Bessie Lee Mauldin (1920 to 1983) was the bass player in Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys for about ten years, from the mid-1950s into the mid-1960s. Monroe called her the Carolina Songbird. She played string bass on his Decca sessions from September 1955 to April 1964, and she was one of the first women to hold a professional bluegrass bass job.
Why Mauldin matters
Mauldin held down the bass in the band that set the standard for bluegrass, and she held it for a decade. In that time Monroe went through dozens of fiddlers, banjo players, and guitarists. The bass player stayed. Her steady tenure shows up on the Decca records that bluegrass players still learn Monroe’s repertoire from.
Life and career
Mauldin was born on December 28, 1920, in Norwood, Stanley County, North Carolina. She first joined Monroe’s road show in September 1941 as a featured singer.
She took over the bass in the Blue Grass Boys in the 1950s. Her first Decca session with Monroe came on September 16, 1955. Over the next nine years she played on about 30 of his Decca sessions. She also helped Monroe write the verses to the gospel song A Voice From On High. When Ralph Rinzler urged Monroe to play the folk circuit in the early 1960s, she helped convince him.
In her later years she moved back to Norwood. She died on February 8, 1983, at a hospital in nearby Albemarle.
Playing style
Mauldin played a root and fifth bass with runs between the chords, in keys from A to G. Monroe’s music asked for a hard, steady pulse at fast tempos, and her long tenure says she gave it to him. She also sang with the band on some recordings.
Influences and legacy
Mauldin followed Cedric Rainwater and the other early Monroe bass players into the job. She played beside Bill Monroe for about ten years and backed many of the fiddlers, banjo players, and guitarists who passed through his band. Women who play bluegrass bass today, from Missy Raines to Vickie Vaughn, work in a field she helped open.
Essential recordings
Mr. Blue Grass, Bill Monroe (Decca) Blue Grass Ramble, Bill Monroe (Decca) Blue Grass Special, Bill Monroe (Decca) I’ll Meet You in Church Sunday Morning, Bill Monroe (Decca)
What to learn from Mauldin
Pick a fast Monroe number from one of her Decca albums and play the bass part along with the record. Stay on the root and fifth, and add a short run only when the chord changes. Then play it again at full speed. The skill to steal is endurance: a bass line that stays even and strong for a whole set of hard-driving songs.
Sources
Bessie Lee Mauldin, Wikipedia I’m Going Back To Old Kentucky #89, Bluegrass Today
Related players
See the bass players hub and the bass guide. Cedric Rainwater played bass in Monroe’s 1946 band. Jake Tullock held the same job with Flatt and Scruggs in the same years.