Bluegrass and Baseball are two American Institutions. Bill Monroe was the inventor of one and master of the other.He was known to challenge the local teams of towns where he was going to play and beat them right away. He was born into a poor family in Kentucky and orphaned at an early age.After the death of his parents he would stay with an uncle who was a well known local fiddler.Later in his career "Uncle Pen" was the subject of a moving Bill Monroe song. In the 1930ies he moved to Chicago to work in a refinery and later made radioshows together with his brother Charlie. Bill's instrument of choice was by now the mandolin and the way he performed it was revolutionary. After parting ways with his brother he formed the Bluegrass Boys, who gave name to the style of music he invented, though Monroe never liked the name. His music was, although it sounded traditional, an unplugged forerunner of Rock'n'Roll, combining Mountain Musicand City chords, the classic "Blue Moon of Kentucky" became one of Elvis Presleys first recordings. Later Bill Monroe would rerecord the song the way Elvis did it.