroe. It was a Sunday afternoon at Frontier Ranch, near Columbus, Ohio. Green or not, Sandy, y'done good!

On the same show, fresh from Jimmy Dean's TV program, were Bill Harrell, Buck Ryan & Smitty Irvin with a bass player whose name I can't remember.

That was a fun day. Somewhere I have photographs, but I'll defer looking for them until I have a whole week with nothing else to do.

The following Sunday, Aug 23, Flatt & Scruggs were at Hillbilly Park near Newark, Ohio. Here's a shot:


A couple of months or so earlier Sandy & Jerry Garcia passed through Columbus and came by a music store where I used to hang out. They stayed around long enough to check out some of the local bluegrass scene & to take in the Reno & Smiley show at Frontier Ranch on, I think, May 30, 1964. Another fun day, with a lot of good jamming at the park that afternoon. (Forgot my camera that day; sorry!) Bill Monroe had played a near-by high school the week before, on May 23rd, but I don't remember seeing Jerry & Sandy at that show.

Spring & summer of 64... what a great time that was!
--Nostalgically, Frank

fgodbey - Posted - 10/16/2009:  14:19:23

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quote:

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Originally posted by DHutchens

Folks,
I will get back with you on this, but I have been sicker than a moose with the flu since monday afternoon and its hurts to even think right now.

Doug

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Get yourself well, Doug; we want more of your stories.

--Cheers, Frank

jhandsfield - Posted - 10/16/2009:  19:12:00

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quote:

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Did they ever reconcile with Monroe. I have to believe they did since there are instances were they were together again on the same stage for different reasons. In fact, there a a youtube video showing the two playing together...likely the 1960s:

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Scruggs spoke of being willing (I don't know about Lester Flatt), but they never really did. That's why Jimmy Martin instead of Bill Monroe was called in for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's recording 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken.' Earl was instrumental (pardon the pun!) in getting all the Nashville musicians on board who were very skeptical of the 'hippies.'

Jim Handsfield
jhandsfield@mindspring.com
Always preach the Gospel - use words if you must (Francis of Assisi)

SandyR - Posted - 10/16/2009:  21:29:18

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Frank would've seen me mainly on guitar at Frontier Ranch that day. Bill didn't have a regular banjo picker at the time, so Benny Williams would put down the fiddle, take the guitar, and I would play Bill's banjo (Doug can identify the old gold-plated archtop) for a few tunes. The real regret about that particular show is that Robby Robinson, a superlative Scruggs-syle banjoist, was watching from the front row. What a treat it would've been to have had him sit in. Regarding the high school show the previous week, I don't think Jerry and I knew about it or we would've been there. As for Bill and the "Circle" project, it was my understanding he'd been invited but declined. I doubt that is what brought about Jimmy's participation.

PS: FJG: Wasn't Connie Smith on the show that day, with Bill Anderson's band, fresh from winning the singing contest?

SandyR - Posted - 10/16/2009:  21:46:22

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To help bring this thread back where it started, I'll add a little vignette about Earl and Bill while we're waiting for Doug to get well and write some more of his great reminiscences.

In the '90s I was invited to one of Bill's birthday parties (possibly his 83rd), thrown by Julia LaBella out at his Tennessee farm. When I got there, lots of people (Del McCoury Band and others) were holding forth, over a sound system Julia had arranged for, on the big porch. A car drove up and Earl got out. Alone. I was sitting at a far picnic table while the music was playing. Earl doesn't really know me; I've been to their house twice, in the '60s, but they've had so many "pilgrims" over the years, there would be no way for him to remember everyone. He walked over where I was and sat down, politely asking if he could. There was nobody else at the table and we didn't say much ...just listened while the band played. Bill may have gotten up to sing one with them, I don't really recall. Julia came over and asked Earl if he was going to play, and he said no, he had just wanted to come over. Earl really and truly seemed like he just wanted to be there, and nothing more. After the music, they had a big cake-cutting. Somebody put two canvas chairs together in the yard and Bill and Earl sat side by side (really close together), eating cake and receiving fans. I took a snapshot of them. It was all totally natural...matter-of-fact..."piece of cake." It was also clear to me that Earl didn't drive over there on that mid-September day out of any sense of obligation or, really, with any special agenda other than responding to a friendly invitation and wanting to express his own collegial feeling. It told me something.

fgodbey - Posted - 10/16/2009:  21:56:23

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At that time I'm pretty sure Connie was still a featured staff singer at Frontier Ranch; had not yet been discovered by Anderson, or at least not yet lured to Nashville. Also on the show would have been regulars Penny Wilson, another fine singer, and her brother, Leslie, who was a talented banjo player. "Cousin" Roy Stingley was the MC at Frontire Ranch's Sunday shows during this era. He fronted the house band, sang a little & held (without putting much force into it) a D-28. He was also a DJ on WHOK in Lancaster, Ohio... his theme music was "Groundspeed" Later on he dropped the "Cousin" and relocated to WJJD in Chicago.

I remember the gold banjo. We had a brief chat that day, a little bit about the banjo & I asked you if the wild-haired fellow I'd been seeing on the posters was the same Jerry Garcia you'd been travelling with earlier; you said it was. You asked me about the music scene in Columbus, and I probably said there was a lot going on... we had Sid Campbell, John Hickman, Robby Robinson, the Salyers Brothers, several Brickeys, and a host of other good pickers in clubs around town. And Bill Monroe was a regular in the area, usually with at least one new member at each appearance. Columbus was very bluegrass-friendly in those days.

Here are some other regulars around town, Ralph, Carter & George, with a couple of house-band ringers, May 1966:


Sorry if I've drifted a little from the topic... it just seemed a natural way to go.
--Frank

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Edited by - fgodbey on 10/16/2009 21:57:26

f5loar - Posted - 10/16/2009:  22:11:42

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Wow! The Stanley Bros. with a drummer. I bet that didn't happen very often.

Tom Isenhour