Jimmy Martin at Bean Blossom 1996 (2 days before Monroe's death)
Just before the 32 minute mark Jimmy starts to introduce a gospel tune "Lord I'm Coming Home" and
he starts talking about Bill Monroe. (The band members that I remember are Vernon Derrick on mandolin,
singing the beautiful harmony with Jimmy on that song, and banjo player Larry Wallace.)
Keep in mind this is 2 days before Bill passes and is at Bean Blossom. there was quite a pall
around the festival as people were concerned for Bill as he was in such bad shape. There was also
uncertainty about the future of the festival and the park. Jimmy was trying to build the festival
up to the people and help James Monroe. In some of Jimmy's talking you can hear him tear up.
But he mentioned something about Bill being easy to get along withand a guy in the crowd said "bullshit".
This prompted Jimmy to really talk straight from the heart about Bill Monroe and his music.
The funny part about this story is the guy that made the comment was really a Bill Monroe fan.
However this was the last show of the night and the guy had been drinking beer all day. His buddy told
me he was almost passed out and thought he heard someone on the stage say something bad about
Bill. The man came to, shouted his comment, and passed out for good. The result however was
Jimmy giving a good testimony about Mr. Bill.
(more to come)