How times have changed. At the end of last year we were beginning to get disturbing reports of a new virus threat, and by the spring COVID-19 had turned into a global pandemic. Those of us fortunate enough to have so far survived have huge sympathy for the people who have lost loved ones, and boundless admiration for the hospital staff who have worked so hard in very difficult circumstances to give patients the best possible treatment. It is crucial that we should all be doing our utmost to slow down and halt the spread of infection.
From what I have read on the internet the lockdown regulations in California are similar to those in the UK. As senior citizens in England my wife and I are confined to our home except for occasional visits to the local shops for essentials and half an hour of exercise per day. We can walk or cycle in the area near our house, but have to stay a minimum of 2 metres from other people and not stand around having conversations. The police have authority to tell groups to disperse. People are not allowed to gather in parks to picnic or sunbathe. For this reason many parks have been closed, and for most of us a walk in the park is not an option.
A daily walk has always been part of my routine and in these worrying times I am particularly glad of the diversion of my mp3 player. Yesterday I was marvelling again at the live recordings of Bill Monroe 1956-1969 on Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40063. The quality of the sound on all the tracks of this blast from the past is remarkable, and you are struck by how Bill Monroe is up there on stage at the front, putting his heart and soul into singing and playing his mandolin. Live performances so often have an extra vigour when the performers feel that it is just them and their audience, without the constraints of being in a recording studio. While there are many of the old favorites on these tracks, the band lineup is usually different from the classic studio recordings. We get to hear a remarkable ‘Angels Rock Me To Sleep’ from 13th May 1956, including the distinctive tone of lead singer Yates Green who was with the Blue Grass Boys at New River Ranch MD that day. And the performance of ‘Blue Grass Stomp’ at the same venue on 23rd September that year included Don Reno joining in to play a fancy banjo break and Bill responding with a cool and contrasting modal counter-melody. There are tracks from parties at Tex Logan’s house in New Jersey in 1965 and 1966 featuring various combinations of musicians relishing the challenge of ‘Let’s see what we can do with this number’. The instrumental duel between Monroe and Bill Keith playing ‘Blue Grass Breakdown’ and ‘Rawhide’ at Jordan Hall, Boston, on 31st October 1964 is the stuff of legend. The gospel highlight of the disc is, for me, the Bluegrass Quartet comprising Monroe, Mac Wiseman, Don Reno and Benny Martin singing ‘When He reached down his hand for me’. But every track sparkles. This is the disc that I would recommend for anyone as an ideal introduction to the music of Bill Monroe.
The best sets of live recordings all have this extra excitement compared with studio albums. Some of my favorites over the years have been on vinyl: The Jim and Jesse Show ‘Live In Japan’ (“They were really ON IT that night” as someone has commented on YouTube); The Johnson Mountain Boys ‘Live at the Birchmere’; and the two County LPs of ‘The Stanley Bothers on Radio’. But there are a wide range of live recordings of musical events on YouTube which are worth sifting through and adding to your collection. (And a sneaky mention for traditional jazz buffs – have a search on YouTube for some delightful New Orleans street recordings by Tuba Skinny and Loose Marbles.)
I hope that in due course we shall all be out again in the sunshine playing our music together. In the meantime keep listening as you go out for your daily exercise!
John Baldry
April 2020
