What Would You Give in Exchange for Your Soul
This 15-song set kicks off a projected 4-volume series issuing the complete 1936-1938 duet recordings of future bluegrass founderBill Monroeand his guitarist brother, Charlie. Volume 1 captures the duo when, as an obscure regional act, they were still feeling their way musically. Nonetheless, they nailed their first popular record, the eerily moralistic gospel number "What Would You Give in Exchange?" on their first session. This collection of 1936 material also includes their bestselling recordings of "New River Train," "This World Is Not My Home," "Drifting Too Far from the Shore," and "Roll On Buddy," which helped make those songs standards in the years before World War II. The Monroes' flair for synthesis was particularly outstanding because their repertoire blended material they'd heard in church or on records, discovered in shape-note hymnbooks, or appropriated from the repertoire of their favorite band, the Prairie Ramblers. While Bill's bluegrass concepts were still fermenting during these years, he built his future on the solid, successful foundation of his work with Charlie.--Rich Kienzle