Rating: 
Summary: This book represents a benchmark for research journalism
Review: "Can't you hear me callin'" doesn't spare the reputation of Mr. Bill Monroe, but it hews close to the journalistic ideal of truth and fairness to all. Those who aspire to a career in research journalism will do well to sit at the feet of Richard D. Smith. The reader will come away with a closer understanding of Bill Monroe and a greater appreciation for his contribution to the arts. Along the way you will meet many of the people of Country Music. This book does a wonderfull job of connecting the dots to reveal the picture.
Rating:
Summary: character study is useful despite the hero worship
Review: Smith's book is conflicted. The distinct contribution of this book is not so much what it says about the music. There isn't much here about the music that is new, sustaining, or distinct. In fact, at times, Smith seem to inflate the importance of Monroe in rather trifling ways that really undercut the significance of Monroe. I am very glad Smith accurately and fairly portrayed the role the late Ralph Rinzler played in really saving Monroe's career and making him more known in the folk revival. What is interesting is what the book shows about Monroe's character. Despite Smith's desire to guild the lily and create a halo around his hero, he unearths a history of great emotional problems that had a heavy impact on Monroe's life. Smith traces them from the difficult, lonely, childhood Monroe had all the way to Monroe's last days very consistently. Monroe was a compulsive womanizer throughout his life, never faithul in any relationship, usually having a semi permanent mistress in addition whatever common law or legal wife he had, and usually having several other women out on the road. Plainly, Monroe was small minded and propriatorial about "owning" Bluegrass. He was especially hateful to others like his former employees starting with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs who dared to play it on their own. Monroe refused to speak to Lester and Earl for decades, threatened to fire his own band members for merely talking to Lester and Earl or members of their band, and refused to appear on the same bill at Bluegrass Festivals with them until he was forced too. This despite the fact both Flat and Scruggs retained a professional respect for Monroe then and now, while Lester Flatt and his wife always had a deep personal admiration and care for Monroe. It's still shocking to me to read about the great fiddle genius Kenny Baker who played with Monroe on and off for 23 years!. Baker simply demanded to know where the band would be touring so his family could send him word of the progress of Baker's dying brother. Monroe refused to tell him because he'd never told band members where the tour was going before. Even though Baker was an acknowledged genius of Bluegrass fiddle whose work suited Monroe's taste more than any of a number of fiddlers who preceded him and followed him, an interview I saw on the web with a long-time band members, explains Monroe always referred to Baker as a "drunk." Monroe tended to treat and pay band members like they were farm hands on a farm in Western Kentucky in the 1920s. If Bill Monroe needed his house painted, fence posts put in on one of his farms, or other work around home or farm, if you were in the band, you were expected to show up on time at 6 am in the morning and do that work as well for nothing extra,. This book seems to accurately root Monroe's character in the difficulty he had with a disability in his eyes as a child and early teen, a disability cured when his older brothers moved to the Midwest and got jobs in factories and oil refineries and got together money for a healing operation. Monroe never seems to recover for the hazing and unkindness he faced from his brothers before the operation. This book recounts how even when Monroe was in his late 60s and an internationally famous cultural figure, while his brothers were in their seventies, men who had been mostly rescued from financial failure by their younger brothers, he would still fall into tears about how cruelly they had treated him as a child when he visited them! There are many other stories of Monroe's small
mindedness, jealousy, and campaigns against musicians who worked for him. However, on reflection, the important question seems to be, that with all these problems, Monroe always had one of the great organizations in music of any kind, and the seminal group in Bluegrass. Musicians fought to work for and stay with Bill Monroe harder than some might have fought to get away. Musicians who Monroe chased away out of jealousy and then castigated once they left the band have seen their careers as a tribute to Monroe. Monroe was a great, decisive, and innovative musician, singer, performer and arranger. His ability to lead, train and continue a band that became elite training school for all of bluegrass, matched with his ability to bring what blues, swing, and even jazz offered to the musicwithout losing what he called the "ancient sounds" congealed Bluegrass out of the ferment that was going through country music after World War II. Everybody with ears needs to hear him. Of course, if you aren't familiar with Monroe's musical history and contributions, this book, does provide a basic introduction to that as well. But the real interest in the book is the conflict between Monroe's contributions to music, and his troubled emotions.
Rating:
Summary: A "powerful" biography
Review: This is a powerful book, and Richard Smith has succeeded in presenting an especially well-rounded portrait of an especially complex individual. There's been quite a bit of discussion of the book on several Bluegrass oriented internet lists, most of it positive, although there have been a few carping posts on the decision to expose some of unpublished, but oft-rumored, facts and incidents in Monroe's life. Wisely bypassing the on-going "what is Bluegrass, anyway" debate, the book offers a very common-sensible approach to whether or not Monroe indeed invented the genre -- RDS posits an "auteur" theory of the foundation of Bluegrass, giving WSM the principle credit, but also elevating several others to near-founder status: Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin and, to a lesser, but important extent, Don Reno. Richard talked to many (if not most) of the (surviving) women in WSM's life; they were seemingly very forthcoming about Bill and his good and bad traits, and their stories are integral to the overall picture. The one person who did not talk to him, who's input would have been invaluable, but who come across much better than I (and, I suspect, many others in the BG world) expected, was Bill's son, James. Input from surviving members of the BG Boys is also critical to the overall success and utility of the book. One of the complaints that I have: the book is too short, and neglects to cover many of the stories that circulate in the Bluegrass world, either to confirm or debunk. My other major complaints: the index, which seems rather perfunctory, and the notes -- I would have preferred source notes at the back (as they appear), but with parenthetical remarks in the body of the text, as footnotes, rather than combining the two in one section after the entire text. These notes are integral to the story, and I'm going to have to reread the book just to coordinate these asides with the main text; I was flying through it on my first of, (probably) many readings. But these are nits, and I almost had to search in order to pick 'em. Overall, it's an outstanding job. Also, I feel very proud both for Richard and for Mr. Monroe that the book appears under the imprint of a mainstream trade publisher, rather than being in the relative backwater of an academic press. Thank you, Richard, for spending the time and effort to bring this book to us. It passes my own personal test for great art: It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think. What more can one ask!
Rating: 
Summary: Some what incomplete for muscians who want details......
Review: This is the first major biography of Bill Monroe, and it won't be the last. Some, no doubt, will be written in more eloquent prose -- Richard D. Smith's is at best pedestrian -- but it's hard to imagine a future biography that could manage to be as balanced and as affectionate without ever sliding into sentimentality, apologetics, or hagiography. Though no sensible observer disputes the greatness of Monroe's music, some writers cannot resist snide treatments of the man's personal foibles and limitations, which were many. Smith does not hide Monroe's unattractive qualities, but he also shows his other side, which came more and more to the fore as Monroe gradually came to understand that, almost in spite of himself, he had become loved and revered. In other words, more than any other writer before him, Smith makes Monroe not just an icon, not just a difficult, imperious, narcissistic man, but a human being who struggled most of his life against the shadows cast by a bitter chldhood. The reader begins to comprehend why so many who knew Monroe cared so much about him, and Smith makes the reader care, too. By the end of the book, as Monroe is buried and mourned by the many whom his life and music touched, I felt emotionally drained and profoundly moved -- and newly grateful for the art that endures even after the artist is gone.
Rating:
Summary: But the road takes such a terrible toll...
Review: This is without a doubt one of the best biographies I've ever read.I have been listning to Monroe's music for many years but until reading this book I knew very little about Monroe the person.After reading a well researched biography ,you should get the feeling that you really know something about the person.I now think I know what drove Monroe in the pursuit of his music.Very few people are as inspired and dedicated as he was and even if we were, fewer still would be able to stay the course as he did.
This book also shows what a hard life of sacrifice these entertainers lived, in order to pursue their dreams and at the same time provide us with so much enjoyment.As hard as this lifestyle might seem to us,I guess they felt it sure beat ploughing for a living. It seems so ironic that these people who are adored so much by their fans actually live difficult and lonely lives.
In addition to getting to know so much about Monroe;this book gives a great insight into the workings of the music business as well as the impact on all the friends, family and co- workers of the "stars".
I guess the most striking thing thing that I got from reading this book is that while these people sacrifice everything for their careers,we owe them so much gratitude for the enjoyment they put in our lives.
The words that Bill's son James had inscribed on on his father,s monument says it all:
"Walk softly around this grave for my father Bill Monroe rests here as the blue moon of Kentucky shines on."
Rating: 
Summary: Currently the "Definitive" Bill Monroe Biography
Review: This work is meticulously and exhaustively researched and includes wonderful stories and insights into the personality of the "Father of Bluegrass". So many other reviewers have remarked here about how interesting (and sometimes previously unrevealed) many of the stories are, in particular with regard to his need to be with many women. But one of the great attributes of this book is giving some insight into Mr. Monroe's music - his genious of a gift for "pulling music out of the air" and his innovation in turning the previously muddling mountain rhythms of his youth into a driving force of nature that was propelled forward by the bark of his Lloyd Loar Gibson F-5. The stories behind the creation of "Little Georgia Rose" and "Can't You Hear Me Calling", among others, were unknown to me, and I found fascinating and frankly poignant. I consider this the definitive biography of one of the absolute giants of American music.
Rating:
Summary: Currently the "Definitive" Bill Monroe Biography
Review: This work is meticulously and exhaustively researched and includes wonderful stories and insights into the personality of the "Father of Bluegrass". So many other reviewers have remarked here about how interesting (and sometimes previously unrevealed) many of the stories are, in particular with regard to his need to be with many women. But one of the great attributes of this book is giving some insight into Mr. Monroe's music - his genious of a gift for "pulling music out of the air" and his innovation in turning the previously muddling mountain rhythms of his youth into a driving force of nature that was propelled forward by the bark of his Lloyd Loar Gibson F-5. The stories behind the creation of "Little Georgia Rose" and "Can't You Hear Me Calling", among others, were unknown to me, and I found fascinating and frankly poignant. I consider this the definitive biography of one of the absolute giants of American music.
Rating:
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: While this book is meticulously researched, one thing is very apparent right from the start. The author is massively in awe of his subject. In this particular case, that tends to get in the way of the enjoyment of the book in certain spots. Occasionally he weaves what are probably tall tales into the story just like they are certifiable fact and he often justifies every oddball decision Monroe ever made. Just tune out some of the author's personal opinions and this is a great read. That being said, the book is very entertaining. You get a good sense of the struggles Monroe had to go through to attain the success he achieved later in life. He definately suffered for his art (although that suffering was self-inflicted sometimes.) The author conducted tons of interviews with Bill's former sidemen, his lovers, his family and other important folks. To the author's credit, he reveals a very multi-faceted Bill Monroe. Everyone has the impression that he was just some country bumpkin with a mandolin and the author does his subject justice by proving that Monroe was so much more. Monroe was a complex man with great personal as well as professional struggles. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will end this review with one great story from the book. Bill Monroe is at the White House to receive his Medal of Arts from the president. Frank Sinatra is also there and comes up to Bill and compliments him on his music. Monroe says, "I didn't catch your name son." When Sinatra tells him his name, Monroe looks at him and says, "You know, I believe I've heard of you" and walks off.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT START!
Review: While this won't be the definitive work on Monroe it's the one that had to be written before anything further can be done. Someone once wrote that a biographer should be sympathetic to his subject. Smith might have overdone it a bit but I personally don't think it got in the way as much as some other reviewers. I think what he did do,however, is spend too much time trying to define what made Monroe tick. On the VERY positive side he didn't stoop to a chronicle of the endless "Monroe Stories" that circulate. (I knew one of his many banjo players quite well and he could entertain you for hours with "Monroe Stories"). Hilarious at a cocktail party, but that's where they belong. I think overall it's a great book and gave it only four stars because much more work needs to be done to define Bill if that's even possible but this is a great step in that direction.
Rating:
Summary: Overall Interesting
Review: Who was Bill Monroe? Everyone who knows anything about country or bluegrass music knows the name but do you know the man? Most likely not. This book sheds light on who he was. What made the man tick from his childhood and throughout the hardships of his adult life. A fiercly proud man and an extremely hard worker who demanded as much from his band as he did himself. This book points out the reasons behind many of the stories and the roots of the legends. It also shows Bill Monroe in all his glory as well as all his shame. It points out his faults as well as his strengths. Addressing many of the events of his life with candor. Overall this was a really good book. If there was one thing keeping me from giving this book five stars it was the fact that the author was found of making statements like "i'm sure Bill must have felt......". Of course he had done extensive research but I felt at these points he inflected too much of his own opinion. Does he really think he knew what Bill Monroe was feeling? Most of his relatives didn't. Beyond that, I recommend this book for good reading on the subject of Bill Monroe. Read it with a few more books on the subject and get a well rounded opinion of this great man.
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