Bill an' 'Em, 1946

Just think: Lester Flatt on guitar; Earl Scruggs on banjo; Chubby Wise on the little fiddle; Cedric Rainwater on the bass fiddle, led by Bill Monroe on mandolin.

It was too much talent for one room. Lester and Earl would stay for two years, then split off in 1948 to form their own band.

Most commentators credit five acts with being the five pioneers of bluegrass music: Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers, Jim and Jesse, and Reno and Smiley. Most fans recognize three: Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, and the Stanleys.

While Flatt and Scruggs made bluegrass safe for the somewhat-adventurous members of the middle class; and the Stanleys kept it traditional -- almost to the point of pre-bluegrass -- for the old-timers and an eventual audience of tattooed millennials; Bill Monroe was the only one who landed in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

That's partly because he was the originator of this music, but also because of masterpieces like this. At first listen, it's just a bunch of bluegrass pickers -- albeit, highly skilled ones -- trying their hands at the then-current trend of swing music. But listen to Monroe's break, and tell me Chuck Berry didn't listen, too -- and learn.

 Here are Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys with the autobiographical "Heavy Traffic Ahead".