William Smith Monroe (September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American musician who helped develop the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Gra . .   Expand    Wikipedia

William Smith Monroe (September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American musician who helped develop the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. He is often referred to as The Father of Bluegrass. Monroe was born on his family's farm near Rosine, Kentucky, the youngest of eight children of James Buchanan "Buck" Monroe and Malissa Vandiver Monroe. Malissa and her brother, Pendleton "Pen" Vandiver, were both musically inclined, and Monroe and his siblings grew up playing and singing music in the home. Because his older brothers Birch and Charlie had already laid claim to the fiddle and guitar, respectively, young Bill was left with the smaller and less desirable mandolin during family picking sessions. Monroe later recalled that his brothers insisted that he remove four of the eight strings from the instrument so that he would not play too loudly.

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