Bill Monroe and Friends (MCA Records MCA-5435) was released in 1983. Monroe and his band recorded it at Burns Station Sound in Burns, Tennessee, in sessions between December 1982 and May 1983, and each of the ten tracks has a guest singer: the Oak Ridge Boys on “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” Willie Nelson on “The Sunset Trail,” Ricky Skaggs on “My Sweet Darlin’,” Johnny Cash on “I Still Miss Someone,” Emmylou Harris on “Kentucky Waltz,” Barbara Mandrell on “My Rose of Old Kentucky,” Larry, Rudy and Steve Gatlin on “Is the Blue Moon Still Shining,” Waylon Jennings on “With Body and Soul,” John Hartford on “Old Riverman” and Mel Tillis on “My Louisiana Love.” Monroe sings lead on “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “Kentucky Waltz” and the harmony part on most of the others.
Monroe plays mandolin. The core band is Wayne Lewis on guitar, Blake Williams on banjo, Kenny Baker and Buddy Spicher on fiddles and Mark Hembree on bass, with extra guitarists on various tracks (Joe Stuart, Charlie Collins, Dale Sellers, Gary Scruggs and Kenneth W. Lewis) and Hoot Hester on fiddle on one. Nelson plays guitar on his track, Skaggs plays guitar on his, and Mandrell is credited on dobro. “Old Riverman” was written by Monroe and Hartford, who also plays banjo on it, and “I Still Miss Someone” is by Johnny Cash and Roy Cash Jr.; “With Body and Soul” is credited to Virginia Stauffer.
Tracklist
- 1 Blue Moon of Kentucky alt version 2:07
- 2 The Sunset Trail 3:46
- 3 My sweet darlin' 2:46
- 4 I Still Miss Someone alt version 3:37
- 5 Kentucky Waltz alt version 3:15
- 6 My Rose of Old Kentucky alt version 2:55
- 7 Is the blue moon still shining 4:34
- 8 With Body and Soul alt version 3:29
- 9 Old Riverman alt version 4:03
- 10 My Louisiana love 2:46
- 11 My Sweet Blue-Eyed Darlin’ alt version
