Charlie Monroe (1903-1975) was the older brother of bluegrass bandleader and mandolin virtuoso Bill Monroe, working with him in a popular Depression-era "brother duo" act during the 1930s. Although the Monroe Brothers was more of an old-timey group, the primal DNA of bluegrass music was definitely present in their recorded work. The Monroe Brothers split up in 1938, with each sibling starting their own independent band -- Bill Monroe created the more famous and stratospherically influential Blue Grass Boys, while Charlie Monroe named his group The Kentucky Pardners and became a fixture on regional radio and southern bandstands. Arguably, Charlie Monroe remained more of an old-timey mountain music artist, though it's also quite accurate to categorize him as a bluegrass musician. In contrast to Bill Monroe's fierce "high lonesome" sound, Charlie's work often tilted more towards more subdued, sentimental material, and relied less on flashy picking and high-octane solos. However, much like his brother's band, the Kentucky Pardners was also a proving ground for a slew of bluegrass and country soloists, notably bluegrass patriarch Lester Flatt, mandolin pioneer Red Rector and future Nashville star Ira Louvin, who had grown up as a fan of the Monroe Brothers. Though commercially successful, Charlie Monroe was clearly eclipsed by his younger brother, and retired from a professional music career in 1957, though he reunited with Bill Monroe on occasion and was drawn back into bluegrass fold during the folk music revival and the subsequent flowering of the countless bluegrass festivals that came in its wake. Here's a quick look at his work...
Discography
The Monroe Brothers "Feast Here Tonight" (RCA Bluebird, 1975) (LP)
Back before old Bill turned the crank a little faster & invented "bluegrass," he and his guitar-pickin' sibling Charlie Monroe were a Depression-era brother act, along the lines of the Blue Sky Boys and the Delmore Brothers. This hard-to-find 2-LP set is an awesome collection of their best work in the 1930s. It's a classy package, though (at last!) the dawning of the new millennium finds some of this stuff getting reissued on various CDs, which are reviewed below... This old gatefold LP is a pretty snazzy package, though... a class act.
The Monroe Brothers "Volume 1: What Would You Give In Exchange For Your Soul?" (Rounder Records, 2000)
The first of four CDs slated to reissue the entire Monroe Brothers output on the Bluebird label from 1936-39... This is dazzling stuff, the Rosetta Stone of old-timey music's evolution into bluegrass. Bill and Charlie Monroe distinguished themselves by their devotion to gospel material which, even with all the churchifyin' and preachin' going on at the time, was a still little unusual for country acts of the Depression era. And, man, were these guys good!! The 15 tracks on here have plenty of secular material as well, but all the songs are infused with Bill's stolid solemnity, the "high lonesome" sound in its infancy.
The Monroe Brothers "Volume 2: Just A Song Of Old Kentucky" (Rounder Records, 2001)
Bill Monroe & The Monroe Brothers "The Essential" (Rounder Records, 2001)
A goldmine for fans of old-timey and bluegrass music. Along with some 1940-41 tracks by the newly formed Blue Grass Boys, this disc includes several late '30s old-timey tracks by Bill and his brother Charlie, in the days before Bill jacked up the tempo and called it bluegrass. The Monroe Brothers were very similar in style and repertoire to other "brother acts" such as the Blue Sky Boys, concentrating on sentimental weepers and moralistic gospel tunes. Sadly, this disc is light on the pre-bluegrass material (which is really what makes it unique), and for the most part leaves out their gospel side. But if you want to hear the transition from the brother act material to the early bluegrass, this is a nice sample of both styles.
Charlie Monroe "I'm Old Kentucky Bound: His Recordings 1938-1956" (Bear Family Records, 2007) (LP)
Like other artists from the Depression and post-WII era, most of Charlie Monroe's career-defining work was recorded in a time before albums (or seven-inch singles!) had been invented. As a result, with the exception of a very few 1960s/early '70s LPs, most of his catalog draws from his many 78s and radio transcription discs. Time to call the folks at Bear Family! Here is the definitive, four-disc overview of Charlie Moore's solo career, spanning his first recordings after the Monroe Brother's duo act up through his late 'Fifties retirement. The selection spans his work for RCA's Bluebird series, Decca Records, and -- I believe -- a long string of recordings for the Montgomery Ward department store's in-house label, as well as a "bonus disc" of live performances recorded in 1955-56 by a young folklorist named Mike Seeger. Not included are his 1960s and 'Seventies albums, but, still... this is pretty prime material, capturing Charlie Monroe in his prime. All this and a giant booklet packed with all kinds of historical and discographical info!
Charlie Monroe "Who's Calling You Sweetheart Tonight?" (RCA-Camden Records, 1969) (LP)
As was often the case with RCA's budget-line Camden imprint, these are older, archival recordings, stuff plucked from the vaults and offered up as "new" during the prehistory of country reissue records. This selections includes several tracks from some of Monroe's 1946 and 1947 studio sessions, again, all material that would have originally come out on individual 78rpm singles, and had been out of print for decades.
Charlie Monroe "Post War Country Classics" (Cattle Compact Records, 2004) (LP)
Charlie Monroe "On The Noonday Jamboree: Two Original Radio Shows From 1944" (County Records, 1974) (LP)
Charlie Monroe "The Songs Of Charlie Monroe And The Kentucky Pardners: Vintage Radio Recordings From 1944" (County Records, 1974) (LP)
Charlie Monroe "The Starday Sessions" (Gusto Records, 2011)
Discography -- Albums
Charlie Monroe "Bluegrass Sound" (REM Records, 1963) (LP)
(Produced by Bob Moore & Bob Mooney)
This seems to have been Charlie Monroe's first LP, with material recorded at the time of release. The album was first released in 1963 for the independent REM label, and later reissued numerous times on several different labels, as well as with different titles. (I believe the REM recordings were also licensed by Starday, and are called "The Starday Recordings" in some reckonings..) Notable among the musicians is a young banjo picker named J. D. Crowe, who also worked with Jimmy Martin around this time, and who became one fo the most important bluegrass bandleaders of the 1970s and '80s.
Charlie Monroe "Lord Build Me A Cabin" (REM Records, 1965) (LP)
An all-gospel album... As with Moore's previous album, this set was re-released a few times, notably in 1982 as Sacred Songs, on the Old Homestead label.
Charlie Monroe "Live At Lake Norman Music Hall" (Pine Tree Records, 1975) (LP)
A live album recorded in Terell, North Carolina, in late 1974...
Charlie Monroe "Memories Of Charlie Monroe" (Pine Mountain Records, 1975) (LP)
A two-disc set issued in memoriam, after Monroe passed away in 1975...
Charlie Monroe "Souvenir Songbook" (Golden Country Records, 1980) (LP)
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