An Introduction to America’s Music

CHAPTER 17 | POSTWAR COUNTRY MUSIC 417

timing section text comments

0:00 instrumental

chorus

Mandolin leads in an instrumental statement of the

8-bar tune. For every sustained note in the melody

(as later sung), Monroe plays repeated notes, using

a rapid back-and-forth stroke with a fl at pick.

0:12 chorus It’s mighty dark for me to

travel

For my sweetheart she is

gone...

Vocal duet in close blended harmony.

0:26 instrumental

chorus

Fiddle solo, with prominent use of double stops. As

in other instrumental choruses, two extra beats at

end accommodate the singer’s pickup notes into

the next verse.

0:39 verse 1 To me she was a little angel

Sent down to me from God

above...

Flatt sings the verse solo, with mandolin fi ligree as

background.

0:51 chorus It’s mighty dark for me to

travel...

Return to vocal duet; Monroe’s mandolin is silent.

1:05 instrumental

chorus

Banjo solo featuring Scruggs’s infl uential three-

fi nger style (using metal fi nger picks), producing a

stream of sixteenth notes with syncopated accents.

1:17 verse 2 Many a night we strolled

together

Talking of our love so

fair...

Flatt’s vocal solo, with mandolin and fi ddle in

background.

1:30 chorus It’s mighty dark for me to

travel...

Vocal duet.

songwriter: Bill Monroe

date: 1947

performers: Bill Monroe, vocal, mandolin;

Lester Flatt, vocal, guitar; Earl Scruggs,

banjo; Chubby Wise, fi ddle; Howard Watts,

bass

genre: bluegrass

meter: duple

form: verse and chorus

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• “high lonesome sound” of high-pitched
  tenor vocal harmonies


• fast tempo and driving rhythm


• same music for verse and chorus


• alternation of virtuosic instrumental
  solos


• distinctive sound of Earl Scruggs’s banjo
  technique

CD 3.12 Listening Guide 17.1

“It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” BILL MONROE AND

HIS BLUE GRASS BOYS

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