Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe

Sometime in the '80's I happened to inadvertently catch Ricky Skaggs on one of the country music award shows picking acoustic guitar at a frightening clip. This was long before I had any real interest in country music, but it made a lasting impression. I made a mental note to check this guy out sometime. Fast forward to the end of the '90's when I got my first in-car cd player. Wanting to expand my horizons I started checking out all kinds of cds from my local public library. As I was thumbing through the country files one day I came across some of Ricky Skagg's work and that little note I'd filed away in my mind came to the fore. I started listening to his stuff and for the most part loved it all. This was about the time he'd abandoned main stream country in favor of returning to his Bluegrass roots. My favorite Ricky Skaggs album is the one pictured above. It's Bluegrass to be sure, as it's a tribute to the father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, but it's also pretty progressive in style and sound with the inclusion of many artists not normally associated with Bluegrass like Bruce Hornsby, John Fogerty, Joan Osborne and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Most of the other contributors are pulled from mainstream country and most likely have some past association with Bluegrass. These would include: Steve Wariner, The Dixie Chicks, Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels and Dwight yoakam. The remaining artists have a closer association with Bluegrass. They are Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless and The Whites. Dolly had recently changed course like Ricky having done her own Bluegrass album, The Grass Is Blue. She went on to record Little Sparrow, one of the best Bluegrass albums around! Patty would also shortly make a return to her roots with the superb Bluegrass album Mountain Soul. The Whites consist of Buck White and his two daughters, Sharon and Cheryl and while they're style isn't strictly Bluegrass, they are far more rootsy than your typical country group which would explain their inclusion in the movie O Brother Where Art Thou. That movie had a profound effect on the current popularity of Bluegrass and roots music in general. Another bit of trivia, Ricky is married to Sharon White. Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe was released in 2000 under Ricky Skaggs own record label, Skaggs Family Records. It was re-released under the Lyric Street label in 2002 as Ricky Skaggs and Friends Sing The Songs of Bill Monroe. I purchased the latter version as the original wasn't available when I went looking for it after playing the library copy to death. The only difference between the two versions, aside from the cool cover art of the original, is the inclusion of the extra track Uncle Pen on the Lryic Street cd. There's not a bad track on this cd. Many of these artists are favorites in their own right, so I was quite happy to see their appearance here. Ricky takes part on every track. Most feature his vocals and his excellent mandolin playing. My favorite cut of all is Walk Softly On This Heart of Mine with the Dixie Chicks. The Chicks come from a rootsy background, so this song fits like a glove. I can't get enough of it! As you would expect, the musicianship is excellent on all tracks. If you haven't heard this album, get yourself a copy. You won't regret it!

Rats! I forgot that I'm now rating albums. I'm giving Big Mon 3.5 stars.