Distilling the four-disc Music of Bill Monroe down to 50 songs, this double-disc Anthology is a fine survey of the bluegrass pioneer's career. Picking up in 1950 after Monroe's breakthrough Columbia tenure, this set documents his 30-year Decca period and its song list reads like a Bluegrass 101 songbook, offering classic after classic. Like the greatest of jazz bandleaders, Monroe's Blue Grass Boys band was a proving ground for aspiring bluegrass musicians and a springboard for their future solo success, with each incarnation of the group displaying its own distinct character. Vocal powerhouse Jimmy Martin helped propel Monroe's stellar early-'50s band while other contributors include singers Del McCoury and Peter Rowan and elite pickers such as banjoists Bill Keith and Don Stover and fiddlers Richard Greene, Kenny Baker, Bobby Hicks, and Vassar Clements. Of course, Big Mon's fiery high tenor vocals and feverish mandolin are the common threads. --Marc Greilsamer