Bill Monroe Quotes

“(When asked who the three finest old time guitarists were) Well, I would have to pick Travis, you know; I think he's a great man with his music, and there's been many a man that's copied from Merle. You know, they say he learned from a man in Kentucky. Well, I know this Mose Rager he learned from, he learned from Arnold Shultz, the man I speak of, a colored man, in playing the blues. So I think it all leads back to this old colored man back in Kentucky.”

Bill Monroe

“It ain't only the colored folks has the blues; there's many a white man that's had 'em.”

Bill Monroe

Can't You Hear Me Calling: The Life of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass (2009) by Richard Smith

“The word "hillbilly", I've never liked that, and I've never used that in my music.”

Bill Monroe

The Bill Monroe Reader (2000) edited by Tom Ewing

“That ain't no part of nothin.”

Bill Monroe

“After Charlie [Charlie Monroe, Bill's brother] and me broke up, I was searching for a name for my group. And I wanted a name from the state of Kentucky. Before I come to WSM in Nashville - I started on WWNC, Asheville - why, I'd already decided on using the name "bluegrass," because that's what they'd call Kentucky, the Blue Grass State. So I just used "Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys," and that let people throughout the country know I was from Kentucky, saved a lot of people from having to ask me where I was from. Governor Ford, he claims I've done more than any one man for Kentucky - every time I use the word "bluegrass" it leads back to the state.”

Bill Monroe