Gluecifer Sputnik Monroe

The legendary band Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks turns 30 and Fanfar! is marking the occasion by releasing an elaborate collection of the band’s own favourites.

Bill Monroe was a mandolin player, singer, songwriter and bandleader who, with his band The Bluegrass Boys, basing their name on the characteristic blue grass of the Kentucky landscape. In so doing, he effectively gave his name to an entire sub-genre of music - Bluegrass – which did not really exist under that name before he made his unique mark on the country scene in the 1940s. With its roots in Celtic music and old-time fiddle music for dancing, it also borrowed from blues and jazz, and was characterised by impressive high-speed virtuoso musicianship, with his band during this era providing a career platform for Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.