I ran across this audio today and had to share it with you all:
This is a special segment from the Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival in 1979 where Earl Scruggs plays a few song with Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys. This is a very rare and special reunion that happened just a few months after Lester Flatt''s death.
1. Introduction
2. Molly & Tenbrooks
3. Little Joe
4. Medley consisting of Little Maggie/Brand New Pair of Shoes/Swing Low, Sweet Chariot/Cabin in Caroline/Blue Moon of Kentucky
I was there. I remember being there that year. I do not specifically remember seeing the two of them play together Because I was only eight.but I do remember that it was a big deal among the crowd that Earl Scruggs was there that year. I remember being there also because The band my brother was playing with at the time, "The Young Blades of Bluegrass" won the band contest out there at Bean Blossom that year. I can also remember being at a bluegrass festival at a jam session sitting around a campfire with my parents one night and hearing the news that Lester Flatt had died-that day.It's ironic what you can remember. Everyone was so shocked and sad to hear that news. I remember that night like it was yesterday.
Very nice comments from Bill and Earl about unmarried Earl hanging with Bill through a Christmas back when he was a BG Boy, and Monroe backing Earl on guitar on duets while the other BGBs had gone home for Christmas!
Also a mental treat to consider Earl and Kenny Baker picking on stage together!
I was fortunate enough to see/meet a lot of greats as a youth, as I was "dragged" to many festivals . Lester, Ralph, J.D., Mac, Jim & Jesse (Jesse McReynolds actually was in my stepfather's RV and listened to me play when I was about 11), and the various sidemen, including Keith Whitley, Ricky Skaggs, Vic Jordan, Garland Shuping, Kenny Ingram, etc. But I will never forget the hoopla/fanfare that accompanied seeing Bill Monroe for the first time...it was as if Elvis was there. I think it may have been Renfroe Valley '77, but I can't remember for sure, and my stepfather has passed, so I can't ask him. I remember Bill greeting my stepdad like they had known each other for years (they had only met once at a truckstop, and only then because my stepdad had a UK hat on...he was a truck driver) and for a fledgling banjo picker like myself, that was golden.
Edited by - stratovarious520 on 06/28/2017 18:29:40
. Lester, Ralph, J.D., Mac, Jim & Jesse (Jesse McReynolds actually was in my stepfather's RV and listened to me play when I was about 11), and the various sidemen, including Keith Whitley, Ricky Skaggs, Vic Jordan, Garland Shuping, Kenny Ingram, etc. But I will never forget the hoopla/fanfare that accompanied seeing Bill Monroe for the first time...it was as if Elvis was there. I think it may have been Renfroe Valley '77, but I can't remember for sure, and my stepfather has passed, so I can't ask him. I remember Bill greeting my stepdad like they had known each other for years (they had only met once at a truckstop, and only then because my stepdad had a UK hat on...he was a truck driver) and for a fledgling banjo picker like myself, that was golden.
