The Original Bluegrass Band
1978 compilation album by Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs
The Original Bluegrass Band is a compilation album by American bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and his band, the Blue Grass Boys. Released by Rounder Records in summer 1978, it features 12 songs recorded in September 1946 and October 1947, all of which were released between 1947 and 1949. The album is Monroe's first compilation to be made up entirely of recordings by the "classic lineup" of his band, with guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo player Earl Scruggs co-credited on the album's sleeve.
Background
The Original Bluegrass Band is the first compilation made up exclusively of recordings by the 1945–1948 incarnation of Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. The title is a reference to the moniker given retrospectively to the lineup of guitarist and vocalist Lester Flatt, banjo player Earl Scruggs, fiddler Chubby Wise and bassist Howard Watts, with whom Monroe is credited as having "created" the genre of bluegrass. All 12 tracks on the album had previously been released by Columbia Records subsidiary Harmony across three compilations: The Great Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys (1961), Bill Monroe's Best (1964) and The Original Blue Grass Sound (1965).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Original Bluegrass Band” as 1978 compilation album by Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1978 compilation album by Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q133809118. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1978, 1946, 1947 and 1949.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Original Bluegrass Band”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Original Bluegrass Band primary sources, The Original Bluegrass Band archive and Original research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Original Bluegrass Band” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.