Long Journey Home

Mandolin Orange performing "Long Journey Home".

Jerusalem Ridge

Mark O'Connor, along with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, performing the Bill Monroe tune "Jerusalem Ridge".  Jerusalem Ridge is where Monroe hunted fox when he was a boy.

Lester Flatt

I am doing a second Throwback Thursday, because today would have been Lester Flatt's 100th birthday. To mark the day here are some performances.

Flatt & Scruggs - "Down the Road"



With Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys—"Will You Be Loving Another Man".



One that everybody knows—"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" with a little dance

Kids on the Stage

Ten year old Carson Peters performs "Blue Moon of Kentucky" at the Grand Ole Opry with Ricky Skaggs on mandolin.



Going back a few years, here is a seven year old Ricky Scaggs performing "Ruby" with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

Little Georgia Rose

Travis Tritt and Ricky Skaggs perform Bill Monroe's song "Little Georgia Rose".

The Wayfaring Stranger

Bill Monroe performs a solo version of "The Warfaring Stranger".

Doc Watson (1923-2012)

I am a little late with this, but here is a post with some clips of guitarist Doc Watson, who passed away last week.

"Black Mountain Rag"

"Summertime" performed with his son Merle

"Sally Goodin" with Bill Monroe

Monroe & Stanley

Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley perform "I'll Fly Away" with help from a few others.

Bill Monroe - 100

Today would have been the 100th birthday of the Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe. NPR's broadcast a remembrance of him yesterday. (Listen Here)

To mark the occasion here are a couple videos of him performing.

"Uncle Pen" - Monroe wrote this song about his Uncle Pendleton Vandiver.



"Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms", another song Monroe wrote.



In 1939 at the age of 28, Monroe joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry. The first song he ever performed there was this Jimmie Rodgers' song "Muleskinner Blues".




"Molly and Tenbrooks" - No video and Monroe did not write this, but this is one of my favorite songs that he performed, so I am posting it anyway.

Sam Bush

I am going to do five posts this week that will cover the five albums that are up for the best Bluegrass Album Grammy this year.

First up, Sam Bush's album Circle's Around Me.

Here is the title track off the album.



This is a ballad based on the true story of former Grand Ole Opry member Stringbean Akeman, "The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle".



Here is an old video of Stringbean himself performing a Bill Monroe song, "It's Mighty Dark to Travel".

Ponies

Most of my posts recently have been focused on a single artist or group, but I am going to try to start doing more posts based on a theme. Today songs about ponies.

First, Kasey Chamber's song "Pony".



Here is Lyle Lovett with "If I had a Pony".



This performance, of the Bill Monroe classic "Molly and Tenbrooks", is by a combination of two groups, Bearfoot and 49 Special. I don't know anything about 49 Special, but I did see Bearfoot perform at the Kennedy Center a while back.

Moon

Since November 2 is the full moon, I am posting a couple moon songs.

First, Cheryl Wheeler performing her song "Howl at the Moon".



Patty Griffin performing her moon song, "Moon Song".



My first choice for the last moon song would be Van Morrison's "Moondance", but all of his videos have embedding blocked. So another song just as good, Bill Monroe performing his song "Blue Moon of Kentucky".

IBMA Awards Pt. 5 - The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers

The second group to be inducted into the IBMA's Bluegrass Hall of Fame was The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers. This group was in existence form 1938-1966. It consisted of members of the Cline family as well as other individuals at different times.

I do not see any video of the group, but here an audio recording of "Windy Mountain".



Members of the group went on to play with other well known bluegrass artists. Here is a video of Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys performing the instrumental "Roanoke". One of the two fiddlers in this clip is Charlie Cline, one of the Cline brothers. The other is Bobby Hicks.



There is also a great video of Curly Ray Cline performing "Orange Blossom Special" with Ralph Stanley. That video cannot be embedded, but it is worth following this link to see it.