Named after the "father of Bluegrass," Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys -- from Kentucky, the Urban Monroes, from Portland, Oregon, are a bluegrass band that mixes traditional style with new and original songs.  They have been making waves in the bluegrass genre,  being  in the Top 10 "Best of 2015" Bluegrass Song Chart at  Roots Music Report.  

I personally have enjoyed listening to a couple of instrumental tracks from their third album,  Apaloosa Daydream (2014), while doing artwork.  I brought  them with me, in a mix with some other instrumental music, to a painting class I was in this fall.  I think everyone was surprised when the song "Blackberry Shortcake" started out with a strong rhythmic beat that sounded almost like a rock song, and then after we all got into the groove of the beat, it burst into glorious bluegrass!

Here is some music for spring, in a recently made video, with Fran Kent, the guitarist of Urban Monroes, playing; the title is "Periwinkle's Song".  It is a traditional Irish tune.

In January I had the opportunity to get a sampling of bluegrass bands at the River City Music Festival.  The Bluegrass Regulators band was there, and it was my absolute favorite!  Even if I hadn't seen these young people instructing lots of kids earlier in the day (they ran a "School of Bluegrass" for kids, just before the festival started), I would have liked them for their traditional but
also fun and "outside the box" approach to playing bluegrass. 

Theirs were not just a chain of mournful love-sick songs (like I thought some of the other bluegrass bands were)-- instead, they chose songs with many topics.  They are known for their interesting merging of styles-- for an example of this, hear their song "Red House" on their MySpace page.  This is bluegrass-- but bluegrass like you may have never heard it before.

The members of the Bluegrass Regulators are Luke and Jake Dewhirst (banjo, guitar, vocals), Martin
Stevens (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), Molly Adkins (guitar, vocals), and Josh Adkins (bass, vocals).  Many of them have won awards for their instrument playing since they were children; they are young adults now, and putting all these skilled players together has resulted in a band that is able to easily try out new ideas and create music for unique self-written bluegrass pieces.

They have one CD, The Bluegrass Regulators (2010), and are working on a second one
now.  Be sure to keep an eye--and ear--out for this talented group.