The legendary Bill Monroe created bluegrass by speeding up the traditional songs his music-loving family taught him as a boy growing up in Kentucky. He played mandolin (since his older brothers had claimed fiddle and guitar), learning an extensive repertoire and soon gigging all over rural America in the ‘30s. With his fast, virtuosic style, Monroe helped transform folk chestnuts into the wild farm-town party music known as bluegrass, becoming a star in the process. Bluegrass eventually waned in popularity, but Monroe had achieved legendary status long before his death at age 84 in 1996.