It’s a breakdown of a breakdown!! Today I’m going to be looking at the great Bill Monroe fiddle tune Brown County Breakdown. Specifically, I’m looking at the Kenny Baker plays Bill Monroe recording for this breakdown – but there’s so many great version.
Here’s mandolin sheet music for this breakdown – Brown County Breakdown
Listen
Some of my favorite recordings of this song are below. Remember, listen to the tune a lot before you even pick up your mandolin. Having a good grasp of the melody in your head will make learning this (and really any song) so much easier.
- Bill Monroe
- Kenny Baker
- Noam Pikelyn
- The Grass is Greener
- Dreadful Snakes
- Bryan Sutton
- Mark Johnson and Emory Lester
Form
The form is pretty straight forward AABBCC which means you’ll play the A part twice, the B part twice, and the C part twice before repeating.
Solo breaks on this vary depending on the recording. Some (like the Kenny Baker recording) have each instrument playing a full A B C break. Others (like the Noam Pikelyn recording) pass the breaks around so one instrument takes the A and B while another takes the C and A of the next round. Given the variety of “standard” recordings of this tune, if you are calling it – make sure you clearly indicate how the breaks work.
Mandolin Sheet Music: Melody & Chords
The three parts are pretty different from each other which is one reason I love this tune.
- A Part – mostly double stops or just chord tones
- B Part – more fleshed out version of the A part
- C Part – gets a little weird with the b7 (D)
Kenny Baker’s fiddle melody is a little more “notey” than Bill Monroe’s break that follows and Bill’s break is more “bluesy” (especially in the C Part) than Kenny’s. Also, on the B part, Kenny plays a slightly different melody the first time through. I think this was probably a mistake that they just left in, but it’s something to note. Either way, they’re both good versions of the melody to learn with a few small differences, so I’ve included both variations.


Bill Monroe’s break comes right after Kenny Baker’s in the recording has a lot of variations to what Kenny played. Since it’s Bill’s tune, I guess better said that Kenny had a lot of variations in his tune though.
Mr. Monroe’s mandolin breaks often have a “machine gun” style feel to them with lots of notes (including some tremolo or just repeated notes) – which stand in great contrast to what Kenny Baker played just before.


Chords
It’s easiest to talk about the chords for each part in this tune
- The A Part starts off with just hits on the E chord for 6 measures, then a quick turnaround of E A B E (I IV | V I).
- The B Part has three measures of E followed by a measure of B (I V) then repeats this, but instead of a full measure of B you just play B for two beats then two of E (I | V I)
- The C Part also starts with E for two measures this time, then moves to the flat 7th for one and a half measures followed by two beats of E. The next 4 measures are the same as the last four measures in the B part.
In my charts, I focused on what I normally play but I recommend fleshing out your own variations of this song. Use the Chord Shape series to get some ideas on different voicings if you need.
Double Stops
The reason I really love this song is because of the double stops. The main melody is basically a series of double stops or notes that can be turned into double stops easily. This gives you the ability to create a slightly more complex sound especially if you were playing solo or in a small group.
Below are a few variations on the A Part using double stops (you can download the PDF here too). Depending on the group / arrangement, you can use these either as your rhythm chops or as the basis for a solo break. I recommend working up the same thing for the B and C parts.


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