Art Blackburn 17625 Argon Street NW Ramsey MN 55303 (763) 213-1349 info@monroecrossing.com www.monroecrossing.com

Monroe Crossing Bluegrass music Monroe Crossing is a five-piece bluegrass ensemble performing traditional, contemporary, and original bluegrass and gospel songs and instrumentals. Named in honor of Bill Monroe, "the Father of Bluegrass," Monroe Crossing performs many songs written or made famous by the first generation masters of bluegrass, such as Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, and The Stanley Brothers. Bluegrass music is as rooted in our American heritage as is jazz or blues, so much so that people who have never previously heard bluegrass music still relate to it like an old friend. Their performances consistently create a bond with folks they've never met, and often with folks who have never seen a bluegrass band. It isn't so much that bluegrass relates to community; it is that communities relate to bluegrass. Available: Seven days a week, year-round, with no mileage restrictions. Space: Space for 5 performers gathered around a single mic. We can provided sound and lighting if necessary. Fee: Negotiable

Additional Information:
Origins of bluegrass music include, but are not limited to, Appalachian folk music, old-time string-band music, and Southern gospel. Bluegrass emerged as a distinct musical form in the mid-1940's. The principal figure in the evolution of bluegrass music was a Kentucky singer/mandolinist named Bill Monroe, whose group, the Blue Grass Boys, served as the model for later groups. Initially called hillbilly or country music, by the 1950's, so many others were copying Monroe's style, that the music became known as bluegrass.

The folk revival of the 1950's and 1960's helped bluegrass music become better known nationally. However, this revival also involved a change in the music's sociological background. Before the revival, bluegrass was a regional music enacted primarily within the South. Afterwards, it became an idiom that people self-elected to participate in. The spread of bluegrass has not only been the spread of a music style, but of a musical culture. Participants in bluegrass have opportunities to attend not only formal concerts, but other types of social occasions connected to bluegrass, including jam sessions, festivals, and instrument swaps. And there are local and national bluegrass publications and media outlets that serve as reference points to local participants.

Collectively, Monroe Crossing's players have been playing bluegrass for decades, and the group has played as a unit for about four years. Monroe Crossing primarily views itself as a traditional bluegrass & gospel band following in the footsteps of the first generation masters of bluegrass. However, bluegrass is a living tradition, and Monroe Crossing's approach incorporates other musical styles as well.

Some of the band members were exposed to bluegrass at young ages, and have been immersed in the music for decades. However, others reflect more varied musical backgrounds, to include folk, blues, swing, jazz, classical, and rock & roll, and as such, were introduced to bluegrass later in their musical development. The result of their eclectic musical backgrounds can be heard in the stylistic range of their singing and playing. They are comfortable performing bluegrass classics, as well as writing their own songs, and adapting the work of songwriters from many genres to bluegrass.