First-Rate Tributes to Father of Bluegrass

There’s a built-in dilemma in paying tribute to a musical innovator of the stature of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass. Do you hew close to the distinctive sound Monroe created in the ‘30s by fusing country, folk, blues and jazz, or honor the barrier-breaking spirit he exhibited in refusing to be limited by tradition?

Bluegrass torchbearer Skaggs cannily has it both ways on this star-studded homage to the influential singer, songwriter, mandolinist and bandleader, which is due in stores on Tuesday.

Skaggs and Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines get as bluesy as bluegrass gets in the Chicks’ take on the lament “Walk Softly on My Heart,” while John Fogerty irreverently and electrically rocks things up on “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”

Monroe’s fellow Kentuckian Dwight Yoakam takes a jaunty approach to “Rocky Road Blues” that emphasizes the Jimmie Rodgers influence in Monroe’s music.

The women--Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless, the Whites and (surprise!) Joan Osborne--mostly do the honors of summoning Monroe’s signature high, lonesome sound, since Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels and Bruce Hornsby can’t approach the altitudes Monroe’s high tenor commonly traveled.

All, however, deliver first-rate performances no doubt reflecting the esteem in which they hold Monroe, who died in 1996 at age 84.

Monroe’s often mournful tales of lost or unrequited love and sweet-and-sour harmonizing take precedence over the display of instrumental prowess that was another of Monroe’s contributions. Fans of dazzling picking can just jump straight to the everyone-in-the-pool instrumental jam that closes the album.

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