Fight over Bill Monroes Mandolin

[Janice Brooks]

Fight over Monroe's mandolin to play out in Nashville court


Associated Press

ROSINE, Ky. — A legal fight over who will retain the rights to bluegrass music pioneer Bill Monroe's mandolin is headed to trial later this month in Tennessee.

Monroe's son, James Monroe, wants to sell the Gibson F-5 mandolin to the Ohio County Industrial Foundation instead of the Bill Monroe Foundation.

The Monroe foundation's executive director, Campbell Mercer, said he balked at James Monroe's plan outlined during mediation in Nashville last month.

A deal for the Monroe foundation to buy the mandolin fell through in October 2002. The effort, spearheaded by Mercer, paid $162,500 toward the $1.1 million contracted price of the mandolin. But a bank loan for part of the money fell through ''for reasons that will be discussed in the trial,'' Mercer said.

Mercer said he's spent three years of ''blood, sweat and tears'' trying to return the mandolin to Bill Monroe's native Rosine in Ohio County.

Meanwhile, the Ohio County Industrial Foundation already has bought several of Monroe's personal items for a proposed museum, including a Cadillac and some of his clothes and furniture.

The industrial foundation terminated Mercer's contract as head of the Monroe foundation in March 2003. Mercer later sued, claiming he was owed back pay, benefits and expenses. After the firing, the Monroe foundation's board retained Mercer as executive director without pay.

Dudley Cooper, a spokesman for the foundation, declined to comment because of the pending litigation.

Mercer said he presented a letter of guarantee from a Florida-based venture-capital firm during mediation. The firm has agreed to provide him with the money to buy the mandolin and has put it in a holding account.

Mercer said he is asking that he be given time to get the paperwork for the money completed.

Bill Monroe was the last person to play the mandolin, during a March 15, 1996, performance at the Grand Ole Opry. He was stricken with a stroke the next day and died later that year. He is buried in the community cemetery at Rosine.

Monroe purchased the mandolin in 1943 at a Miami barbershop for about $150. It has been regarded as a key to his stylistic development.

The trial over the instrument is scheduled to begin July 12 in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville.

[John Floyd]

Gonna to be a big mess now that Lawyers and Judges are involved in it.

[Stephen Gambrell]

I've been in this thing since Bill died, and EVERY instrument collector in the world wanted THE mandolin. Rumors flew about James selling the mandolin to someone in Japan, to a collector here in the states---the only certainty seemed to be, that James had sold, or was going to sell, the F-5 for big bucks. Bill actually owned 2 Loar F-5's, by the way. Campbell Mercer was a man with good intentions, or so it seemed. But he didn't have financial backing. I've gotten solicitations over the years for donations, to help Campbell buy the mandolin. He gave James the down payment, made a promise to pay the balance, then didn't, by the specified date. He even went before the Kentucky state legislature, asking THEM to buy the mandolin for him! He was, of course, turned down.
In the beginning, Mercer appeared to be acting as a voluntary historian/curator of a grandiose Monroe theme park. Rebuid the old Monroe home, the whole nine yards. But now, he's claiming back wages???
As distasteful as it may be to some folks, it boils down to this. Campbell Mercer made a committment he was not able to honor. The mandolin belongs to James Monroe, to do with, or dispose of, as he wishes. The courts, nor the rest of us, should have any say in the matter.
Besides, Monroe's music will FAR outlast the instrument he played!!