Recording
Blue Moon of Kentucky
Bill Monroe
- Released
- 1946
- Label
- Columbia
- On one list
- Bluegrass
- Updated
- 2026-08-30
Analysis
4 sections, the first drop at 1:00, 47% of the way in.
- Tempo
- 117.5 BPM
- holds throughout
- Key
- C major
- estimated from the pitch content
- Dynamic range
- 6 dB
- moderate range, typical of a modern master
- Length
- 2:08
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintro0
- 0:19Apeakbar 9
- 1:00Bbreakdownbar 30
- 1:16Bsteadybar 37
Drop at 1:00 (bar 30). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:19
- Energy
- 22
- Brightness
- 75
- Density
- 57
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung · one of 2 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:41
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 4
- Density
- 94
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:16
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:52
- Energy
- 36
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in Bluegrass
A waltz, until Elvis took it at double speed eight years later and Monroe then re-recorded it that way himself. Few records document a handover so cleanly.