Blue Grass Boys

Perfect Song #14: “Wicked Path of Sin” by Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys

This is the song that pretty much set the standard for bluegrass three- and four-part harmony singing with little or no accompaniment. Bill Monroe knew what he was doing, or at least found to right people to do it and let him take credit (which was often the case).

The minimal instrumentation is rhythm guitar, bass, and mandolin picking a simple riff in between verses and choruses. The charm is the vocals. Four voices doing their particular jobs perfectly, not competing with one another. Recorded in September 1946 in Chicago, the lineup of the famous 1946 Blue Grass Boys was not even a year old. The recording consists of Bill Monroe (tenor vocals, mandolin), Lester Flatt (lead vocals, guitar), Earl Scruggs (baritone vocals), Birch Monroe (bass vocals), and Howard Watts (bass).

It is interesting that Bill brought in his brother Birch to sing the bass. Either he did not have enough confidence in any of his current band members, or he had been working on the song at home and his brother was assisting. Either way, it worked. The chorus having Birch start it off, then the rest of the singers answering, then Lester does two lines with the question/answer, then Bill takes two lines with his high lonesome tenor, continuing the question/answer, finishing off with Lester doing one line and the entire quartet singing the last line — that is genius!

Plenty of bluegrass bands have covered this song, including New Grass Revival, the Stanley Brothers, Blue Highway, and Old & In The Way. However, it is the Blue Grass Boys’ version that is the most stirring. It needs no improvement — it is raw yet polished in its outcome. It is a gospel song, but never spends a lot of time talking about God or Jesus, only that he feels safe with his Savior. The beginning theme is that the world (even in the 1940s) was sinful, and that the singer is looking forward to arriving at the Pearly Gates to hear the bells and singing angels, as well as to meet all of the dear departed friends and relatives.

Everything about the bluegrass format can be traced back to Bill Monroe and his concept of it. We have so much to be thankful for from what came from his musical mind. This beautiful song is just one example.

Chew on it and comment.

The 1946 Penny

Shortly after I bought my Martin D-28 acoustic guitar, I wanted to use it to honor the founders of bluegrass music. While December 8, 1945 is considered the birth of bluegrass music as we know it, since this is when Bill Monroe appeared on the Grand Ole Opry with Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise and Cedric Rainwater, this incarnation of the Blue Grass Boys made its first recording in 1946. That year is considered the “big bang theory” of bluegrass music.

While playing bluegrass music on that Martin was perhaps tribute enough, I just felt that it needed something more. I didn’t want to do anything drastic to the guitar physically, but wanted to give it something unique. A few years ago, while checking some change in my pocket, I came across a 1946 Lincoln Wheat penny. Wheat pennies are not too rare in general, but you don’t see much in circulation.

Knowing how important the year 1946 is to bluegrass music, I thought that this find was a bit of good luck, or even a message from a spirit. Thus, I taped that 1946 penny to the back of the headstock of the Martin. For some reason, playing that guitar felt a little better. I look at it as a good luck charm when playing the guitar.

Now that I have a few quality acoustic guitars, and I like to play each one equally, I figured that I should mount a 1946 penny to each of them. So besides the Martin, my Cirrus and Sevillana acoustic guitars will now have pennies on the headstock back. I am thinking that instead of taping them on, I may route a small cavity in the headstock back, enough to tightly pound in the pennies. Also, these 1946 pennies are not that rare or valuable, worth about $1.00 each. There are some 1946 pennies that have rare markings that are worth in the thousands of dollars, so if I were ever to come across one of those, trust me, I would not be knocking it into the back of a guitar!

Chew on it and comment!