Bill Monroe’s Name, Likeness, & Other Major Properties For Sale
The name “Bill Monroe,” the bluegrass legend’s likeness rights, ownership of the URL “BillMonroe.com,” the name of his iconic band the “Blue Grass Boys,” even the historic Uncle Pen’s Cabin in Rosine, Kentucky, along with other valued artifacts and memorabilia from the Bill Monroe estate, have all been put up for sale, leaving some fans, historians, and archivists a little worried about who may be the eventual owner of arguably the most important name in bluegrass music.
Bill Monroe, known as the Father of Bluegrass, passed away in 1996 at the age of 84 after a storied career that saw him ostensibly invent the bluegrass genre from Appalachian roots and old time fiddle music, eventually landing him in both the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Beginning his career with brother Charlie as the Monroe Brothers, Bill first joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1939, and spent nearly six decades entertaining crowds as a songwriter and mandolin maestro revered internationally for his influential music.
A large quantity of items from the Bill Monroe estate was initially sold off at the Country Music Hall of Fame at its original location on Music Row in 1996 after Monroe’s death. Many items held back from that initial sale by Monroe’s son and grandson were subsequently sold off in Gallatin, TN in July of 2016 in an estate sale. But the new items up for bids mark the biggest pieces of the estate to go up for private ownership, and is one of the few instances of a country music legend’s entire name and likeness being sold.
Along with name and likeness rights and other major properties, 250 live recordings from Bill’s Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival, over 1,800 personal and business checks, including some written to Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, and Johnny Paycheck, knives and watches, Bill’s social security card, credit cards, Christmas cards, his personal record collection, a fiddle Monroe owned for 67 years, thousands of personal papers, collectibles, suits, coats, shoes, ties, and even his Last Will and Testament are up for sale.
It is all being offered by Tony Conway of the Conway Entertainment Group, who is the exclusive agent for the Bill Monroe Estate. “While at Buddy Lee Attractions, I was the agent for Bill Monroe for over ten years. I thought of Mr. Monroe as a national treasure. He was like a grandfather to me. We were good friends,” says Conway.
Undoubtedly, heirs have the right to do whatever they wish with the Bill Monroe legacy, but often the sale of important music memorabilia calls into question whether certain items are too important to be held in private ownership, especially if they’ll be kept out of public viewing.
Jerry Garcia’s iconic wolf guitar was just purchased at auction for $1.9 million by Brian Halligan, CEO of marketing group HubSpot and a self-professed Deadhead. Many important artifacts from the Waylon Jennings estate were auctioned off in October of 2014, including many items of historic significance that would be considered by many music fans as museum worthy. One bright spot is the Waylon estate liquidation also benefited a local charity. Brian Halligan’s winning bid of the Jerry Garcia guitar was matched with an anonymous donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Though the sale of the name and likeness rights of a country star is very rare, it is not unprecedented. The name and likeness rights for George Jones, along with ownership the George Jones museum, restaurant, bar, and music venue in Nashville were sold to a branding company in November of 2016 after a close financial partner to George Jones’ widow Nancy Jones plead guilty to fraud charges.
The sale of Bill Monroe’s name and likeness means these things could be used in marketing, on products, while the ultimate owners of the Uncle Pen Cabin could have profit or private use instead of preservation in mind with the property.
June 6, 2017 @ 9:17 am
CMHOF?
June 6, 2017 @ 9:54 am
Does this mean that there won’t be an museum at all?. I would have thought that
at least the state of Kentucky would be interested in having one.
June 6, 2017 @ 10:22 am
Last I heard there were still plans for a Bill Monroe museum in Rosine, Kentucky, breaking ground this summer. I haven’t seen an update recently. Obviously there is a line where some artifacts and such just don’t have enough historical significance to be enshrined forever, and the estate may need to raise money to preserve the artifacts that do deserve preservation.
June 6, 2017 @ 11:11 am
“and the estate may need to raise money to preserve the artifacts that do deserve preservation.”
So at least there is a chance there will be one… Let’s hope they can raise the money quickly.
And i would imagine his instrument would get a heavy price tag.
If Wikipedia is to believe Maybelle Carter’s guitar was sold to Country Music Hall of Fame for $575 000 13 years ago. And if it hadn’t once belonged to Maybelle the price tag would probebly been between $10-20 000 depending on it’s condition.
And Klara Söderberg, (of FAK), bought this guitar ar Carter Vintage Guitar:
http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/129552-a-gibson-guitar-with-a-gibson-mandolin-headstock/
I don’t know how much she payed for it but I’ve seen a price tag of $15 000 for it And that guitar would normaly cost between $5-10 000
It once belonged to too a member of a band from Georgia Called Ganus Brother Quartet http://sghistory.com/index.php?n=G.Ganus_Brothers, who are now more or less forgotten but it still added 5-10 000 dollar to it’s price.
June 6, 2017 @ 11:31 am
Oops sorry “…a band from Georgia”
I meant a band form Alabama…
June 6, 2017 @ 2:27 pm
Supposedly Mabell bought it for $275 at Lambs Music Store in Kingsport, TN. see:http://www.timesnews.net/News/2009/05/08/Lamb-s-Music-Store-may-have-sold-famous-guitar
June 6, 2017 @ 3:17 pm
Oh thank you VERY much for the link to that article… 🙂 🙂
A Gibson was obv. expensive already back then…Even though I think they also had a production line that made cheaper guitars as well.
And I know that the guitar that old black blues guitarist used,”Stella”, I think they were called, they were between 5-10 dollars at the beginning of the 20th century…
So $275 was a lot of money for a guitar…
June 6, 2017 @ 10:00 am
So…the family is selling out!!???!!? Seriously?????
June 6, 2017 @ 2:13 pm
Hopefully Marty Stuart can snag some of the more important items since he’s a collector and has a connection to Monroe as a former Bluegrass Boy.
June 6, 2017 @ 5:40 pm
Marty is the first guy I thought of too, or Dwight Yoakam, to purchase this memorabilia and exhibit it properly as it deserves.
June 6, 2017 @ 11:24 pm
Marty Stuart was never a member of Bill Monroe’s band and was never a “Blue Grass Boy.” He was, however, a member of Lester Flatt’s “Nashville Grass.”
June 7, 2017 @ 2:44 pm
Damn. You’re right, Rich Leonard. I’d seen videos of Marty playing with Monroe and knew he had played in a bluegrass legend’s band when he was younger, but I completely forgot it was Lester Flatt, not Bill Monroe.
August 2, 2017 @ 7:39 pm
does anyone know where any ganus guitars are available for purchase
September 15, 2020 @ 1:54 pm
Does anyone know if someone bought the rights to the name & likeness of Bill Monroe ?