MONROE CROSSING
FOUNDING MEMBERS of MONROE
ART BLACKBURN – Lead vocals, guitar, harmony vocals
LISA FUGLIE – Lead vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, harmony vocals
MARK ANDERSON – (Lisa’s husband) Bass, bass vocals
MATT THOMPSON – Mandolin, fiddle, harmony vocals
BENJI FLAMING - Banjo
Art Blackburn has recently retired and been replaced by a fine singer, songwriter, guitarist DEREK JOHNSON
My month - long coverage of the bands that appeared at The Aledo Bluegrass Festival Labor Day weekend ends with my favorite current bluegrass band, Monroe Crossing. They are the current leading purveyors of traditional bluegrass music a la Flatt & Scruggs, The Stanley Bros., Reno & Smiley, & their namesake, Bill Monroe.
Yet, there is more to their act than staunchly following tradition. Highlights of their stage shows and albums also include The Temptations’ “My Girl” & Etta James’ “At Last”. Their comedy shtick often includes the band playing short bursts of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me”, The Troggs’ “Wild Thing”, Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love”, Mancini’s “Baby Elephant Walk” & the music that plays whenever Darth Vader appears on screen.
Highlights of the Labor Day shows included Lisa’s take on Bill Monroe’s take on Jimmie Rodger’s “Mule Skinner Blues”, & her vocal tour de force “At Last”. The Saturday night show ended with their perennial showstopper “The Orange Blossom Special”, resulting, as usual, in a hollering and cheering standing ovation. They topped it all off with a rousing rendition of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”. Overall, their performances were much subtler & low – key than I remember them being in the past, but these guys are so brilliant that, even when they are tastefully understated, somehow their phenomenal playing ability still shines through brightly.
If you can’t see them in person any time soon, I recommend you go to their website and purchase a copy of their great DVD – the next best way of experiencing their showmanship, humor & musical virtuosity.
Happily, all ten of their CDs are available for download from iTunes. With the exception of their bizarre experiment “The World Beloved – A Bluegrass Mass”, they are all uniformly excellent. They are characterized by an endearing, gentle, folky approach. If I had to recommend ONLY ONE, I guess it would be “The Green Mossy Ground”. It contains the best mix of bluegrass standards and original compositions by the group and their friends.
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