Volume MMVI • Number 2 • April-June 2006 - Nashville Musicians ...

April-June 2006 The Nashville Musician 15
band backing James.
“I’ve had some great players. You know,
Alan O’Bryant, now with the Nashville
Bluegrass Band, and Joe Isaacs, who started
the talented Isaacs group, were once band
members. But they’re only a small part of
the players I’ve had over the years, and it’s
a great thing to know you’ve helped people
get started in this business. I’m proud they
were all part of my Midnight Ramblers.”
Does it bug the tall, smoky-haired entertainer
to have journalists bring up the Bill
Monroe name in interviews?
“I love to talk about my Daddy. I don’t
mind that at all.”
How did he cope with growing up in
the shadow of the famed Monroes?
“Well there was really only Dad and
Charlie. Birch retired long before I was born
(1934). I liked him a lot. He was a good
man and I helped him cut a fiddle out one
time. I played the bass for him. Some of my
other uncles I don’t remember too well.
They died when I was a young boy.
“Charlie was a good entertainer and a
fine singer, but I think not the great talent
my father was. They were both giants of
sorts in the business. But, I just did it my
own way when I left my dad (in 1970). I
loved my people. I learned from them. And
it didn’t really intimidate me too much.
“It was the audience out there that I really
had to prove myself to, because of who
I was. I mean they expected more of me. I
had learned to entertain from my father and
just kept at it until I got good at what I did.
That’s just how it was. It was a wonderful
family and music was around me all my
life.”
Having interviewed Bill Monroe in the
past, it was interesting to hear James’
clipped conversational style, so reminiscent
of his father’s speech.
During several years touring with Bill,
James has a lot of anecdotes about the legendary
performer who was as demanding
of bandmembers as of himself.
“I remember playing Carnegie Hall in
New York, and how concerned we bandsmen
were. There was me and Peter Rowan
(guitarist), Richard Greene (fiddle) and
Lamar Grier (banjo) and Dad gave us a little
bit of a pep talk. He said, ‘Just play it the
way you learned it and it’ll come out competent.’
It was great and the acoustics are
so marvelous there.”
He also liked playing in Canada.
“The Canadians always seemed to love
our music. We used to play package shows
up there with Opry artists like Jim Ed
(Brown) and Jean Shepard, and also with
Johnny Paycheck, playing to packed houses.
I haven’t been up there in a long time.”
These days, James & The Midnight
Ramblers restrict their playdates: “We’ve
cut way back, down to about 40 shows a
year. Even 40 dates will put you out there
about 80 days, countin’ travel time. We used
to hit the road about 150 days a year, but I
don’t want to do that no more.”
James, now 65, has noted a number of
industry changes in recent years, mostly
positive: “It’s a pretty big bluegrass base out
there considering there are many more radio
stations playing bluegrass, and some of
the number one country stations are programming
some bluegrass. That’s good.
“Alison Krauss has helped, too. The film
and soundtrack ‘Oh Brother Where Art
Thou?’ helped a lot. Rhonda Vincent is coming
up fast. She’s got Martha White (Flour)
sponsoring her tours. They helped Flatt &
Scruggs in the old days. Hey, I just heard
that Standard Candy Company has left the
Opry. You know, Goo Goo Candy Bars.
Why that’s after 45 or 50 years on WSM.
That’s a big loss there.
“And it’s not like it used to be, where
major labels had it all. Today, you’ve got
smaller labels scoring. I have my own label,
and I’ve had it for the past 15 years. It’s
called Raintree Records. That was my
mother’s favorite film (MGM’s ‘Raintree
County,’ 1957), so I named it that in honor
of her. It’s nice having your own label. I get
to do what I want to do.”
James also pointed out that Billboard, the
trade weekly, now carries a bluegrass chart:
“That’s another big breakthrough right
there. Amen.”
Monroe doesn’t always strive for the
bluegrass charts: “My stuff leans a little bit
into country, with my voice and some of the
songs that I pick. I guess that sets me apart
a little, you know, different than the others
out there. It even sets me apart from my dad
on some things.”
For five years running, James used to
headline a memorial show for his father in
his hometown of Rosine, Ky., but will now
concentrate on the Franklin festival.
“I live on two or three acres in
Hendersonville. But we still own the Uncle
Pen property in Rosine. He (Pendleton
Vandiver) was my great uncle, but he helped
raise my daddy. I want to rebuild that the
way it was when my dad lived there with
his Uncle Pen.”
James, like his dad, is also divorced. and
has children: “My singing son will be with
me at my park. But, he don’t want to play
the road and wants to stay close to home.
But if you want to make it in this business,
you’ve got to hit the highway.
“It’s wonderful to carry on and keep the
Monroe name out there,” James adds. “Oh,
I’m not trying to get my records played like
I used to, but it’s good to start projects where
you’re able to bring the fan base to you, like
at the new campgrounds and theater.”
On his father’s tombstone, James had
these words inscribed: “Walk softly around
this grave for my father Bill Monroe rests
here, as the Blue Moon of Kentucky shines
on.”
Monroe was saddened by the recent
death of writer-historian Charles Wolfe: “He
and I were working on a book together. But
we never did get it out. There was another
book on my father out back then (‘Can’t You
Hear Me Callin’ - The Life of Bill Monroe,
Father of Bluegrass,’ Little, Brown & Company,
2000) and a lot of things in there
weren’t true. He (Richard D. Smith) made
up some things that weren’t really right and
I told him about that. I don’t think it did all
that great.
“I still intend to do one. I’ve got a lot of
old pictures that need to be seen that haven’t
been brought out yet. I recall the 1940s’
when Lester (Flatt) and Earl (Scruggs)
would come out to the house. I can go back
that far with my memory. I remember Carter
Stanley when he was with my dad. Then
there was Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman,
Gordon Terry, Rudy Lyle, all those greats
coming out to our place.”
Another project that’s close to his heart
is an annual Christmas show, explains
James: “Yes, we have a benefit every Christmas
for underprivileged kids. It’s a free
thing for us to do, but I’m gonna try and
bring other acts in.
“We also have a Bill Monroe Scholarship
at Belmont University,” he concludes.
“ And I want to start a James Monroe Scholarship
at Western Kentucky University for
music students. Those are my goals.”
‘It’s wonderful to
carry on and keep the
Monroe name out
there . . . ’
Watch for our feature on session
fiddler Glen Duncan in the next
issue of The Nashville Musician!
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