Named for the late bluegrass legend Bill Monroe, the Minnesota-based quintet Monroe Crossing performs some of the most joyful music I’ve ever heard. They played two vibrant sets this evening, combining woeful lyrics with a banjo sound so bouncy, I couldn’t stop smiling. I will confess right now that several songs about heartbreak, abandonment, loneliness, and death had me grinning from ear to ear. That’s bluegrass for you.
The vocalists and upper strings (banjo, mandolin, five-string fiddle and guitar) perform in the old-time style, moving in an intricate dance around a single microphone, while their frenetic bass player hovers on the periphery. And they are so good.
They opened tonight with “Endless Stream of Tears,” an up-tempo song with close vocal harmonies and punchy, slap-happy bass. “He’s relentless, and I’m defenseless,” sang lead vocalist Lisa Fuglie, “drowning in an endless stream of tears.” That was fun.
Benji Flaming, on the 5 string banjo, fostered much of the happy vibe, with a quick three-finger style so mesmerizing and delightful, I forgot I was hearing songs with titles like “The Children are Crying” and “Fox on the Run.” Flaming’s banjo added zing to a murder ballad, a song about a hanging, and more than a few cheerful odes to heartless, cheating women.
In the all-request second set, the band members performed several songs with more hopeful lyrics, like the exquisite Etta James classic “At Last” and the gospel standard “Amazing Grace.” These featured understated vocals, spare textures, and slower tempos. Then the tempo picked up again for songs like “Man of Constant Sorrows,” as the subject matter returned to grief and loss.
Highlights of the evening: a frenzied banjo solo in Earl Scruggs’ “Ground Speed,” a feisty “Orange Blossom” virtuoso show-down, and an absolutely lovely performance of the sad-yet-hopeful Bill Monroe song, “The Walls of Time.”
I hear her voice out in the darkness
It moans and whispers through the pines
I know it must be her a’callin’
I hear her through the walls of time.
