Bluegrass Banter Trivia Quiz

Answer: Blue Grass Boys

William Smith Monroe, born in Kentucky in September, 1911, played the mandolin and was one of the people who made the genre of bluegrass popular. In fact, the type of music takes its name from the name of his original band, the Blue Grass Boys. He and his brother, Charlie, signed with RCA in 1936 and scored a hit with an old gospel song "What Would You Give In Exchange For Your Soul"? At that time he and Charlie were recording as "The Monroe Brothers" and by 1938 when they broke up they had recorded over sixty songs for RCA.

After Charlie left, Bill headed bands in Little Rock, AR, Atlanta, GA, where the first version of The Blue Grass Boys came about, and even had a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. In 1945 a new version of The Blue Grass Boys, which came to be known as "The Original Blue Grass Boys" was formed with the addition of Earl Scruggs. The twenty-eight songs the group played became classics, including the most famous of Monroe's songs, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" which was covered many years later by Elvis Presley, which, also, became a hit. During the 1950s the genre became overshadowed by rock and roll but during the 1960s folk revival bluegrass again became popular, and stayed there even after folk music faded from the hit scene.

It is doubtful there would be such a genre as bluegrass without Bill Monroe. He played, sang, composed...he did it all, as well as chose the great players, such as Chubbie Wise, to be a part of his band.

Answer: Charlie Daniels

Charles Edward Daniels, born in North Carolina in October, 1936, has been a singer, song writer and musician in various types of country music as well as bluegrass since early in the 1950s. He plays the guitar, fiddle and bass, as well as sings, so could be his own band. Additionally, in his career he played electric bass for three of Bob Dylan's albums, fiddle for the Marshall Tucker Band and produced an album for the Youngbloods, among others. He won a Grammy for "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" in 1979 and was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in January, 2008.

Mr. Daniels has not been known to be reticent in his beliefs, particularly political, in both his music and his words, as in his song "The South's Gonna Do It Again" and his book "Ain't No Rag: Freedom, Family and the Flag". He is still, in 2013, appearing in live concert venues.

Answer: Czech Republic

Druha Trava, which means "Second Grass" in Czech, is a bluegrass band founded by Robert Krestan in 1991. When Pete Seeger toured Europe in the 1960s the people in most of Central Europe fell in love with folk music, and bluegrass came right along with it. During 1968, and Prague Spring, both genres were popular among the students which is why the music was labeled as subversive by members of the Communist party.

The original Druha Trava was made of Krestan, who played the guitar and sang the lead, a banjo player, both a guitar and a bass guitar player, and a dobro player.

In 2004 a mandolin player was added, as well a change in some of the other instrument players. The band has appeared live with Charlie McCoy, a mainstay of music in Nashville, TN.

They have also recorded an all-acoustic album of bluegrass entirely in English called "Good Morning, Friend". Druha Trava can be seen on youtube.com in quite a few recordings, including "The Orange Blossom Special" with McCoy. They are really quite good!

Answer: The Osborne Brothers

The Osbornes, Sonny and Bobby, were born in Kentucky but grew up in Dayton, Ohio. While Bobby was in the military after having been drafted in 1952, Sonny went to work for Bill Monroe. When Bobby returned the two of them played various venues with different sidemen until 1956 when they, playing mandolin and banjo, along with along with Red Allen, Ernie Newton, Art Stamper, and Tommy Jackson, debuted for MGM Records.

Their first 45 RPM was "Ruby Are You Mad" which was a runaway hit. That was the first time twin banjos had been used in a bluegrass recording.

The next year they added a dobro and drums, also a first. In 1958, the last musician to receive billing next to the Osbornes, Red Allen, left them. They had a different sound in that Bobby sang the lead in the highest range, with Sonny singing baritone, and the third singer playing guitar and singing tenor. Since they could use most any studio musician to be the third man, Allen's leaving did not cause a musical problem for them. In addition to being the first bluegrass band to perform at the White House, it was also the first to perform on a college campus, when they performed at Antioch College in Ohio.

The brothers also recorded two songs that later became official state songs, "Rocky Top", their big hit, for Tennessee, and "Kentucky" for their home state.

Answer: The Country Gentlemen

The Country Gentlemen was a group that formed in, of all places, Washington, D.C., in the 1950s. The original band consisted of Charlie Waller who, over the years, was the band's point man and leader, and played the guitar, John Duffey on mandolin, Eddie Adcock on banjo, and Tom Gray on bass.

This is the group that joined the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1966. During the 1950s and 1960s they toured both the folk as well a bluegrass circuits. In 1964 Tom Gray left for National Geographic and in 1969 before a tour of Japan, John Duffey quit because he was afraid of flying.

The next "classic generation" saw Rickie Skaggs join as the fiddle player. The Country Gentlemen's music ranged the gamut from both traditional to progressive bluegrass, to pop, to folk music.

A number of their songs have become bluegrass standards including two of my favorites, "A Rebel Soldier" and "Two Little Boys". Although they didn't make the name for themselves that others did, they did perform with the "big names" and recorded with a number of labels including Smithsonian Folkways.

Answer: The Foggy Mountain Boys

Lester Flatt, born in 1914 in Tennessee, left Bill Monroe's band and along with Earl Scruggs, born 1924 in North Carolina, and the two formed the Foggy Mountain Boys. Although, over the years, other musicians may have come and gone with the group, the guitarist, Flatt, and the banjo picker, Scruggs, played together for over 21 years. During the years of The Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs Grand Ole Opry Show the others in the band were Paul Warren who played the fiddle in both old-time and bluegrass styles, Uncle Josh Graves who played the dobro in the style that it is played in today, stand-up bass player Cousin Jake Tullock, and Curly Seckler on the mandolin. Scruggs, music historians believe, is the banjo player that has most influenced others in his field. In addition to playing, the members of the Foggy Mountain Boys also wrote many of their songs and credited them to Certain and Stacey, which were the maiden names of Flatt and Scrugg's wives.

Although the only one of their songs to garner the number one spot was "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", they also recorded "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and "Little Cabin in the Hills", as well as many other very good songs.

Answer: Finland

Rautakoura who sings and plays folk music as well as bluegrass doesn't need to take second-place standing to any bluegrass band. Its members include Juho Hame on bass, Lauri Hame on banjo, Pekka Pyysalo on guitar and Matti Mikkela on mandolin and guitar.

They have released at least five albums and perhaps the album planned for 2013 is out by now. For their attempt to be the Finnish entrant to Eurovison 2013 they sang a Finnish folk song called "Ilmalaivalla" which means "airship".

Answer: The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys

Carter and Ralph Stanley, born in the Clinch Mountains of southwestern Virginia, in August 1925 and February 1927, respectively, grew up in an impoverished household in an equally impoverished area of Appalachia. They formed The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946. Ralph played the banjo, first two-fingered and then three-fingered, emulating Earl Scruggs, and Carter played the guitar. In 1949 they began recording for Columbia Records. Although the two performed with their band from 1946 to 1966, they also had a weekly three-hour radio show that was syndicated all across the South. After a European tour in 1966, Carter died. Ralph continued on with his musical career and one time, when arriving late to a show, he met Ricky Skaggs who was holding things together until Stanley got there. He gave Skaggs and Keith Whitely, who were both teenagers, a job, as he said "to give them a chance". It might also have been because they sounded so much like the Stanley Brothers.

Ralph Stanley sang "O Death" in the 2000 movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and for that won the 2002 Grammy for the Best Male Country Vocal Performance. He is in the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor and was the first person to join the Grand Ole Opry in the third millennium. Stanley's autobiography, "Man of Constant Sorrow" was released in 2009.

Answer: The Kentucky Colonels

Roland, Clarence and Eric White, all born in Maine, began their bluegrass career in 1954, calling themselves the "Country Boys". By 1961 Robert Bush replaced Eric, other members were added, and they changed their name to "The Kentucky Colonels". In the '60s they were well known on the bluegrass and folk scene and played many of the festivals. They made nine albums, the most popular of which was "Appalachian Swing!", a play on words of Aaron Copland's composition "Appalachian Spring".

The band's last performance was in 1965 although they reunited with Clarence in 1973 and performed for a while as "The New Kentucky Colonels". Unfortunately, Clarence was killed in 1973, not long after they had recorded the album "Live In Sweden 1973".

Answer: Alison Krauss

Alison Maria Krauss, born in Decatur, Illinois, in July, 1971, is a multi-talented young lady. She sings, she writes, and she plays bluegrass and county music. Fourteen albums and a number of soundtracks later, she has re-raised the interest in bluegrass music. As of 2012 she had won 27 Grammy awards out of 41 nominations. This is all from a person who was born only 41 years earlier.

Alison began studying classical violin but it didn't take her long to switch to playing the fiddle. At the age of 13 she won a fiddle championship and was named the "Most Promising Fiddler in the Midwest" by The Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass in America. At age 16 she produced her first album, backed by Union Station, "Too Late to Cry" and in 1989 she followed up with her first group album with Union Station, "Two Highways". Krauss has been nominated for four Country Music Awards and has won all of them.

Although her early musical career was playing an instrument she is now focusing more on vocals with her pure soprano voice. Her 2011 album with Union Station charted number one in the US.