The Monroe Brothers

Band · Active 1934–1938 · Rosine, Kentucky
Gospel Old-Time (Traditional)

The Monroe Brothers — Charlie Monroe on guitar and lead vocals, Bill Monroe on mandolin and tenor — were one of the most important brother duets of the 1930s and the immediate predecessor to bluegrass. Their 60 sides for RCA's Bluebird label between 1936 and 1938, cut mostly in Charlotte, North Carolina, fused driving mandolin-and-guitar string-band sound with close gospel harmony and established the repertoire that later bluegrass musicians would build from.

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  • Youngest of eight children on a farm near Rosine, Kentucky; Charlie (b. 1903) and Bill (b. 1911) joined older brother Birch in Chicago-area industrial work around 1929, then began playing dances, then radio.
  • Performed as a duo starting around 1934 on a circuit of sponsored radio shows for Texas Crystals and Crazy Crystals across the Midwest and Carolinas, working stations in Shenandoah IA, Omaha, Columbia SC, Greenville SC, Charlotte, and Raleigh.
  • Signed by Bluebird A&R man Eli Oberstein in February 1936; recorded their first ten sides in Charlotte on February 17, 1936, opening with “My Long Journey Home.”
  • The gospel single “What Would You Give in Exchange for Your Soul?” (Bluebird B-6309) from that first session became one of the biggest-selling records in the South in the 1930s.
  • Cut a total of 60 sides in six Bluebird sessions held in Charlotte and in San Antonio, Texas, between February 1936 and January 28, 1938. Much of this material — “Roll On, Buddy,” “Nine Pound Hammer,” “On Some Foggy Mountain Top,” “Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms” — became foundational bluegrass repertoire.
  • Split in the summer of 1938 in Raleigh over musical direction: Charlie preferred the old-time duet sound, Bill wanted drive and a full band. Charlie formed the Kentucky Pardners (which later employed a young Lester Flatt); Bill formed the Kentucky Blue Grass Boys the following year.
  • Rounder issued the complete Bluebird recordings on two volumes — What Would You Give in Exchange for Your Soul? and Just a Song of Old Kentucky — in the 1970s and 80s.
  • Bill Monroe
    Played on recordings with The Monroe Brothers
  • Charlie Monroe
    Played on recordings with The Monroe Brothers

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