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Bill Monroe Quotes (1911-1996)
Writer, Singer
About Bill Monroe
William 'Bill' Smith Monroe (13 September 1911 - 9 September 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter who created the style of music known as bluegrass.
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“I was brought up the best way that I could be brought up with what we had to do with. I could have had a better education, and I could have had better clothes to wear to school. I could have had a better chance, you know. But if I'd had the best education in the world, I might have not played music.”
“(When asked who the three finest old time guitarists were) Well, I would have to pick Travis, you know; I think he's a great man with his music, and there's been many a man that's copied from Merle. You know, they say he learned from a man in Kentucky. Well, I know this Mose Rager he learned from, he learned from Arnold Shultz, the man I speak of, a colored man, in playing the blues. So I think it all leads back to this old colored man back in Kentucky.”
“After Charlie [Charlie Monroe, Bill's brother] and me broke up, I was searching for a name for my group. And I wanted a name from the state of Kentucky. Before I come to WSM in Nashville - I started on WWNC, Asheville - why, I'd already decided on using the name "bluegrass," because that's what they'd call Kentucky, the Blue Grass State. So I just used "Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys," and that let people throughout the country know I was from Kentucky, saved a lot of people from having to ask me where I was from. Governor Ford, he claims I've done more than any one man for Kentucky - every time I use the word "bluegrass" it leads back to the state.”
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Alice Gerrard on Bill Monroe
About Bill Monroe
William 'Bill' Smith Monroe (13 September 1911 - 9 September 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter who created the style of music known as bluegrass.