Bill Monroe Sings Country Songs with the Blue Grass Boys, released by Decca in 1964, is the kind of mid-decade LP Monroe's label produced steadily to keep his name on country racks — a program of recent Monroe sessions framed as country listening rather than the dance-hall bluegrass the band still played live. The selection draws on the smoother side of his catalog: heartbreak ballads, sentimental waltzes, and his measured baritone reads of older material, with the working Blue Grass Boys lineup behind him. Less central to his legacy than the Columbia or early Decca dates that defined the music, the album nonetheless captures Monroe at his most accessible — a deliberate handshake across country and bluegrass audiences.
Tracklist
- 1 On My Way Back to the Old Home alt version 2:32
- 2 The sailor's plea 2:36
- 3 When the cactus is in bloom 2:03
- 4 The Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake alt version 3:48
- 5 Peach pickin' time in Georgia 2:18
- 6 Used to Be alt version 2:07
- 7 Out in the Cold World alt version 3:10
- 8 Close By alt version 2:32
- 9 New John Henry blues 2:29
- 10 A lonesome road (to travel) 2:40
- 11 When the phone rang 3:08
- 12 No one but my darlin' 2:05