Tape Spotlight: Bean Blossom
I can’t think of a better way to return to our tape spotlight series than with a trip to the sleepy town of Bean Blossom, Indiana. Nestled in the hilly southern part of the state, this hamlet may be small, but it’s certainly a big household name for bluegrass fans. In October 1951, Bill Monroe played the Brown County Jamboree in Bean Blossom. Smitten with the area, he purchased the property the Jamboree was held on two months later. But sixteen years would pass until the first festival was held here. With the encouragement of promoter Carlton Haney (who also spearheaded the Fincastle Festival that we highlighted in a previous Tape Spotlight), Monroe held his first two-day festival there in 1967, called, simply, A Blue Grass Celebration. Next year will mark the 45th anniversary of the “longest continuous running bluegrass festival in the world” (as the festival’s website says), which has since expanded to an eight-day affair, and is one of many events held annually on what is now the Bill Monroe Memorial Park and Campground.
Tape #238 from our Anonymous Collection features recordings from the 1969 and 1979 festivities at Bean Blossom. Side A gives listeners a sense of the stacked bill that the festival had in it’s third year, featuring some peppy cuts by The Country Gentlemen, a brief snippet of Hazel Dickens & Alice Foster (joined by Kenny Baker, fiddle, Mike Seeger, banjo, and Rual Yarbrough, banjo), and two songs by Baker & Roger Sprung (banjo), who both shine strong on an exquisite “Saint Anne’s Reel.” There’s also a few tracks from a Doc Watson solo performance, with “Give Me Back My Fifteen Cents,” a tale of gambler’s life gone awry, highlighting his harmonica and guitar interplay.
Jumping ten years later to 1979, on side B we have a performance from Monroe himself. His Blue Grass Boys at the time included Baker on fiddle, Wayne Lewis on guitar, Butch Robins on banjo and Mark Hembree on bass. But it’s the special guest, who appears to wild cheering as Monroe introduces him, that makes this set truly one-of-a-kind. After “Blue Grass Breakdown,” Monroe calls none other than Earl Scruggs to the stage. This performance marks the first reunion of these two bluegrass pioneers since 1948, and the excitement is so palpable it just might give you chills. The sparks are fiercely flying during this portion of the set, which makes up for its brevity with its power. It’s hard to think of anything topping “Molly and Tenbrooks” with these two titans – except maybe an eight-minute-plus bluegrass medley that starts with “Little Maggie,” ends with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and hits several well-loved classics in between.
As our resident historian Mitch Wittenberg writes in his notes on this tape, “The musical power and exuberance displayed during this all-too-brief Monroe-Scruggs reunion set, especially during the lengthy medley, defines bluegrass music for me; if someone asks what makes bluegrass special, you need only pull out this recording.” I couldn’t have put it better myself. This is a splendid moment in not only history of Bean Blossom, but the history of bluegrass itself, and we are lucky to have it in our archives here at SPPS.
Audio
Tracklisting
1969
Country Gentlemen
Matterhorn…Hazel & Alice snippet (cut off)…Long Journey Home
Where the Soul of Man Never Dies
Roger Sprung & Kenny Baker
Doc Watson
1979
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
Special thanks to our historian Mitch Wittenberg
