Kenny Baker & Bill Monroe: Jerusalem Ridge

[Yvonne]

[YouTube]bpzoLAwZ-gs[/YouTube]

 

[aclearspot]

Back in the burned out hippie days when we all started listening to country and western, western swing and bluegrass I saw Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. After the warmup we were all hootin n hollerin when they hit the stage. Everybody was getting impatient while they tuned up. Kenny didn't appreciate the noise and turned to the microphone and said in his sternest drill Sargent voice "we tune because we care, be quiet" . It was very quiet until they started to play.

 

[Yvonne]

That's a GREAT story! Thanks so much for sharing.

There are not many stories about Kenny that I've heard or read about. I believe he's still alive and living in his native Kentucky. And whaddaya know?! Somebody posted a page for him on Wikipedia. From listening to his bluegrass fiddle tunes, I learned almost note-for-note two of his fiddle songs and from some fiddle books a few more. Neat thing is he supposedly cannot read music, so for him it's all "ear" music. And what a musician he is.