What do you think?
Rate this book
Bill Monroe: The Life and Music of the Blue Grass Man
From cradle to great, the comprehensive real story of Bill Monroe
The Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe was a major star of the Grand Ole Opry for over fifty years; a member of the Country Music, Songwriters, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame; and a legendary figure in American music. This authoritative biography sets out to examine his life in careful detail--to move beyond hearsay and sensationalism to explain how and why he accomplished so much.
Former Blue Grass Boy and longtime music journalist Tom Ewing draws on hundreds of interviews, his personal relationship with Monroe, and an immense personal archive of materials to separate the truth from longstanding myth. Ewing tells the story of the Monroe family's musical household and Bill's early career in the Monroe Brothers duo. He brings to life Monroe's 1940s heyday with the Classic Bluegrass Band, the renewed fervor for his music sparked by the folk revival of the 1960s, and his declining fortunes in the years that followed. Throughout, Ewing deftly captures Monroe's relationships and the personalities of an ever-shifting roster of band members while shedding light on his business dealings and his pioneering work with Bean Blossom and other music festivals.
Filled with a wealth of previously unknown details, Bill Monroe offers even the most devoted fan a deeper understanding of Monroe's towering achievements and timeless music.
The Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe was a major star of the Grand Ole Opry for over fifty years; a member of the Country Music, Songwriters, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame; and a legendary figure in American music. This authoritative biography sets out to examine his life in careful detail--to move beyond hearsay and sensationalism to explain how and why he accomplished so much.
Former Blue Grass Boy and longtime music journalist Tom Ewing draws on hundreds of interviews, his personal relationship with Monroe, and an immense personal archive of materials to separate the truth from longstanding myth. Ewing tells the story of the Monroe family's musical household and Bill's early career in the Monroe Brothers duo. He brings to life Monroe's 1940s heyday with the Classic Bluegrass Band, the renewed fervor for his music sparked by the folk revival of the 1960s, and his declining fortunes in the years that followed. Throughout, Ewing deftly captures Monroe's relationships and the personalities of an ever-shifting roster of band members while shedding light on his business dealings and his pioneering work with Bean Blossom and other music festivals.
Filled with a wealth of previously unknown details, Bill Monroe offers even the most devoted fan a deeper understanding of Monroe's towering achievements and timeless music.
656 pages, Hardcover
First published September 7, 2018
18 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 26, 2018
Probably the definitive biography written on "the father of Bluegrass." Tom Ewing was lead singer and guitarist for Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys for ten years and is also a respected music journalist. Having full access to Bill Monroe's papers and the many friends and still-living witnesses to his life has given the author a unique and personal perspective on his life. There are many details here not found in any other source and his detailed musical knowledge also sheds light on the music itself. This is the prime source for anyone wishing to understand Bill Monroe and his music. - BH.
October 30, 2018
Tom Ewing’s Bill Monroe:The Life and Music of The Blue Grass Man (University Illinois Press, 2018, 656 pages, $34.95, 19.95) is a huge piece of Monroe scholarship bringing together a range of sources testifying to the hard work and thoroughness of the author. At this point, and until further work is done, it must stand as the definitive biography of the Father of Bluegrass, whose long, complicated life, background, musical genius, along some of his flaws, are carefully, thoughtfully, and exhaustively documented.
Perhaps the strongest portions of the book are the painstakingly assembled history of Monroe’s genealogy, the account of his difficult childhood during which his development was affected by his poor eyesight, and the transformative power of music in his life. Along with this, Ewing establishes a picture of the hardship and hard physical labor which helped to establish Monroe’s legendary stamina and work ethic. The author is always careful to place the arc of Monroe’s life within the context of important national news events of the times as well as milestones in music’s development and change through the decades. This practice helps provide context and texture to the story as well as, sometimes, explaining choices that Monroe made or was forced to accept.
Organized into ten chapters with each but the first covering a decade of Monroe’s life, Ewing has gone to great lengths to detail appearances, recording sessions, members of the band and the hazards of travel. For many readers these almost day-by-day accounts of where Monroe was, the difficulty of getting there, the fluidity of members moving through the band, and other massing of detail will provide the literary fodder they crave. Many important mileposts are signaled by boldface headings within chapters, but turn out to take a paragraph or less to cover before Ewing moves on to greater masses of detail. Some readers might prefer further analysis of how events may have influenced decisions and actions Monroe took.
The book contains extensive evidence of Bill Monroe’s efforts to both protect “his” music and to encourage musicians influenced by his music to find their own mode of expression. For instance, in 1941 the first case is described of a mandolin player being told to not play like Monroe, but rather develop his own style. Stories from every era afterwards repeat this story in one way or another as Monroe taught, changed, and protected his music. Many fine and, later, well-known musicians, got their start with him, while others were initially drawn to his style of music from seeing him or hearing him on the radio and in recordings. He came, however, to view many of these emerging bands, which would become iconic in their own right, as competitors of “his” music.
Monroe was always careful to seek to protect his own music while, simultaneously being aware of changes in popular music. The longevity of his career speaks to both his stubborn insistence on his own vision along with a willingness to bend to changes in popular music when times demanded it, at least until he began to institutionalize his own music as he grew old and became recognized as the Father of Bluegrass Music. At one recording session in 1958, Red Cravens remarked to Bill that he ought to play more old songs. He reported Bill as saying, “That’s in the past...You got to keep looking forward….Don’t look back.” (200) Monroe appears always to have been watching what was happening in music, adapting to current styles and trends, and reflecting them in his music. His adopting Elvis Presley’s interpretation of his Blue Moon of Kentucky is perhaps the best example of this.
Monroe’s complex and varied relationships with women are dealt with extensively, but not with any particular depth of understanding or analysis, which they deserve. Similarly his feuds with Flatt & Scruggs as well as others he seems to have thought were riding on his reputation deserve further analysis. Monroe’s successful efforts to keep Jimmy Martin from being made a member of the Grand Old Opry, perhaps because of his pursuit of Bill’s daughter Melissa, deserve further explication. Similarly, Bill’s relationship with his son James is complex and costly to him.
One of the great virtues of Ewing’s book is the connection he continually makes between Monroe and other seminal figures in the history of bluegrass who all seem to come into contact with Monroe at some point, influencing him and being influenced by him. This includes not only musicians, but entrepreneurs (Ralph Rinzler & Carlton Haney), scholars (Neil Rosenberg and Fred Bartenstein), venues (New River Ranch, Sunset Park, Brown County Jamboree, The Grand Old Opry), and so-on. By pulling this all together, Ewing firmly cements Monroe’s place in music history in huge, sometimes tiresome, but always useful, detail. Perhaps the sheer length of Monroe’s life and his vast importance keep a single volume account from ever being entirely satisfactory or a single review from covering it adequately. My own notes contain over 6,000 words.
Tom Ewing served as the last lead singer and guitarist in the Blue Grass Boys during the period 1986 – 1996, also appearing on three albums. He attended Ohio State University, earning degrees in journalism and education. He has written extensively about Bill Monroe as well as writing a column for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine. He has been a founder or a member of several bands devoted to either playing Monroe’s music or emulating his style.
Tom Ewing has written a comprehensive and detailed, almost encyclopedic, account of Bill Monroe’s life and times, including extensive notes and index. It offers insights into Monroe’s behavior while generally leaving it to the reader to draw conclusions about their meaning. This quality is both an asset and a liability to this book, but perhaps Ewing’s decisions are sound, while much more remains to be written to fully encompass this brilliant, crusty, strong, and needy man whose musical influence continues to be felt, even after nearly one hundred years of its first emergence. The University of Illinois Press provided me a hard back copy of Tom Ewing’s Bill Monroe:The Life and Music of The Blue Grass Man (University Illinois Press, 2018, 656 pages, $34.95, 19.95).
Perhaps the strongest portions of the book are the painstakingly assembled history of Monroe’s genealogy, the account of his difficult childhood during which his development was affected by his poor eyesight, and the transformative power of music in his life. Along with this, Ewing establishes a picture of the hardship and hard physical labor which helped to establish Monroe’s legendary stamina and work ethic. The author is always careful to place the arc of Monroe’s life within the context of important national news events of the times as well as milestones in music’s development and change through the decades. This practice helps provide context and texture to the story as well as, sometimes, explaining choices that Monroe made or was forced to accept.
Organized into ten chapters with each but the first covering a decade of Monroe’s life, Ewing has gone to great lengths to detail appearances, recording sessions, members of the band and the hazards of travel. For many readers these almost day-by-day accounts of where Monroe was, the difficulty of getting there, the fluidity of members moving through the band, and other massing of detail will provide the literary fodder they crave. Many important mileposts are signaled by boldface headings within chapters, but turn out to take a paragraph or less to cover before Ewing moves on to greater masses of detail. Some readers might prefer further analysis of how events may have influenced decisions and actions Monroe took.
The book contains extensive evidence of Bill Monroe’s efforts to both protect “his” music and to encourage musicians influenced by his music to find their own mode of expression. For instance, in 1941 the first case is described of a mandolin player being told to not play like Monroe, but rather develop his own style. Stories from every era afterwards repeat this story in one way or another as Monroe taught, changed, and protected his music. Many fine and, later, well-known musicians, got their start with him, while others were initially drawn to his style of music from seeing him or hearing him on the radio and in recordings. He came, however, to view many of these emerging bands, which would become iconic in their own right, as competitors of “his” music.
Monroe was always careful to seek to protect his own music while, simultaneously being aware of changes in popular music. The longevity of his career speaks to both his stubborn insistence on his own vision along with a willingness to bend to changes in popular music when times demanded it, at least until he began to institutionalize his own music as he grew old and became recognized as the Father of Bluegrass Music. At one recording session in 1958, Red Cravens remarked to Bill that he ought to play more old songs. He reported Bill as saying, “That’s in the past...You got to keep looking forward….Don’t look back.” (200) Monroe appears always to have been watching what was happening in music, adapting to current styles and trends, and reflecting them in his music. His adopting Elvis Presley’s interpretation of his Blue Moon of Kentucky is perhaps the best example of this.
Monroe’s complex and varied relationships with women are dealt with extensively, but not with any particular depth of understanding or analysis, which they deserve. Similarly his feuds with Flatt & Scruggs as well as others he seems to have thought were riding on his reputation deserve further analysis. Monroe’s successful efforts to keep Jimmy Martin from being made a member of the Grand Old Opry, perhaps because of his pursuit of Bill’s daughter Melissa, deserve further explication. Similarly, Bill’s relationship with his son James is complex and costly to him.
One of the great virtues of Ewing’s book is the connection he continually makes between Monroe and other seminal figures in the history of bluegrass who all seem to come into contact with Monroe at some point, influencing him and being influenced by him. This includes not only musicians, but entrepreneurs (Ralph Rinzler & Carlton Haney), scholars (Neil Rosenberg and Fred Bartenstein), venues (New River Ranch, Sunset Park, Brown County Jamboree, The Grand Old Opry), and so-on. By pulling this all together, Ewing firmly cements Monroe’s place in music history in huge, sometimes tiresome, but always useful, detail. Perhaps the sheer length of Monroe’s life and his vast importance keep a single volume account from ever being entirely satisfactory or a single review from covering it adequately. My own notes contain over 6,000 words.
Tom Ewing served as the last lead singer and guitarist in the Blue Grass Boys during the period 1986 – 1996, also appearing on three albums. He attended Ohio State University, earning degrees in journalism and education. He has written extensively about Bill Monroe as well as writing a column for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine. He has been a founder or a member of several bands devoted to either playing Monroe’s music or emulating his style.
Tom Ewing has written a comprehensive and detailed, almost encyclopedic, account of Bill Monroe’s life and times, including extensive notes and index. It offers insights into Monroe’s behavior while generally leaving it to the reader to draw conclusions about their meaning. This quality is both an asset and a liability to this book, but perhaps Ewing’s decisions are sound, while much more remains to be written to fully encompass this brilliant, crusty, strong, and needy man whose musical influence continues to be felt, even after nearly one hundred years of its first emergence. The University of Illinois Press provided me a hard back copy of Tom Ewing’s Bill Monroe:The Life and Music of The Blue Grass Man (University Illinois Press, 2018, 656 pages, $34.95, 19.95).
May 16, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I second what some others have said in their reviews: that this is more a chronicle than standard biography, and that you have to greatly care about the small details to read this book.
Otherwise, the book could feel tedious to you. Reading about the twenty-somethingeth recording session and the cycle of names of the band's constant turnover could feel exhausting and monotonous. It certainly helps to know a lot of the people in the bluegrass world, so that when the hundred and seventh and hundred and eighth and hundred and ninth Blue Grass Boy is introduced it's not some meaningless name to you. The book does expect some level of knowledge to readers. For instance, it'll mention the location of Jerusalem Ridge in Bill's childhood, expecting you as a reader to connect the dots with the song "Jerusualem Ridge" Bill composed many decades later. It'll name drop individuals like Bill Keith, and while still mentioning his unique banjo picking style, it's far more interesting if you're already aware of the impact Keith brought to the music world.
Granted... it's still impossible to keep up with everyone. The index becomes valuable for rechecking who the heck some dude is, that was apparently mentioned 200 pages ago, and was not re-described, amongst the flurry of constant names. Eventually you give up on remember who's playing what instrument, etc.
So. If you're looking for a more standard biography of Bill, "Can't You Hear Me Callin'" is going to be a better bet. I haven't read it yet - just skimmed a few pages.
Thankfully, I'm someone who wanted to get to the small details, every single freaking small detail, so this book was a GREAT read start to end. I felt like I was living the months and years alongside Bill. I got nearly everything I wanted to know out of Bill's life - and I'm often someone hungering for constantly more information on what I love. My poor friends can verify I've repeatedly regaled them with stories I picked up through this book. Ewing worked into being THOROUGH with this book, and the thoroughness never lags - the level of quality is constant, and begins several generations before Bill was born.
Tom Ewing presents the material in a straightforward, objective-oriented tone (perhaps casting a subtle positive framing of Bill from time-to-time). It discards a big picture framework and focuses on finer tuned facts. I would say the book focuses most on Bill's musical life and recordings. The book describes all the sessions Bill recorded, which for me allowed me to listen to Bill's music with new focuses. Ewing does a great job curating the music with short, salient observations. I frequently returned to my music library to listen to the songs Ewing just mentioned, and listen to how Scruggs WAS singing sharp on "Shining Path," or there WAS the obvious break of two spliced recordings in "Going Home," or putting new meaning to the lyrics in songs like "My Sweet Blue Eyed Darlin'."
There are many small events recorded, too, through interview quotes and basic descriptions. These give life to the everyday nuances of Bill Monroe, flesh out his personality, and provide interesting stories. I DO like learning about the little things, and there's many memorable moments in Bill's life.
Things like Bill's complicated, often eyebrow-raisingly dramatic, multi-pronged love life are presented without judgment or flourish - they're simply there to be described. Ewing doesn't go more in depth with these than something like Bill getting appendicitis when he was eleven, but the presentation of information works; the content carries itself.
I come away from this book with LOTS of takeaways. It gave me even greater respect for Bill Monroe as an artist, as a strong and stubborn man, as someone eccentric but with a gravitating, powerful presence. I can acknowledge and admonish his weak points, can see his strengths, can think holistically of how human lives cycle, and can listen to bluegrass music with even more understanding than before. Much thanks to Ewing for his labor of love. It won't be a book for everyone, but for those who want the finer proceedings of Bill's life, this is quite the book.
Otherwise, the book could feel tedious to you. Reading about the twenty-somethingeth recording session and the cycle of names of the band's constant turnover could feel exhausting and monotonous. It certainly helps to know a lot of the people in the bluegrass world, so that when the hundred and seventh and hundred and eighth and hundred and ninth Blue Grass Boy is introduced it's not some meaningless name to you. The book does expect some level of knowledge to readers. For instance, it'll mention the location of Jerusalem Ridge in Bill's childhood, expecting you as a reader to connect the dots with the song "Jerusualem Ridge" Bill composed many decades later. It'll name drop individuals like Bill Keith, and while still mentioning his unique banjo picking style, it's far more interesting if you're already aware of the impact Keith brought to the music world.
So. If you're looking for a more standard biography of Bill, "Can't You Hear Me Callin'" is going to be a better bet. I haven't read it yet - just skimmed a few pages.
Thankfully, I'm someone who wanted to get to the small details, every single freaking small detail, so this book was a GREAT read start to end. I felt like I was living the months and years alongside Bill. I got nearly everything I wanted to know out of Bill's life - and I'm often someone hungering for constantly more information on what I love. My poor friends can verify I've repeatedly regaled them with stories I picked up through this book. Ewing worked into being THOROUGH with this book, and the thoroughness never lags - the level of quality is constant, and begins several generations before Bill was born.
Tom Ewing presents the material in a straightforward, objective-oriented tone (perhaps casting a subtle positive framing of Bill from time-to-time). It discards a big picture framework and focuses on finer tuned facts. I would say the book focuses most on Bill's musical life and recordings. The book describes all the sessions Bill recorded, which for me allowed me to listen to Bill's music with new focuses. Ewing does a great job curating the music with short, salient observations. I frequently returned to my music library to listen to the songs Ewing just mentioned, and listen to how Scruggs WAS singing sharp on "Shining Path," or there WAS the obvious break of two spliced recordings in "Going Home," or putting new meaning to the lyrics in songs like "My Sweet Blue Eyed Darlin'."
There are many small events recorded, too, through interview quotes and basic descriptions. These give life to the everyday nuances of Bill Monroe, flesh out his personality, and provide interesting stories. I DO like learning about the little things, and there's many memorable moments in Bill's life.
Things like Bill's complicated, often eyebrow-raisingly dramatic, multi-pronged love life are presented without judgment or flourish - they're simply there to be described. Ewing doesn't go more in depth with these than something like Bill getting appendicitis when he was eleven, but the presentation of information works; the content carries itself.
I come away from this book with LOTS of takeaways. It gave me even greater respect for Bill Monroe as an artist, as a strong and stubborn man, as someone eccentric but with a gravitating, powerful presence. I can acknowledge and admonish his weak points, can see his strengths, can think holistically of how human lives cycle, and can listen to bluegrass music with even more understanding than before. Much thanks to Ewing for his labor of love. It won't be a book for everyone, but for those who want the finer proceedings of Bill's life, this is quite the book.
November 15, 2018
Author Tom Ewing clearly produced this book as a labor of love, but anyone who isn't a serious devotee of Bill Monroe will require a love of labor in order to read it from cover to cover. Aptly billed as a "chronicle" rather than a biography, the first 50 pages cover Monroe's ancestors and his early years; after that, the book is guided mostly by show dates, recording sessions, and band personnel changes. Ewing, himself a former Blue Grass Boy, does interweave recollections and personal material, but his work is essentially date-driven, and the mind-numbing compendium of serial facts doesn't make for casual reading.
So, should Bill Monroe be regarded primarily as a reference work? It contains an extensive index, although it is not particularly easy to use. There is, of course, an inclusive entry for "Monroe, William Smith ('Bill')", but instead of presenting the sub-topics alphabetically, it marches chronologically through the pages, thereby making it difficult to locate items of particular interest. Song titles are indexed, but there's no discography (for a superb discography and capsule chronology, see Neil V. Rosenberg and Charles K. Wolfe's The Music of Bill Monroe, from which Ewing liberally borrows).
Although Ewing attempts to situate his story in the context of world events, the result is painfully awkward given that the latter typically receive the most perfunctory descriptions. For example:
Ewing doesn't shy away from discussing Monroe's numerous affairs, but he apparently feels a need to justify them in an Epilogue -- an unfortunate decision in the era of #MeToo. The following words seem irritatingly retrogressive:
So, should Bill Monroe be regarded primarily as a reference work? It contains an extensive index, although it is not particularly easy to use. There is, of course, an inclusive entry for "Monroe, William Smith ('Bill')", but instead of presenting the sub-topics alphabetically, it marches chronologically through the pages, thereby making it difficult to locate items of particular interest. Song titles are indexed, but there's no discography (for a superb discography and capsule chronology, see Neil V. Rosenberg and Charles K. Wolfe's The Music of Bill Monroe, from which Ewing liberally borrows).
Although Ewing attempts to situate his story in the context of world events, the result is painfully awkward given that the latter typically receive the most perfunctory descriptions. For example:
Bill was probably at home on Sunday, December 7, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. On Thursday, December 11, the Day Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, Bill played in his native Ohio County, Kentucky, for the first time since doing the Opry, appearing at the high school in Horse Branch. [p. 115]
On August 7 President Lyndon Johnson asked Congress for, and was granted, unlimited authority to wage war against North Vietnam. And on August 8 the Osborne Brothers joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry. [p. 270]The author has a trove of personal material that is understandably not available to the public, but other sources that he references can be difficult to track down. For example, on pages 285 and 287 there are block quotations from Lamar Grier that are only footnoted at the end of the following paragraphs as "My Life and Times", with no place of publication given. Other footnotes refer to "Notes and Queries", which obviously point to a regular column in Bluegrass Unlimited, but there is no explanation of that fact.
Ewing doesn't shy away from discussing Monroe's numerous affairs, but he apparently feels a need to justify them in an Epilogue -- an unfortunate decision in the era of #MeToo. The following words seem irritatingly retrogressive:
Readers of this book have undoubtedly noticed Bill Monroe's ongoing involvement with women who were younger than he, and they may consider it his worst fault. It should be noted, however, that those relationships helped Bill continue to feel young and vital throughout the years we knew him, and they inspired some great love songs. [p. 469]These numerous caveats aside, Tom Ewing is to be commended for assembling a vast mountain of material into a coherent presentation. Bill Monroe was a giant in American music, inventing a new art form, perfecting it, hiring stellar musicians, and laying down a repertoire that is one for the ages. He clearly deserves a major treatise, and there's a cornucopia of information in these 600+ pages, including interesting observations on performances and recording sessions. As an avid follower of Bill Monroe, I found the book well worthwhile. Less ardent readers may profit from dipping into it, but they are likely to prefer a smoother biographical account such as Ralph D. Smith's Can't You Hear Me Callin'.
December 9, 2018
This lengthy tome is an exhaustive history of the creator of bluegrass music: Bill Monroe.
Bill Monroe was also:
a distant cousin of the fifth POTUS, James Monroe
a womanizer who preferred much younger women, and performed lots of gospel songs without irony
a cheap bandleader, who often lost good musicians because he didn't pay enough
the Ozzy Osborne of bluegrass, as in men would leave his band and then become stars in their own right
a talented performer who was less talented at investing in successful business ventures
a fan of blackface and minstrel shows, often booking them to perform along with his band early in his career
This book really gives you the good, the bad, and the ugly of Bill Monroe's life. I only wish it had more photos.
Terribly interesting if you are a fan of the genre, or a music geek. Otherwise, skip it.
Bill Monroe was also:
a distant cousin of the fifth POTUS, James Monroe
a womanizer who preferred much younger women, and performed lots of gospel songs without irony
a cheap bandleader, who often lost good musicians because he didn't pay enough
the Ozzy Osborne of bluegrass, as in men would leave his band and then become stars in their own right
a talented performer who was less talented at investing in successful business ventures
a fan of blackface and minstrel shows, often booking them to perform along with his band early in his career
This book really gives you the good, the bad, and the ugly of Bill Monroe's life. I only wish it had more photos.
Terribly interesting if you are a fan of the genre, or a music geek. Otherwise, skip it.
September 26, 2019
What a wonderful book. Bluegrass Rules! so, obviously I really enjoyed this read. Please, please, please , if you also love bluegrass music you must buy this book, not only for it's fabulous telling of Bill Monroe's life, but for the documentation of shows, recordings, tours, members of his band and much, much more. On a more personal note, it also has some stories with Gary Brewer and the Kentucky Ramblers!!!!!!!!!!! who happens to be from my little neck of the woods, Shively, Kentucky. In fact Gary Brewer and the Kentucky Ramblers just played at our wonderful public radio station WFKY 91.9 last week for their Friday show Live Lunch. BUY THE BOOK
March 21, 2024
While I did enjoy this biography, it’s exhaustive to a fault. There were times where it dragged, mainly when noting musicians leaving and joining Bill Monroe or covering all tracks recorded at specific recording sessions, but overall I appreciate that minute attention to detail. While it might not have been the most griping thing to read at times, it’s an extremely comprehensive biography (though perhaps it’d be better to refer to it as a chronicle).
June 27, 2019
This life of Bill Monroe by onetime band member Tom Ewing chronicles in great detail the life of the native Kentuckian who is known as the father of bluegrass music. With the recent resurgence of interest in traditional roots music, this biography is timely. Ewing is not always a polished writer, but his diligent, extensive research and respect for his subject combine to give a balanced picture of a hard-driving, dificult, rather solitary, and talented artist who taught many of the next generation of bluegrass musicians.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews