Can't You Hear Me Callin'? - Book 54

Can't You Hear Me Callin'? by Richard Smith is a biography of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music.  I read it as part of my research for my NaNoWriMo novel which involved the Bluegrass revival of the 1970s in this area.

Smith wrote a pretty good biography.   It's a little clunky in parts, but Smith did his research.  The book is chock full of footnotes, not just to articles and past interviews but interviews the author conducted himself for this book.  Smith was very thorough and conscientious, so I trust him as an author.

Monroe was a character.  He was a musical genius and a hard, hard working man, but he was also a compulsive womanizer and a poor business man.  These latter two things often undermined the former two.  In spite of his difficult nature, he truly inspired loyalty, his ex wives and lovers would come back to help him out, people he spurned for years because of some imagined slight, would forgive and forget simply so they could work with him again.  Smith gets rather Freudian about it all and blames Monroe's quirks on his childhood.

If you are interested in Americana music in the 20th century, this is a good resource.  Here's a link to the song the book is named after.

For more book reviews, go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.