J. D. Crowe
James Dee Crowe was an American banjo player and bluegrass band leader. He first became known during his four-year stint with Jimmy Martin in the 1950s. Crowe led the bluegrass group New South from 1971 until his death in 2021.
Life and career
James Dee Crowe was born on August 27, 1937, in Lexington, Kentucky. He began playing the banjo early on and was offered a job with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys, a backup group in 1954. Before starting in Martin's band, Crowe played with Pee Wee Lambert and Curly Parker.Crowe recorded with Martin between 1956 and 1960. In 1961, he formed the Kentucky Mountain Boys, principally performing in the Lexington region.
In 1971, Crowe changed the band's name to The New South. As of 1975, the New South began to add jazz and rock influences to its bluegrass repertoire, as well as country and folk elements drawn from the work of Gram Parsons and Gordon Lightfoot, respectively.
Crowe stopped releasing new records between the late 1980s and 1992, when he founded a new band.
Kentucky Educational Television in 2008 aired a biography of James Dee Crowe, A Kentucky Treasure: The James Dee Crowe Story, produced by H. Russell Farmer.
Crowe received the Bluegrass Star Award, presented by the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation of Dallas, Texas, on October 15, 2011. The award is bestowed upon bluegrass artists who do an exemplary job of advancing traditional bluegrass music and bringing it to new audiences while preserving its character and heritage.
He died from pneumonia on December 24, 2021, in Nicholasville, Kentucky, at the age of 84.
Discography
At first: J.D. Crowe with Jimmy Martin & the Sunny Mountain Boys
J.D. Crowe has recorded 42 studio tracks with Jimmy Martin from late 1956 to August 1960, then in September 1963 and November 1966. A part of these corresponding works has been released in the following LPs :- 1960: Good 'N Country
- 1964: WidowmakerWidowmaker Decca DL 4536)
- 1966: Big and Country Instrumentals, )
- J.D. Crowe recorded 42 studio tracks with Jimmy Martin, all of which appear in chronological order on the 5CD box-set : Jimmy Martin And Sunny Mountain Boys 1954-1974
- 1984 Big Jam Session Recorded Live in 1959 at Johnny Sanders house, Lubbock, TX], with Paul Williams: mandolin and Terry Smith: bass.
J.D. Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys
- 1968: Bluegrass Holiday, Doyle Lawson, Bobby Slone , Larry Rice, Bobby Slone ).
- 1971: The Model Church, Larry Rice, Bobby Slone )
- 1973: Bluegrass Evolution & Larry Rice: )
J.D. Crowe and the New South
- 1975: J. D. Crowe & The New South , Jerry Douglas, Ricky Skaggs, Bobby Slone.
- 1978: You Can Share My Blanket , Jimmy Gaudreau, Bobby Slone, Randy Best ; guests: Jim Murphy, Charlie McCoy ), Karl Himmel ).
- 1980: My Home Ain't in the Hall of Fame , Jimmy Gaudreau,, Bobby Slone, Steve Bryant, guests: Doug Jernigan, Jimmy Ashby ).
- 1982: Somewhere Between, Wendy Miller,, Bobby Slone, Steve Bryant, guests: Doug Jernigan, Kenny Malone, Pete Wade, The Jordanaires )
- 1982: Live in Japan recorded in Tokyo, 11-1979, Jimmy Gaudreau,, Bobby Slone, Steve Bryant, )
- 1986: Straight Ahead , Wendy Miller, Sam Bush, Bobby Slone, Jerry Douglas, Randy Hayes
- 1994: Flashback , Don Rigsby, Phil Leadbetter, Randy Howard, Curt Chapman ).
- 1999: Come On Down to My World , Buddy Spicher, Glen Duncan, Dwight McCall, Phil Leadbetter, Curt Chapman )
- 2006: Lefty's Old Guitar , Dwight McCall, Ron Stewart, Harold Nixon )
The Bluegrass Album Band
- 1980: The Bluegrass Album
- 1982: The Bluegrass Album, Vol.2
- 1983: The Bluegrass Album, Vol.3: California Connection
- 1984: The Bluegrass Album, Vol.4
- 1989: The Bluegrass Album, Vol.5: Sweet Sunny South
- 1996: ''The Bluegrass Album, Vol.6: Bluegrass Instrumentals''
Crowe, Lawson & Williams
- 2010: Old Friends Get Together
- 2014: Standing Tall And Tough Mountain Home MH 1502)
J.D. Crowe, Rickey Wasson
- 2018: Hats Off To Haggard
- 2021: ''Crowe & Wasson''
As session musician
- 1963: Charlie Monroe – Bluegrass Sound , B. Joslin, E. Stacy
- 1965: Charlie Monroe – Lord build me a cabin , B. Lucas, Paul Mullins, K. Whalen, B. Wassumm K. O. Durham,.
- 1969: Joe Green – Joe Greene's Fiddle Album , Roland White, Chubby Wise, Benny Williams )
- 1970: Dan & Louise Brock – Kentucky Songbag feat. J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson, Bobby Slone ).
- 1974: Tony Rice – Freeborn Man
- 1975: Larry Rice – Mr. Poverty , Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, Bobby Slone
- 1977: Doyle Lawson – Tennessee Dream , James Bailey, Kenny Baker, Jerry Douglas, Bobby Slone )
- 1977: Tony Rice – Tony Rice
- 1988: David Grisman – Home Is Where The Heart Is , Tony Rice )
- 1991: Vassar Clements – Grass Routes , Jesse McReynolds , Buddy Spicher, David Grier, Roy Huskey Jr. )
- 2000: Keith Whitley Sad Songs and Waltzes Produced by J.D. Crowe and Don Gant