Bill Monroe

USA, 1934–1996

American mandolinist and bandleader, known as the Father of Bluegrass. He assembled the style from old-time Appalachian music, blues and fast instrumental soloing, and his Blue Grass Boys gave the genre its name.

MusicRoots documents 2 artists who influenced Bill Monroe and 2 artists Bill Monroe influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Bill Monroe?

• Arnold Shultz — Arnold Shultz was the Black blues guitarist from Kentucky whom Monroe personally named the main musical influence of his youth.
• The Carter Family — The Carter Family were the folk canon from which Monroe drew repertoire and harmonic language in shaping bluegrass.

Which artists did Bill Monroe influence?

• Flatt and Scruggs — Both men came out of Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, where they met in 1945 and stayed three years; the music they then made on their own is what most people mean by bluegrass.
• Dolly Parton — The bluegrass side, which she kept in reserve for forty years and then made three albums of, starting with The Grass Is Blue.