“I was determined to carve out a music of my own, I didn't want to copy anybody.”
—
Bill Monroe
From New Jersey to California there are more than a few Monroevilles dotting the countryside. When it comes to engaging, original, and multi-faceted blends of energetic country, folk, bluegrass, and alternative music, though, no one can doubt that there’s only one Monroeville on the map. Named after legendary Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, and fronted by Grammy-nominated Matt Munsey and his wife Brittany, the band also features versatile voices and musicians McCoy Borg, Chevy Watson, Joe Stevens and Kyle Dillow.
The band has logged thousands of shows since 2011 gathering devotees from across borders and musical genres. You can find them performing regularly around their Smoky Mountain home in East, TN at such venues as Dollywood, Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery, Anakeesta, Ole Red, and in venues all across the country.
Monroeville has been playing to growing crowds of fervent fans at popular local venues and at the most prominent bluegrass festivals nationwide. With a live sound so pure, tight, and crisp it sounds like a flawless studio recording, the group continues to rise in popularity and gather devotees from across borders and musical genres.
How is Monroeville achieving it? The answer might lie in a quote by Bill Monroe that the group holds in reverence: "I was determined to carve out a music of my own. I didn't want to copy anybody."
Because of the nature of this house gig (and other regular gigs like Blake Shelton's Ole Red and Dollywood) they have adapted an uncanny ability of feeling the crowds and hitting them with what keeps them there and entertained. This video shows what kind of crowd response Monroeville is used to getting while blazing a rendition of the Earl Scruggs "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" at Dollywood's Dream Song Theater.