Physical description:

4 audio cassette tapes (TCA-0156A/D)
 

Date:

[c. 1949]
 

Provenance:

These radio broadcasts were originally recorded off-air onto instantaneous acetate discs by Tut Taylor c. 1949. The acetate discs were loaned to the Center for copying by Mike Poteat; copies of the disc were made by Center audio specialist Bruce Nemerov in 1990.
 

Biographical sketch:

Country music singer, songwriter and mandolin player Bill Monroe (b. 1911) formed his band the Blue Grass Boys in 1938 after several years of radio appearances and commercial recordings had won him national popularity. The group joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in 1939. During the 1940s he developed an innovative ensemble style based on earlier string-band music of the southeast. The sound was copied during the late 1940s and by the 1950s had become known as bluegrass music. He was one of the first artists to be honored with a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship in recognition of his contributions to American culture.

-- New Grove Dictionary of American Music, vol. 3, p. 260.
 

Scope and content:

Copies of acetate instantaneous discs made off-air by Tut Taylor c. 1949 from radio broadcasts by Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys and by other traditional string band performers who appeared on the same programs including Flatt and Scruggs, the Smokey Mountaineers, Jack [Thompson?], Lonnie Glasson, Little Ray Wiggins, Curly Fox, Lonzo and Oscar, Hank Williams and Howdy Forrester. An audio log of the songs performed on the tape, written by Center audio specialist Bruce Nemerov, follows.
 

Location:

The original acetate discs are filed in box 2 of manuscript discs. The cassette tapes are filed first by format, then by tape number in the audio visual archives.