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While many country artists have made inspirational singles or albums on an occasional specialty basis, rather like making a Christmas record, but spent most of their recording careers performing secular material, bluegrass music tends to admit religious subject matter as one of its constants, not, perhaps quite as frequent a topic as lost love, but fairly close. Thus, the Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys' entry in MCA Nashville's series of discount-priced 2004 compilations called Gospel Spirit (there are also discs by Loretta Lynn, the Statler Brothers, and Conway Twitty) is really just a distillation of some of the group's regular recordings for the most part. Among the 16 tracks, six were cut for a 1958 religious LP, I Saw the Light, but the rest, drawn from singles dating back to 1950, are just bluegrass songs that happen to treat Christian themes, starting with a version of the Carter Family's "I'm Working on a Building," cut in 1954. One gets to hear different versions of the band. The earliest track, 1950s "I'll Meet You in Church Sunday Morning," features Monroe with his brother Birch Monroe, Jimmy Martin, and Joel Price, while the I Saw the Light tracks recorded eight years later use Edd Mayfield, Bessie Mae Mauldin or Culley Holt, Kenny Baker, and Gordon Terry (with producer Owen Bradley sitting in on an un-bluegrass-like organ on "Precious Memories," "Life's Railway to Heaven," and the closing track, "Wayfaring Stranger"). But Monroe's high tenor remains distinctive, whether playing off lead vocalists Martin, Mayfield, Charlie Cline (on 1955's "Let the Light Shine Down on Me"), or even Carter Stanley (on 1951's "Get Down on Your Knees and Pray"). And the music remains true to the high-lonesome sound of Bill Monroe's bluegrass. It's just that the lyrics on these tracks are all reverent.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo
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Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Tenor, AssociatedPerformer - A.P. CARTER, ComposerLyricist - Ernie Newton, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Milton Estes, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys, MainArtist - Jimmy Martin, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Charlie Cline, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1954 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Jimmy Martin, Guitar, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Joel Price, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Birch Monroe, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1950 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Emory Gordy Jr., Producer - Jimmy Martin, Guitar, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Rudy Lyle, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Joel Price, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal)
℗ 1950 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Unknown, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Traditional, ComposerLyricist - Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Owen Bradley, Organ, AssociatedPerformer - Ernie Newton, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Tommy Jackson, Fiddle, AssociatedPerformer - Jimmy Selph, Guitar, AssociatedPerformer - Farris Coursey, Drums, AssociatedPerformer - Thomas Grady Martin, Guitar, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1951 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Gordon Terry, Fiddle, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Carter Stanley, Guitar, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys, MainArtist - Howard Watts, Bass Guitar, AssociatedPerformer - Rudy Lyle, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1951 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Traditional, ComposerLyricist - Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Ernie Newton, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Milton Estes, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Jimmy Martin, Guitar, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Charlie Cline, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1954 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Ernie Newton, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Milton Estes, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Bessie Mae Mauldin, ComposerLyricist - Jimmy Martin, Guitar, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Charlie Cline, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1954 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Bobby Hicks, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Dot Swan, ComposerLyricist - Charlie Cline, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Jackie Phelps, Guitar, AssociatedPerformer - William D. Killen, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal)
℗ 1955 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Gordon Terry, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenny Baker, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Marion Easterling, ComposerLyricist - Bessie Mae Mauldin, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Edd Mayfield, Guitar, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1958 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Gordon Terry, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Hank Williams, ComposerLyricist - Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenny Baker, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer - Bessie Lee Mauldin, Bass Guitar, AssociatedPerformer - Edd Mayfield, Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1958 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Traditional, ComposerLyricist - Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Owen Bradley, Organ, AssociatedPerformer - Kenny Baker, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Culley Holt, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Edd Mayfield, Guitar, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1958 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Owen Bradley, Organ, AssociatedPerformer - Kenny Baker, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Albert E. Brumley, Sr., ComposerLyricist - Culley Holt, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Edd Mayfield, Guitar, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1958 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Traditional, ComposerLyricist - Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Owen Bradley, Organ, AssociatedPerformer - Kenny Baker, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Culley Holt, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Edd Mayfield, Guitar, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1958 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Kenny Baker, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Johnson, ComposerLyricist - Culley Holt, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Edd Mayfield, Guitar, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1958 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Merle Travis, ComposerLyricist - Kenny Baker, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Culley Holt, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Edd Mayfield, Guitar, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1958 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Traditional, ComposerLyricist - Bill Monroe, Mandolin, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Owen Bradley, Organ, AssociatedPerformer - Kenny Baker, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Culley Holt, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, Bass (Vocal) - Edd Mayfield, Guitar, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 1958 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Album review
While many country artists have made inspirational singles or albums on an occasional specialty basis, rather like making a Christmas record, but spent most of their recording careers performing secular material, bluegrass music tends to admit religious subject matter as one of its constants, not, perhaps quite as frequent a topic as lost love, but fairly close. Thus, the Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys' entry in MCA Nashville's series of discount-priced 2004 compilations called Gospel Spirit (there are also discs by Loretta Lynn, the Statler Brothers, and Conway Twitty) is really just a distillation of some of the group's regular recordings for the most part. Among the 16 tracks, six were cut for a 1958 religious LP, I Saw the Light, but the rest, drawn from singles dating back to 1950, are just bluegrass songs that happen to treat Christian themes, starting with a version of the Carter Family's "I'm Working on a Building," cut in 1954. One gets to hear different versions of the band. The earliest track, 1950s "I'll Meet You in Church Sunday Morning," features Monroe with his brother Birch Monroe, Jimmy Martin, and Joel Price, while the I Saw the Light tracks recorded eight years later use Edd Mayfield, Bessie Mae Mauldin or Culley Holt, Kenny Baker, and Gordon Terry (with producer Owen Bradley sitting in on an un-bluegrass-like organ on "Precious Memories," "Life's Railway to Heaven," and the closing track, "Wayfaring Stranger"). But Monroe's high tenor remains distinctive, whether playing off lead vocalists Martin, Mayfield, Charlie Cline (on 1955's "Let the Light Shine Down on Me"), or even Carter Stanley (on 1951's "Get Down on Your Knees and Pray"). And the music remains true to the high-lonesome sound of Bill Monroe's bluegrass. It's just that the lyrics on these tracks are all reverent.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 16 track(s)
- Total length: 00:43:19
- Main artists: Bill Monroe
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: MCA Nashville
- Genre: Pop/Rock Pop
© 2004 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc. This Compilation ℗ 2004 MCA Nashville, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
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