Release Date: 1973.
Recording Time: 75 minutes.
Release Info: Live Recording.
Recording Date: 1973.
Styles: Bluegrass, Traditional Bluegrass, Folk Blues.
There is very little in the world quite like a good, live bluegrass album, and this is as good as it gets. The album was recorded in 1973 at the seventh annual Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, IN, and features, alongside Monroe, most of the greats of early bluegrass, still kicking in the 1970s - Jim and Jesse, Jimmy Martin, James Monroe, Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass, and 12 of the period's greatest fiddlers. The only notably absent figures of the classic bluegrass canon are the Stanley Brothers and Earl Scruggs; Carter Stanley died in 1966, and Scruggs, who had recently broken from Flatt to pursue more "modern" sounds in bluegrass music, was still getting the silent treatment from Monroe for leaving his Bluegrass Boys in the first place. Curly Ray Cline, Clarence "Tater" Tate, Tex Logan, Kenny Baker, and the other eight fiddlers play simultaneously on three instrumental standards, "Soldier's Joy," "Grey Eagle," and "Down Yonder," backing Monroe on the album's final track, a lively and unforgettable "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." The music is played, for the most part, at a tightly reined turbo speed and, along with the steady claps and yells and sure-enough screams of an enormously rowdy audience, makes for about the most exciting 75 minutes of music imaginable. Bean Blossom captures the true, original spirit of the music created by Monroe as much or more than any other album, and provides a sturdy backbone to any bluegrass collection. ~ Burgin Mathews
Credits: Johnny Bond - composer; Jimmie Davis - composer; Lloyd Ellis - composer; Monroe Fields - composer; Byron Gregory - composer; Howard Hausey - composer; Don Helms - composer; Paul Henning - composer; Leon Jackson - composer; Charlie Louvin - composer; Ira Louvin - composer; Harry McAuliffe - composer; Bill Monroe - composer, mandolin, primary artist, vocals; Charlie Monroe - composer; Jimmie Rodgers - composer; Ervin T. Rouse - composer; Carl Sauceman - composer; Juanita Southern - composer; Gene Sullivan - composer; Merle "Red" Taylor - composer; Traditional - composer; George Vaughn - composer; Wiley Walker - composer; Doyle Wilburn - composer; Teddy Wilburn - composer.
Tracklist:
- A1a. Introduction By Hairl Hensley - WSM [Radio Call Letters] - Hairl Hensley
- A1b. Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8) - Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
- A2a. Introduction Of The Bluegrass Boys - Unknown Artist
- A2a. You Won't Be Satisfied That Way - Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
- A3a. Uncle Pen - Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
- A4a. Blue Moon Of Kentucky - Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
- A5a. Introduction Of Jim And Jesse - Unknown Artist
- A5a. Ole Slew-Foot - Jim & Jesse And The Virginia Boys
- A6a. Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes - Jim & Jesse And The Virginia Boys
- B1a. Introduction Of The Virginia Boys - Unknown Artist
- B1b. Please Be My Love - Jim & Jesse And The Virginia Boys
- B2a. I Wish You Knew - Jim & Jesse And The Virginia Boys
- B3a. Introduction Of James Monroe - Unknown Artist
- B3b. Love, Please Come Home - James Monroe
- B4a. Train 45 - James Monroe
- B5a. Bonny - James Monroe
- B6a. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again - James Monroe
- C1a. Introduction Of Jimmy Martin - Unknown Artist
- C1b. Hit Parade Of Love - Jimmy Martin And The Sunny Mountain Boys
- C2a. Mary Ann - Jimmy Martin And The Sunny Mountain Boys
- C3a. Sunny Side Of The Mountain - Jimmy Martin And The Sunny Mountain Boys
- C4a. Free Born Man - Jimmy Martin And The Sunny Mountain Boys
- C5a. Tennessee - Jimmy Martin And The Sunny Mountain Boys
- C6a. Introduction Of Lester Flatt - Unknown Artist
- C6b. Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms - Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass
- C7a. Feudin' Banjos - Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass
- C8a. Ballad Of Jed Clampett - Lester Flatt &, The Nashville Grass
- D1a. Introduction By Billy Cole - WHO [Radio Call Letters] - Billy Cole
- D1b. Roll On Buddy - Bill Monroe And James Monroe
- D2a. I Wonder Where You Are Tonight - Bill Monroe And Jim & Jesse
- D3a. Orange Blossom Special - Carl Jackson
- D4a. Fiddler Roll Call - Unknown Artist
- D4b. Down Yonder - Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys
- D5a. Soldier's Joy - Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys
- D6a. Grey Eagle - Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys
- D7a. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys
Recorded at Bill Monroe's 7th Annual Bluegrass Festival - 1973.