| "Blue Moon of Kentucky" | |
|---|---|
| Single byBill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys | |
| Released | Sept. 1947[1] |
| Genre | Bluegrass |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter | Bill Monroe |
"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is awaltz written in 1945 bybluegrass musicianBill Monroe and recorded by his band, the Blue Grass Boys. Some think the origins may trace back to "Roll Along, Kentucky Moon", a similar waltz recorded 15 years prior byJimmie Rodgers. The song has since been recorded by many artists, includingElvis Presley andPaul McCartney. The song is the official bluegrass song ofKentucky.
In 2002, Monroe's version was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by theLibrary of Congress to be added to theNational Recording Registry. In 2003,CMT ranked "Blue Moon" number 11 in its list of 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music.
Monroe's earliest-known performance of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was on theGrand Ole Opry broadcast of August 25, 1945. He first recorded it forColumbia Records on September 16, 1946, at The Wrigley Building in Chicago, Illinois. That recording was released in early 1947.[2] At the time, the Bluegrass Boys included vocalist and guitaristLester Flatt and banjoistEarl Scruggs, who later formed their own bluegrass band, theFoggy Mountain Boys. Both Flatt and Scruggs performed on the recording, although Bill Monroe supplied the vocals on this song. The song, described as a "bluegrass waltz", had become a United States wide hit by 1947[3] and also became enormously popular with other bluegrass, country, and earlyrockabilly acts. The song was revered at the Grand Ole Opry;[3]Carl Perkins played an uptempo version of this song in his early live performances.
After Presley's more rock-oriented version became popular, Monroe tweaked the Blue Grass Boys’ arrangement of it, starting it slowly, playing one round, and then jumping into a 4/4 time signature, as Presley had done, turning it into a barn-burning bluegrass classic".[4]
| "Blue Moon of Kentucky" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byElvis Presley | ||||
| A-side | "That's All Right" | |||
| Released | July 19, 1954 | |||
| Recorded | July 7, 1954 | |||
| Genre | Rockabilly,country | |||
| Length | 1:57 | |||
| Label | Sun (original) RCA Victor (reissue) | |||
| Songwriter | Bill Monroe | |||
| Producer | Sam Phillips | |||
| Elvis Presley singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
The search for another song to release along with "That's All Right"[5] atSun Records in July 1954 led to "Blue Moon of Kentucky" viaBill Black. Presley's version turned "it from a waltz to a bluesy rocker".[4]
According toScotty Moore:
We all of us knew we needed something...and things seemed hopeless after a while. Bill is the one who came up with "Blue Moon of Kentucky"...We're taking a little break and he starts beating on the bass and singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky", mocking Bill Monroe, singing the high falsetto voice. Elvis joins in with him, starts playing and singing along with him.
— The Blue Moon Boys - The Story of Elvis Presley's Band[6]
Presley, Moore, and Black, with the encouragement of Sam Phillips, transformed Monroe's slow waltz, in3
4 time, into an upbeat, blues-flavored tune in4
4 time. After an early rendition of the song, Sun Records ownerSam Phillips exclaimed, "BOY, that's fine, that's fine. That's a POP song now!"[7] As with all of the Presley records issued by Sun, the artists were listed and stylized as "ELVIS PRESLEY SCOTTY and BILL".[8]
The same night thatDewey Phillips first played the flip side of this first release of Presley's music on WHBQ, "That's All Right", Sleepy Eye John at WHHM loosed "Blue Moon of Kentucky". Bob Neal of WMPS played the record, too. The pop jockeys, entranced by something new, began slipping "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" in among the easy-listening pop ofTeresa Brewer,Nat Cole,Tony Bennett, and others.[9]
With Presley's version of Monroe's song consistently rated higher, both sides began to chart across the Southern United States.[10]Billboard has the song listed only in Memphis, and as number six with "That's All Right" at number 7 on October 9 in the C&W Territorial Best Sellers.[11] By October 23, "Blue Moon" was in the top 10 in Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans, with "That's All Right" absent from the listings.[12]
Fellow Sun Records artistCharlie Feathers has often claimed that he came up with the arrangement of the song used by Presley. While others sources claimed that it was Presley who arranged the song. Monroe, at first, did not care for Presley's version until "powerful checks" (in sizeable amounts) began rolling in for Monroe's writing credit.[4] The song was later used in a scene of the 2005 TV miniseriesElvis.
In 1954,the Stanley Brothers recorded a version of the song using Presley's4
4 arrangement with bluegrass instrumentation, neatly bridging the stylistic gap between Monroe and Presley's approaches. Bill Monroe subsequently re-recorded and performed the song using a mixture of the two styles, starting the song in its original3
4 time arrangement, then launching into an uptempo4
4 rendition.
Patsy Cline recorded "Blue Moon" in 1963.[13] Cline's vocals were overdubbed over a different arrangement for the soundtrack to Cline's bio movieSweet Dreams.
In 1968,Al Kooper recorded a version for his debut solo albumI Stand Alone.[14]
In 1969,Jerry Reed recorded a version for his albumJerry Reed Explores Guitar Country.
The Beatles did not release a version of the song, but a recording does exist of the song being performed in an impromptu jam by the then-remaining BeatlesPaul McCartney,George Harrison, andRingo Starr during theAnthology sessions in 1994,[4] but before that happened, Paul McCartney recorded his own version forUnplugged (The Official Bootleg) which was a combination of both the Bill Monroe and Elvis Presley versions in 1991.
In 1997,LeAnn Rimes covered the song on her compilation albumUnchained Melody: The Early Years along with many other titles.
In 2000,John Fogerty recorded a version for aRicky Skaggs tribute album toBill Monroe titledBig Mon: The songs of Bill Monroe.
In 2003, the psychobilly/rockabilly bandZombie Ghost Train covered the song on their albumMonster Formal Wear.
Carl Perkins was inspired by the song to move to Memphis, Tennessee where he enjoyed a more fruitful career.
In 2013,Alan Jackson recorded a bluegrass version for his nineteenth studio album,The Bluegrass Album.
