Bluegrass Special, recorded in 1963 for Decca, finds Bill Monroe refining the sound he had spent nearly two decades developing into one of the most precise and imitated forms in American vernacular music. Monroe's mandolin work is characteristically authoritative — percussive, rhythmically driving, melodically inventive — and the Bluegrass Boys of this period were a well-drilled unit capable of supporting his vision without diluting it. "Columbus Stockade Blues" is an older Southern folk piece that Monroe could make entirely his own through sheer force of interpretive will. The album documents the music's father in the middle of his long career, secure in his achievement and still creatively engaged.
Tracklist
- 1 Blue Ridge Mountain Blues alt version 3:21
- 2 Columbus Stockade Blues Source Recording 3:03
- 3 There was nothing we could do 2:32
- 4 I was left on the street 2:42
- 5 Big Sandy River alt version 3:02
- 6 Cheap love affair 2:44
- 7 How will I explain about you 2:33
- 8 Foggy river 2:16
- 9 Careless Love alt version 2:38
- 10 I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry alt version 2:09
- 11 Baker's breakdown 2:10
- 12 When the bees are in the hive 2:09
