Strictly Country Magazine logo

Loading...
Only days until Strictly Country closes for good!
Please shop now!

Strictly Country is now closed. However, we are still fulfilling orders.
Please make your selection and purchases ASAP.
This site is slated permanently shut down on APRIL 15, 2024.

Welcome

Bill Monroe - book "Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life of Bill Monroe" by Richard D. Smith

More Views

Bill Monroe - book "Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life of Bill Monroe" by Richard D. Smith

Regular Price: $9.95

Special Price $4.98

Availability: In stock

Book.

Only 1 left

  • OR
    Description

    Details

    Can't You Hear Me Callin'
    The Life of Bill Monroe
    Father of Bluegrass
    by Richard D. Smith

    Elvis Presley chose one of his songs, "Blue Moon of Kentucky," for his first single. A young Jerry Garcia traveled cross-country to audition for his band. Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, and even Frank Sinatra were fans. Considering the range of stars and styles that claim him as an influence, no single artist has had as broad an impact on American popular music as Bill Monroe.

    Born in 1911 in rural Kentucky, Monroe melded the fiddle tunes, ballads, and blues of his youth into the "high lonesome" sound known today as bluegrass, making him perhaps, the only performer to create an entire musical genre. His distinctive bluegrass style profoundly influenced country, early rock'n'roll, and the folk revival of the 1960s. A Grand Ole Opry star for almost sixty years, Monroe was a searing mandolinist who redefined the instrument, a haunting high-range vocalist, and a godlike figure to generations of admirers who became famous in their own right.

    When Monroe died in 1996, he was universally acclaimed as "the Father of Bluegrass," but the personal life of this taciturn figure remained largely unknown. His childhood feelings of isolation and abandonment - "lonesomeness" he called it - fueled his reckless womanizing in adulthood and inspired his most powerful compositions. From his professional breakthrough in the Monroe Brothers duet act to his bitter rivalry with former sidemen Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs to his final days as a revered elder statesman of bluegrass, Monroe's career was filled with trials and triumphs. Now, veteran bluegrass journalist Richard D. Smith has interviewed a multitude of Monroe's surviving friends, lovers, colleagues, and contemporaries to creat a three-dimensional portrait of this brilliant, complex, and contradictory man. Compellingly narrated and thoroughly researched, "Can't You Hear Me Callin'" is the definitive biography of a true giant of American music.

    Printed in 2000, this hard cover book is sold used in great condition with original dust cover.
    Reviews

    Product Tags

    Use spaces to separate tags. Use single quotes (') for phrases.

    Image: bridge.jpg
    Image: leaf.jpg
    Image: road.jpg
    Image: sea.jpg
    Image: shelter.jpg
    Image: tree.jpg

    © 1993 - 2024 Strictly Country
    All Items contained on this site may not be used without written permis
    sion
    from Strictly Country Magazine.
    All Rights Reserved

          This site protected by AlgizLokey