Bill Monroe Live From Mountain Stage Blue Plate Music (www.ohboy.com) Mr. Bill Monroe delivered the pure drop, the essence of bluegrass. Hell, he invented the music! On this CD, recorded in Charleston, W. Virginia in May, 1989, we get a full draft of that fine fine stuff. From Mr. Monroe's grand originals, "Blue Eyed Darlin'", "Uncle Pen", "Rawhide" to the spiritual "I'm Working on a Building" and tunes by Lester Flatt and Jimmie Rogers, this is a great concert. The Bluegrass Boys, (Clarence Tate, Blake Williams, Tom Ewing, Billy Rose and Diana Christian on vocals), pair up, take wonderful solos and join together with their mentor for driving, clear, damn good music. This CD is a great way to get to know The Man Himself. As Steve Earle has said, "I wish I knew as much about anything as Bill Monroe knows about everything." And that's a lot.- Bill Nevins