Bluegrass Special cover

Bluegrass Special

Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys

Album · 1963 · Decca DL 4382

Bluegrass Special was released by Decca in 1963 (DL 4382 in mono, DL 74382 in stereo). Bill Monroe recorded its twelve tracks at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville in 1962, in two groups of sessions with two different bands.

The first, on 25 and 26 April and 3 May, had Frank Buchanan on guitar, Tony Ellis on banjo, Benny Williams and Red Stanley on fiddles, and Bessie Lee Mauldin on bass. Buchanan sang lead on “Blue Ridge Mountain Blues,” “There Was Nothing We Could Do” and “Foggy River,” with Monroe singing tenor; on “Columbus Stockade Blues” Monroe and Buchanan share the lead. The second group, on 23 November and 6 December, had Joe Stuart on guitar, Lonnie Hoppers on banjo and Kenny Baker on fiddle, with Mauldin again on bass. It produced Monroe’s solo vocals on “Careless Love” and Hank Williams’s “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” and two instrumentals credited to Monroe and Baker, “Big Sandy River” and “Baker’s Breakdown.”

Tracklist

  1. 1 Blue Ridge Mountain Blues alt version 3:21
  2. 2 Columbus Stockade Blues Source Recording Jimmie Tarlton, Thomas Darby · key G · 82 bpm 3:03
  3. 3 There was nothing we could do 2:32
  4. 4 I was left on the street 2:42
  5. 5 Big Sandy River alt version 3:02
  6. 6 Cheap love affair 2:44
  7. 7 How will I explain about you 2:33
  8. 8 Foggy river 2:16
  9. 9 Careless Love alt version 2:38
  10. 10 I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry alt version 2:09
  11. 11 Baker's breakdown 2:10
  12. 12 When the bees are in the hive 2:09

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