Format: 2 x CD, Compilation
Country: United States
Released: 2003
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Bluegrass
[Tracklist]
1-01 New Mule Skinner Blues (02:30)
1-02 My Little Georgia Rose (03:06)
1-03 Uncle Pen (02:45)
1-04 Raw Hide (02:36)
1-05 Kentucky Waltz (03:16)
1-06 When The Cactus Is In Bloom (02:04)
1-07 Get Down On Your Knees And Pray (03:01)
1-08 In The Pines (03:11)
1-09 Footprints In The Snow (02:40)
1-10 Walking In Jerusalem (02:00)
1-11 Get Up John (02:11)
1-12 On And On (02:47)
1-13 I'm Working On A Building (2:43)
1-14 Blue Moon Of Kentucky (02:08)
1-15 Roanoke (02:39)
1-16 Goodbye Old Pal (02:04)
1-17 Molly & Tenbrooks (02:22)
1-18 I'm Sitting On Top Of The World (02:18)
1-19 I Saw The Light (02:30)
1-20 Scotland (01:55)
1-21 Panhandle Country (02:05)
1-22 Gotta Travel On (02:34)
1-23 Big Mon (02:17)
1-24 Linda Lou (02:10)
1-25 Lonesome Road Blues (02:28)
2-01 Time Changes Everything (02:15)
2-02 I'm Going Back To Old Kentucky (02:23)
2-03 Toy Heart (02:15)
2-04 Live And Let Live (02:40)
2-05 Old Joe Clark (02:24)
2-06 Columbus Stockade Blues (03:05)
2-07 Drifting Too Far From The Shore (02:29)
2-08 Somebody Touched Me (02:32)
2-09 Jimmy Brown The Newsboy (02:26)
2-10 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (02:13)
2-11 Devil's Dream (02:24)
2-12 Highway Of Sorrow (02:22)
2-13 Roll On Buddy, Roll On (02:11)
2-14 (We're Going) Just Over In The Glory Land (02:23)
2-15 Fire On The Mountain (02:05)
2-16 The Long Black Veil (02:40)
2-17 I Wonder Where You Are Tonight (02:34)
2-18 Dusty Miller (02:19)
2-19 Midnight On The Stormy Deep (03:42)
2-20 Sally Goodin (03:15)
2-21 Walls Of Time (03:19)
2-22 I Haven't Seen Mary In Years (03:04)
2-23 With Body And Soul (03:06)
2-24 Walk Softly On This Heart Of Mine (02:35)
2-25 My Last Days On Earth (04:42)
[Credits]
Bill Monroe (mandolin/vocals) James Monroe (bass/guitar/vocals) Jimmy Martin (guitar/vocals) Carter Stanley (guitar/vocals) Edd Mayfield (guitar/vocals) Del McCoury (guitar/vocals) Jimmy Maynard (guitar/vocals) Franklin G. Buchanan (guitar/vocals) Roland White (guitar/vocals) Peter Rowan (guitar/vocals) Rudy Lyle (banjo/vocals) Charlie Cline (fiddle/ocals) Kenny Baker (vocals) Boudleaux Bryant (vocals) Milton Estes (vocals) Culley Holt (vocals) Arlene Hardin (vocals) Bobby Hardin (vocals) Cindy Nelson (vocals) Curtis Young (vocals) Carl Butler (guitar) Jack Cooke (guitar) Jimmy Elrod (guitar) Grady Martin (guitar) Norman Blake (guitar) Jackie Phelps (guitar) Jimmy Selph (guitar) Joe Stuart (banjo/fiddle/guitar) Hubert Davis (banjo) Joe Drumright (banjo) Tony Ellis (banjo) Lamar Grier (banjo) Lonnie Hoppers (banjo) Vic Jordan (banjo) Bill Keith (banjo) Don Lineberger (banjo) Curtis McPeake (banjo) Robert Lee Pennington (banjo) Don Stover (banjo) Rual Yarbrough (banjo) Sonny Osborne (banjo) Gordon Terry (fiddle/vocals) Vassar Clements (fiddle) Red Hayes (fiddle) Tommy Jackson (fiddle) Connie Ellisor (fiddle) Carl Gorodetzky (fiddle) Bobby Hicks (fiddle) Byron Berline (fiddle) George Binkley III (fiddle) Richard Greene & Beryl Marriott (fiddle) Dennis Molchan (fiddle) Hal Smith (fiddle) Dale Potter (fiddle) Red Stanley (fiddle) Merle "Red" Taylor (fiddle) Horace "Benny" Williams (fiddle) Tommy Williams Jr. (fiddle) Roy Christensen (cello) Joel Price (bass/vocals) Ernie Newton (bass/vocals) Mark Hembree (bass) Howard Watts (bass) Farris Coursey (drums) Joe Zinkan (bass)
Producer: Owen Bradley, Paul Cohen, Harry Silverstein and Walter Haynes, Photographer: Les Leverett, Designer: Mike Fink, Liner Notes: Mary Katherine Aldin, Engineer: Gavin Lurssen
[Notes]
So much has been said about the founding father of bluegrass music that it would be nice if there was an all-encompassing collection of Bill Monroe's music to accompany the legend. Although the almost-correctly titled Anthology comes close, there is still a wealth of Columbia and RCA-Victor recordings missing from this Decca-centric collection, which runs chronologically from 1950 to 1969 (with one final track from 1981). Unfortunately, this means that the classic lineup of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, with fiddler Chubby Wise and bassist Howard Watts, is not represented. Still, bluegrass luminaries Vassar Clements, Jimmy Martin, Kenny Baker, Del McCoury, Peter Rowan, and many others, all drifted in and out of the Blue Grass Boys during their twenty-some years, and make appearances on classic tracks like "Sally Goodin," "Uncle Pen," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and "New Mule Skinner Blues." All told, this may be the perfect collection of Monroe's work for Decca, but it falls only slightly short of being the Bill Monroe Anthology.-- AllMusic Review by Zac Johnson
