Who's Who in Jessamine County - Past and Present
J. D. Crowe

Throughout his career J.D. Crowe has been in the vanguard of bluegrass musicians, first as a banjo-picker and then as a group leader. He is regarded as the quintessential Scruggs-style banjoist, a consummate craftsman with flawless timing and full ness of tone. His band, the New South, has been a proving ground for some of the leading lights of bluegrass music's third generation.

Jessamine County native and Bluegrass superstar J.D. Crowe.

Crowe, who had played summer gigs with Mac Wiseman and Jimmy Martin in the mid-'50s, came to national prominence in 1956 when Jimmy Martin hired Crowe -- just out of high school -- full-time. Martin was then one of the top three bluegrass names in the country and Crowe stayed with him for five years, honing his skills and developing his unique style. Crowe appeared on such classic Jimmy Martin recordings as You Don't Know My Mind and Hold Whatcha Got. By the mid `60s Crowe had formed his own group -- the Kentucky Mountain Boys -- whose members would include Doyle Lawson, Bobby Slone, Red Allen and others. Defining the group's s ound were their powerhouse instrumentals and beautiful trio harmony singing, featuring Crowe on baritone.

In `71 Lawson left to join the Country Gentleman. By the mid-`70s, J.D. had drafted Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas to form the first e dition of the New South. Their debut, J.D. Crowe & the New South (issued in 1975), is one of the most influential bluegrass albums of the decade, and caused a sensation. The solidity of J.D.'s playing, combined with the free-flying inventiveness of the New South, produced a stunningly contemporary sound within a traditional context. It enabled the group to infuse new types of songs with the bluegrass spirit, and breathe fresh excitement into the old standards as well. The album catapulted bluegrass into the forefront of progressive American acoustic music and brought a whole new generation of young musicians into the fold.

Skaggs and Douglas left the New South to form Boone Creek in 1976, and Tony Rice's departure to join David Grisman soon followed. Crowe weathere d these personnel shifts remarkably well. To his credit as leader he continued to attract stellar players and never attempted to duplicate the sound of his earlier lineups. Glenn Lawson, Jimmy Gaudreau and Bobby Slone were members of the New South by 1978 . The late Keith Whitley joined in 1979, and Crowe built his `80s group sound around the soulful vocals of the future country star. (This version of the New South is featured on Live in Japan.) In the 1980s, Crowe steered the New South toward the commercial country market, concentrating his talents on record producing and arranging. Crowe, who wanted to expand his bluegrass base, augmented the sound on his records from this period with e lectric rhythm guitar, bass, pedal steel, drums and piano -- one of the most controversial moves of his career.

In the `80s J.D. Crowe -- along with Tony Rice, Doyle Lawson, Bobby Hicks and Todd Phillips -- formed the Bluegrass Album Band. (As of their second album the lineup would also include Dobro player Jerry Douglas.) A return to a fully acoustic sound, the five albums made by the group are a celebration of bluegrass music's roots.

Throughout the `80s Crowe continued to play a full schedule of festivals with the New South while also pursuing broader musical recognition in the country field, both as a recording artist and as a producer/arranger. In 1986 he issued Straight Ahead. But, by the late `80s, Crowe had grown weary with the strain of constant touring and announced his retirement.

With nearly three decades in the business under his belt, however, Crowe found himself unable to walk away altogether, in spite of himself. Though he didn't tour, he did play occasional shows and infrequently turned up as a guest performer on Ricky Skaggs ' televised Pickin' Party. One gig led to another and by 1994 Crowe's hiatus was over. He and a newly recruited edition of the New South began touring and were welcomed at festivals and concert appearances by fans who loved his records and were overjoyed to see him. He won the International Bluegrass Music Association's Banjo Player of the Year award in 1994 -- even though he'd issued no new records in eight years!

Later that year, Rounder released Flashback. The album, a backwards glance at Crowe's formative years with Jimmy Martin and the Osborne Brothers and as leader of the New South, was greeted as something of a comeback. The album was enthusiastically embraced by bluegrass fans, ballyhooed by the critics, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album of 1994, and has been nominated for the 1995 IBMA Album of the Year. The song "If I Could Go Back Home Again" has been nominated for Song of the Year, and J.D. has again been nominated for Banjo Player of the Year.

Today Crowe, rejuvenated, fresh and looking to the future, is playing more and more dates and is planning his next album.