Bill Monroe’s mandolin playing is arguably what started bluegrass. His playing, and his vast instrumental repertoire, started developing in the 1940s—and they have defined bluegrass for the genre’s entire lifespan. In the twenty-first century, it’s still difficult to find an instrumental bluegrass album that doesn’t include a Bill Monroe instrumental. Chris Thile, Darol Anger, and naturally Noam Pikelny—the banjo mastermind behind Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe—have tackled these classic tunes and taken them into the modern era with their own personal spin. Enjoy this playlist of Bill Monroe’s instrumental tunes by modern bluegrass musicians!
Very nice sampling of Bill Monroe’s mandolin tunes living on in 21st century bluegrass. And they will CONTINUE to live. There are a couple of significant efforst underway right now to release just some of the hundreds of unrecorded Monroe instrumentals. Some of these are bound to catch on with the current generation. They just have that “hook” power!