`The Best Of Bluegrass': All the Original Greatest Hits, From `Blue Moon of Kentucky' and `Foggy Mountain Breakdown' to `Rocky Top,' From Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Vince Gill and More.

Entertainment Editors & Music/Retail Writers

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--May 22, 2002

The astonishing success of the quadruple platinum, 2002 Grammy Album of the Year soundtrack to the Coen Brothers' quirky film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" has brought bluegrass down from the mountains and into the mainstream. Now the 12 "greatest hits of bluegrass" performed by legends such as Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs as well as contemporary stars such as Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill have been compiled on "The Best Of Bluegrass" edition of "20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection" (Hip-O Records), released July 2, 2002.

The genre was developed in the `40s by the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, represented on "The Best Of Bluegrass" by two classics from Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys: "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" and "In The Pines." Perhaps the finest singer and guitarist for Monroe was Jimmy Martin ("Widow Maker"), who later joined with The Osborne Brothers to form The Sunny Mountain Boys. The Stanley Brothers were another early great, and Ralph and Carter are heard on "Who Will Call You Sweetheart" and "Angel Band." (Ralph closed the unbroken circle with a solo Grammy-winning performance on "O Brother, Where Art Thou?")

An often overlooked originator -- maybe the first "hillbilly" recording artist -- was Ernest "Pop" Stoneman, who was putting his proto-bluegrass onto Edison cylinders in the `20s. His large family group would become known as The Stonemans ("Shady Grove"). One of the most popular groups of the post-war era, The Osborne Brothers ("Rocky Top" and, with Red Allen, "Ruby, Are You Mad"), was also one of the most inventive, using amplification, twin harmony banjos, steel guitars and drums.

Yet the most recognizable bluegrass act in history, thanks to exposure on television, is surely Flatt & Scruggs, with "The Best Of Bluegrass" presenting Lester and Earl's "Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms" and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." The latter instrumental masterpiece has won two recent Grammys, including in 2002 for an ensemble performance that included Gill, Skaggs, and banjo-playing comedian/bluegrass aficionado Steve Martin, among others. Today's countrified fans have tapped into bluegrass through artists such as Gill ("High Lonesome Sound") and Skaggs ("Hallelujah I'm Ready").

Bluegrass is back -- and looking both to the past and the future.

The series "20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection" features new "best of" albums from the most significant music artists of the past century.