Hello, everyone and all,
I've been on the Cafe forum for a while now, but I haven't made many posts on here because, well, I'm very hesitant to voice certain opinions at the risk of being bombarded by ad hominems and blatant ignorance from both sides. As much as I've seen a lot of great resources and great people, there's always this lingering discomfort every time I log in.
I have seen numerous threads like this one that have been closed due to trolling, bickering, and personal attacks, and I do not wish for this thread to end up like the others.
If you have strong opinions one way or the other, then I am kindly asking for you to pass this thread by, as your views are unlikely to change in the wake of what I have to say. I'd like to keep the discussion here to those in the middle ground and specifically to the topic at hand, not bringing in other topics or points of concern as a means of derailing the thread.
Okay, here's the point...
I have mixed--very mixed--feelings about Bill Monroe's mandolin playing. Not the person, just his playing. I am not trolling, I do not intend to come off as a troll, and I do not wish to be labeled as a troll simply because my preferences may be starkly different to those of many on the forum.
On one hand, Southern Flavor is one of my favorite tunes to play. I play the lead very differently from Monroe's way of playing it, but the melody and chord progression of the B part are always where I can have a blast devising new melodic runs.
On the other, though, I just find most of his playing to be sort of "sloppy choppy," too thin, staccato, and, well, just messy for my own personal tastes. I could continue about how I also feel that his playing was somewhat limited in scope, but I digress. I don't want this to become a derailment where we just make petty comparisons.
Nor am I undermining his role in the kick-starting of a genre, but sometimes I feel like the legend oversteps the performance and people discredit other mandolinists because of the old "That is not how Bill would have done it" mentality.
(Warning: Tangential Analogy; I swear this is not a derailment, but firmly planted on the rails--literally--for the time being. It will hopefully make sense in the end.)
Richard Trevithick invented the steam locomotive in 1804, which was a huge technological advancement over horse-and-carriage, but others improved on the design: made it stronger, faster, more efficient, and by the time Lima Locomotive works was cranking out large Alleghenies and Northerns and Berkshires, the steam engine had evolved into something that nobody could have ever imagined or foreseen. The new engines weren't the same as the old ones, but by no means were they worse: They still had the same timeless, untamed elegance to them, the same breath of fire and soot that captivates the mind, but with better control of that incredible power.
And then there's diesels. The fans of steam will fuss and complain of their lifelessness and too-pristine nature, but a locomotive is a locomotive. Diesels are different, yes, but still another evolution and improvement: even more efficiency and focus, with a sleek, stealthy swiftness, a fearsome subtlety to them, gliding effortlessly when a steam locomotive would require twice as much work and maintenance to keep up. They simply operate by different means, but they accomplish the same task as steam. You can argue that you prefer the earthy aesthetics of steam, but it would be neglectful to claim that a graceful, vividly-painted diesel can't be beautiful as well.
Nobody ever forgets the influence of Trevithick's 1804 engine, but when they compare the technical capabilities of the locomotives from a century or two centuries later, they admit that the new locomotives do provide service that Trevithick's engine could not match. They didn't claim "Trevithick's engine is the ONLY engine design that we will use because it was the first and most influential," when in fact, James Watt's steam technology from decades before laid the foundation for the application in transport, and Robert Stephenson's "Rocket" locomotive of 1829 is what most would consider the actual blueprint of the modern steam locomotive.
Railroading would have stagnated, not evolved, and it would have been lost forever, a dead and decrepit technology that refused to adapt to the world around it. But they didn't completely disregard Trevithick's engine and never mention it again, though; a replica still runs so that those who can appreciate the earlier, unrefined, imperfect-yet-daring contraption can see it in action, standing as a testament to how far we've come since then.
I feel like that's my attitude towards Bill Monroe: a bit antiquated like Trevithick's engine, but someone that can be admired in context. I don't completely disregard him, but I evaluate pros and cons. I still respect him for being one of the early contributors in the long evolutionary process that created the music known as Bluegrass (along with those who came before him in Scottish/Irish/Appalachian/African traditional music and those who came after him), and I am partial to a few tunes, but I acknowledge that it wasn't a one-man accomplishment overnight and his ability left something to be desired; it was something that could be improved upon, a seed that needed to take root and grow, and others had since used a cleaner, more articulate tone and different musical perspectives to take Bluegrass mandolin to new heights and different branches of sound.
Bluegrass is built on innovation and diversity, so let us not limit its scope or association. I am a fan of everything from Irish Reels to Punch Brothers and all in-between. I do have preferences, but I try not to belittle or over-compensate unfairly. Nobody is too small to be praised, and nobody is too big to be criticized, not even Bill.
I have comfort zones, but I seek out something new and foreign to keep the experience fresh and exciting. Everyone has had an equal share in finding their wavelength in the broad spectrum of Bluegrass, and if you limit yourself to only a small range of light, then you may not see it shine.
Cheers,
--Tom
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