# Music by Genre > Bluegrass, Newgrass, Country, Gospel Variants >  Very best Monroe style   player

## baptist mando55

Who is the very best Monroe style player living today?

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## sgarrity

Mike Compton, Frank Wakefield, David Long, Butch Waller, Roland White, Richie Brown, David Davis, Jody Stecher, Ronnie McCoury and countless others whose names you probably wouldn't recognize.  Having just been at the Monroe Mandolin Camp there a good number of amateur players out there keeping the style alive.

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JEStanek

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## mandopete

My personal favorite is Skip Gorman.  Check out his recordings called "The Old Style Mandolin" and "Monroesque".

5 Stars!

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## Scotti Adams

Id have to say Frank....and if he were here today..it would be Dorsey. But...it would be hard to pick twixt them two.

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## baptist mando55

How about Red and Chris Henry Cris sounds pretty good on his instructional video/

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## Brian Ray

Hard to say... I subscribe to Mr. Compton's notion that the top players all have a slice of Monroe; none have it all. To my ear, Frank sounds the most like Mon... he's got a big slice! If you're asking which Monroe-style player is currently at the top of their game, I'd say you'd have yer hands full trying to push Mike off that hill. IMO, he's playing his best mandolin today... get it while it's hot!

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## Pete Martin

Big yes for Mike!

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## Ed Goist

> ...snip...David Long...Jody Stecher...snip...


I am not remotely qualified to offer an opinion on "best", so I'll just say that David Long, Jody Stecher & Mike Brooks are my favorite _'Monroe-style players'_.

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## Denny Gies

Another vote for Mike.  All the others mentioned are spectacular too but I do think Mike captures more of the master's sound.

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## Don Grieser

I wholeheartedly agree with dasspunk's assessment. John Hartford also thought pretty highly of Mike's understanding of the Monroe style.

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## Rick Schmidlin

Mike Compton the rest listed are also there but Mike and amd be Ricky Skaggs are the deciples

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## Brent Hutto

You mean the best beside Compton? Tough call. :Confused:

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## SternART

Mike is his own man now.........inspired by Bill, but he has carried the torch on down the road IMO.

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BradKlein

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## AKmusic

Hard to argue againt Mike Compton being compared to BM. I would like to bring David Long's name back up agian - I like to watch and listen to both play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x99v7DfS3dg

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## Fretbear

If we're making lists then Doyle Lawson and Alan Bibey could likely play every Monroe solo for you note for note, but as southern gentlemen, would not......

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## Scotti Adams

> If we're making lists then Doyle Lawson and Alan Bibey could likely play every Monroe solo for you note for note, but as southern gentlemen, would not......


Theres alot more to it than playing note for note. I can play Monroe note for note but there is something missing. Oh..there are days I can capture Monroes thing but it done B natural.

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## Perry

Another vote for Mike Compton. He sounds more like Monroe then Monroe  :Smile:  He has taken the Monroe style and developed it without losing its integrity. For that he is my favorite hands down. He has the TONE.

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## Spruce

John Reischman assembled a "Monroe Tribute Band" a decade or so ago, with Paul Shelasky and Michael Heiden on the twin fiddles that are all over "Bluegrass Instrumentals"...
It was a real eye-opener to hear John play in that intentional style, and he really nailed it...

I have a great recording of the band here somewhere...

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## Nelson Peddycoart

I take the question of "Who is the best Monroe style player" to mean who actively works in that style (or a close derivative of it), not who can play like Monroe if they chose.

I have to agree that Mike is the best of those who still believe in and practice the Tao of Big Mon. 

Wakefield is a great player, but there is a difference between the two.  Frank seems to replicate Monroe strokes while Mike breathes in the essence of Monroe and generates magnificient tones wrapped around that essence.  Most Monroe players have an era of Monroe nailed, but lack a completeness of the style elements across time.  Mike has it.

David Davis threw down some mighty fine Monroe style playing last weekend at the camp in Owensboro as did Ritchie, Roland and Butch Waller (another of my personal favorites).

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## Raymond E.

It's Compton,guys...hands down. The Monroe Camp was really good and fun...love seeing the folks when they hit a correct note or phrase and realize they actually done it...a fun weekend...Loafer

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## mandolirius

Compton and Gorman are big faves but I'd have to say David McLaughlin is my personal favourite Monroe stylist.

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Bill McCall

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## Spencer

You don't hear it very often, but at the Tønder Festival here a few years back, Tim O'Brien played a take off on Got a Message from My Darling, called Got an Email from My Darling, and played some really fine Monroe style breaks in it. If he chose to play it, I'm sure he could be high on the list. 

Spencer

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## William Smith

Way too many out there to list and some pry a lot that nobody has even heard of before,,be it closet pickers or just pickers in general!! "one thing for sure is we all learned somethin from Bill"  Happy PICKIN

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## Pete Counter

> You don't hear it very often, but at the Tønder Festival here a few years back, Tim O'Brien played a take off on Got a Message from My Darling, called Got an Email from My Darling, and played some really fine Monroe style breaks in it. If he chose to play it, I'm sure he could be high on the list. 
> 
> Spencer


Being able to play a monroe style break is different than being a monroe style player.....my vote goes for McLaughlin as well. Right after him would be Adam Tanner of the twilite broadcasters.

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## mandotool

I would generally stay out of a "best ...player" type thread ..
but i would have to go with Mike Compton on this one . 
Also takes the cake for evangelizing Monroe style..(in my humble opinion)

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## mandotool

I would generally stay out of a "best ...player" type thread ..
but i would have to go with Mike Compton on this one . 
Also takes the cake for evangelizing Monroe style..(in my humble opinion)

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## Ivan Kelsall

If i may include a player who's 'passed on',i'd have to say that of all the Monroe stylists i've heard to date,that _Ralph Rinzler_ is by far the best i've heard. Listen to either of the Greenbriar Boys recordings "The Greenbriar Boys" or "Ragged But Right" & you'll hear some of the finest Monroe style playing ever recorded. It wasn't for nothing that RR became Bill Monroe's manager for a while,
                                                                                                                                                                        Ivan

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## Ivan Kelsall

I just heard *Mike Aldridge* the mandolin player in Al Batten's band "The Bluegrass Reunion" playing some very,very good Monroe style Mandolin in the song "The Old Crossroads",in fact some of the best Monroe style of any 'modern' player i've heard to date,
                                                                                                                                                                        Ivan

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## AlanN

Mike has been a force for years. The Bass Mountain Boys were a main attraction in NC for a long time, one recording was produced by Butch Baldassari, and yielded the tune 18 Wheels. His sons Brian and Daniel are in the very fine local band Constant Change, banjo and mandolin, respectively. Daniel has that right hand downstroke thing _down_.  

Mike picks a C.E. Ward, I believe.

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## Wesley

Like a few other posters here I'm unqualified to talk about who is the "best". Favorites is something else.

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## Big Joe

The ONLY Monroe style player that has lived was Bill Monroe himself.  Others can play his material or have a Monroesque feel, but they each seem to emphasize Monroe at a different phase of his career.  Like all of us, Monroe developed over many years and his style is a bit different from time to time while still having Bill in there at all times.  The others may have a good hint of Monroe as an influence, but they are not Bill.  Mike Compton is a great mandolin player, and a really cool guy, but he plays like Compton and that is nothing to be upset about.  He certainly has strong hints of Monroe at a phase of Monroe's career, but he still sounds like Mike Compton playing.  That is certainly better than trying to clone someone.  These are my opinions, and I've heard them all and love their playing, but they are not Bill, and he was not them.

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DavidKOS, 

GTison, 

Phil Goodson, 

Tom Coletti

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## Ivan Kelsall

*Big Joe* - I understand your comments perfectly,but nobody's saying that a Monroe 'style' player plays _exactly like BM_.The broader meaning is that a player uses certain 'Monroesque' phrases & techniques in their playing- ie.many more ''down strokes'' than what's normally used,thus playing in a 'style' closer to that of BM than other players. Back in my teens,i used to sport a Tony Curtis hair 'style',but nobody ever thought that i WAS Tony Curtis - leastways i never got the cash, :Frown: 
                                                                                                                            Ivan :Grin:

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DavidKOS

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## Brian Ray

I would agree with Big Joe about Compton sounding like Compton... and though that should go without saying, I'm aware that it does need to be said out loud from time to time. But I disagree with Big Joe as I feel there certainly are many Monroe-style players and consider myself one. And since we're stating the perceived obvious, I'll offer that I am not Bill, but if I was, I might be flattered that in addition to Fathering a genre of music (an incredible feat), I would also be recognized for birthing a style of playing; one that would profoundly affect many. 

But that begs the questions: What is Monroe-style mandolin playing? But I'll leave that for another thread and folks who care to weigh in on the subject.

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DataNick, 

GTison

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## SkitownPicker

IMHO, and I'm suprised he was only mentioned once, Red Henry.....his son Chris is also a great Monroe "style" player as well but to me, Red is the _other_ man....that's my opinion anyway!

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## DataNick

Whilst certainly not "one of the best" check out my young buddy Josh Gooding and his other "Young Guns" called "The Blue Js" from The Great 48 a couple weeks ago. Josh is 13 or 14 I think...

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Bluegrassboync, 

J Mangio

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## GTison

I love Red Henry's playing.   But he is not a Monroe purist. I think that it takes that to be "the best Monroe style player."   I think Red has a lot of 4 string banjo chord structure to a lot of his music.  I hear Norman Blake and Sam Bush and Bill Monroe in Red's playing.  (at least going way back)  Listen to "Perfect Mason", Or "Hundred and Six Star Rag"  what great instrumentals !   Red was a big part of me playing the mandolin.
Chris is more of a Monroe player to my ears.  

Now It like the joke they told in "Bluegrass Breakdown" the video.   Up in heaven, there high up on a hill stood a mandolin player with a big cowboy hat on playing the mandolin.  A passer by asked is that Bill Monroe up there?  Angel says No!, that's GOD he thinks he's Bill Monroe.     

Fit anyone you know?

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ylmat

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## J Mangio

Looks like those Blue Js are on their way.

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## John MacPhee

MC for me. See him live close your eyes and Bill appears.
John

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sgarrity

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## Timbofood

What about best WSM personal sound "snip" I like the one from the "Dusty Miller" thread  from Tony Williamson! This covers a couple of acres of fun! Personal, musical, humorous, and teasing! Just another slice of the pie. That's in the song project column. 
Then there's the old guest spot of the late Keith Whitley as Lester Flatt doing "Rub it in" on an old Ralph Emery show......
There is the whole "homage" facet to all this, might we say that most traditional "Bluegrass mandolin players" attempt to echo or, attempt to pay some respect to Mr. Monroe? Then again, there are those who don't care. I may be getting too old for this....

I am really starting to see some fascinating patterns in the plaster in my corner! :Grin:

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## Ivan Kelsall

I listen to a LOT of the 'newer' style of Bluegrass,by bands such as Blue Highway / Special Concensus / Balsam Range & others,& for much of it, ''straight ahead Monroe style'' wouldn't fit too well (IMHO).The songs & instrumentals aren't based around a style like BM had,they're more 'open' & use far more 'runs of notes' than BM used - if you get my drift. There are some players such as Mike Compton & Ronnie McCoury,who do bring a 'Monroe style' kick to a lot of the tunes that they play & it's great,but,they don't use it all the time. I'm sure that there must be many players who do hold more to the Monroe style,maybe in bands that i haven't heard,but i'd suggest that they also play more of the _old_ songs/tunes as well. It seems to me that as Herschel Sizemore says in his tuition DVD,that Bill Monroe's style is maybe a tad too difficult for many players.Herschel says that using all those 'down strokes' was too difficult for him,so he used Bill Monroe's 'other' style,the one Bill Monroe named  'Violin' style - all the single string work. So, we could say that ALL current Bluegrass mandolin players are playing ''Monroe style'' - or,at least ''one of 'em'' !,
           Ivan :Wink:

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## Nick Gellie

My vote goes for Chris Henry.  He has his own take on the Monroe mandolin style:

See this video taken at IBMA last year:




And here is another one:




And I almost forgot this one taken in their last gig in Australia in 2015:

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Bluegrassboync, 

DataNick, 

FLATROCK HILL, 

mcgroup53

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## AlanN

If you track the players who have been around for some time, there are examples of them changing their styles, attack over the years. Skaggs and Roland White come to mind. Early on, they played it much differently than they do now. When I was first learning, Roland was a huge influence. His playing was hot, fast, full and 'Monroe-flavored'. Plus, he was right next to his brother, who played like nobody else. So, Roland was on top of it all with his fingers in a great big pie. Very tasty. 

Skaggs played it hot, cool and swingy. His soloing on his Rebel Records 'That's It!', ca. 1975, was very hip - Vassar meets Grappelli. When he was in The New South, he brought a new dimension to mandolin style, Monroe with a twist. Boone Creek saw him pick it hot and a bit wild. I loved it. Now, he's more Monroe than ever.

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DataNick

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## AlanN

Chris Henry's playing is excellent.

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DataNick, 

FLATROCK HILL, 

Nick Gellie

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## John MacPhee

Is that George Jackson the Aussie playin fiddle?
John

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## Tom Coletti

I've grown to respect Monroe for his individualistic outlook on musical style, so it's rather odd that a person who often spoke of trying to "carve out a music of his own without copying others" now has a large following that tries to quantify emulation. 

Beyond that, I'm never quite sure what is meant by "very best." Is it a person who precisely matched Monroe's sound, or a person who strayed as far from his sound as their own input allowed? One follows Monroe's ideas, and another follows his values, thus creating a modern conflict of interpretation between traditional (purists) and progressive (subgenres and genre hoppers). 

Does progress defy the tradition, or is progress the tradition itself? It's a paradox, and in the past, I made the mistake of trying to defend one side without seeing that the two are permanently intertwined with no single clear-cut truth.

When I see and hear Chris Henry, I find someone that walks the line between these two camps: His strap placement and economy of motion in the right hand's continuous eighth notes are very reminiscent of Monroe's general approach to playing, but everything built upon that is entirely different from the exact things that Monroe did in his playing. Chris follows certain thematic elements and dual lines of notes in harmony that stray very far from Monroe's runs and mannerisms, and even the his tone and expression are different, almost vaguely along the lines of a ringy, airy sort of bright Italian bowlback sound which adds a light subtlety rather than a midrange drive. 

All in all, it adds up to Chris Henry carving out a music of his own without copying others, so he didn't do exactly what Monroe did, but in another sense, he did exactly what Monroe did. 

Have a good weekend,
--Tom

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Nick Gellie

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## Nick Gellie

> Is that George Jackson the Aussie playing fiddle?
> John


Yes it is.  He is a mighty fine player.  He did some might fine solos when I saw them perform at Mountaingrass at Harrietville.  They were all excellent.  Thoroughly enjoyed the joy and bought Chris Henry's CD - Water Music.

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## mcgroup53

I got to take a class with Chris at last year's Monroe Mandolin Camp. Great guy, amazing player. Showed us a series of exercises I use everyday now to work on improving my tone, speed and accuracy. Mis Monroe Approved CD is fantastic, too.

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DataNick

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## Nick Gellie

I couldn't resist this one as it shows Chris Henry's unusual monroesque style to perfection.  I think he has since improved his technique and tone even further based on what I saw him play at Harrietville last year:

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DataNick

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## Clement Barrera-Ng

> I couldn't resist this one as it shows Chris Henry's unusual monroesque style to perfection.  I think he has since improved his technique and tone even further based on what I saw him play at Harrietville last year:


Great video Nick. BTW I just checked Chris Henry's tour schedule and he's going to be all over Australia between now and early April. Hope you get to see him on stage again: 

http://christopherhenry.net/tour-dates/

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## Austin Koerner

> I just heard *Mike Aldridge* the mandolin player in Al Batten's band "The Bluegrass Reunion" playing some very,very good Monroe style Mandolin in the song "The Old Crossroads",in fact some of the best Monroe style of any 'modern' player i've heard to date,
>                                                                                                                                                                         Ivan




Ohhh yeah. Mike is the man!

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DataNick

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## Ken Waltham

Wow, I have to say, that is just fantastic! What a man with imagination can do with a mandolin!!

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## MarkusSpiel

I like Compton. Chris Henry is a hell of a player, too.

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## Dan Cole

Compton is great, but Butch Waller can't be overlooked.  Go to Itunes and download Golden Gate Promenade.  Worth your money!

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sgarrity

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## Mark Wilson

I don't have a trained ear for 'Monroe style' playing but Caleb Klauder gets close to the feel of it for me. Caught his band at Merlefest.  Less about notes and more about the music

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