FARAWAYHILLS

J.D.CROWE

Lexington, Kentucky based banjo player and baritone singer, J.D. (James Dee) Crowe is acknowledged as one of the finest musicians in the Bluegrass tradition today. His musical career, now spanning close to fifty years, was acclaimed at this year's International Bluegrass Music Association awards ceremony, when he was inducted into the Association's Hall of Honor.

J.D. began playing as a teenager with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys in the 1950s, forming his own first band, the Kentucky Mountain Boys, in the 1960s. His strong traditional background in Bluegrass and Mountain Music has been supplemented over the years with more experimental and progressive approaches, and he has emphasised the value of collaboration with other musicians, and of fostering musical talent.

In addition to appearences on a number of recordings with other artists, J.D. is best known for two highly regarded series of albums: those since the 1970s featuring his band The New South, and the series of Bluegrass Albums issued by Rounder Records.

Pictures

Chris McGlone's Internet site has a picture from 1960 of the Sunny Mountain Boys and a couple from J.D.'s performances in the 1970s. There are many pictures of recent New South performances on J.D.Crowe's official website. Pictures of this year's IBMA award ceremony are available at the IBMA website. See this page for pictures and biographies of the New South's current regular lineup.

2003 FanFest Review

"J.D. Crowe, the newest inductee to the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Honor, has silvery white hair, a square jaw and the towering authority of an Old Testament prophet. And Saturday night at the IBMA Fan Fest his main stage performance with his band New South showed that he's still one of the most forward-looking figures in bluegrass. His fills and solos were rich with concise, intricately detailed syncopations and precisely honed accents. Tom Paxton's "Ramblin' Boy," Merle Haggard's sorrowful agricultural lament "In My Next Life," and an old timey banjo-fiddle tune found him once muting his strings for emotional effect, another time tweaking his pitches with microtonal adjustments more often heard in Asian or Indian music, and nearly always creating melodies as elliptical and provocative as a Zen koan."

MARTY ROSEN and JEFFREY LEE PUCKETT October 6, 2003 The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)

Partial Listing of Recorded Tracks

For a fuller discography, including the Jimmy Martin years, deleted albums, and banjo and vocal parts on other artists' recordings, see this page by Chris McGlone.

The albums listed below are believed to be currently available. (For more information, please consult Rounder Records, or your usual retailer.)

(Pressing ctrl and f and searching the page for the three letter album code should enable you to identify the tracks on each album)

New South albums

Bluegrass Album Band

      Track title                  Album code
(I'm So) Afraid of Losing You Again      COD
Along About Daybreak			 BA5
Are You Lost in Sin                      MCH
Back to the Bar-rooms                    COD
Back to the Cross 			 BA2
Ballad Of Jed Clampett                   LIJ
Bear Tracks                              BJK
Belleville, Georgia                      SAH
Big Black Train				 BA5
Big Spike Hammer			 BA3
Blackjack                                BJK
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain             LIJ
Blue Ridge Cabin Home			 BA1
Born to Be With You                      BJK
Bouquet in Heaven                        FBK
Bouquet in Heaven                        BJK
Brown County Breakdown			 BA6
Careless Love                            COD
Chalk Up Another One			 BA1
Cheyenne				 BA4
Come Back Darlin' 			 BA3
Come Back Sweetheart                     COD
Come on Down to My World                 BEV
Come on Down to My World                 COD
Cora Is Gone				 BA4
Cryin' Holy                              JDC
Devil in Disguise                        BEV
Devil in Disguise			 BA3
Don't Give Your Heart To A Rambler       LIJ
Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky	 BA2
Down The Road				 BA3
Ever-Changing Woman                      FBK
Foggy Mountain Breakdown                 LIJ
Foggy Mountain Chimes			 BA6
Foggy Mountain Rock			 BA5
For Lovin' Me                            BEV
God's Own Singer                         BEV
God's Own Singer                         SAH
Goin' Up                                 MCH
Gonna Settle Down			 BA1
Grandpa's Shoes                          COD
Ground Speed				 BA6
Head Over Heels				 BA4 
Helplessly Hoping                        SAH
Hey Lonesome 				 BA3
Home Sweet Home				 BA6
Home Sweet Home (Revisited)              JDC
How Come You Do Me (Like You Do, Do, Do) BEV
A Hundred Years From Now		 BA3
I Believe in You Darling		 BA1
I Don't Know                             COD
I'd Rather Be Alone			 BA3
If I Could Go Back Home Again            FBK
I'll Just Pretend                        FBK
I'll Never Shed Another Tear		 BA2
I'll Stay Around                         BJK
I'll Talk It All over With Him           MCH
I'm Goin' That Way                       COD
I Might Take You Back Again		 BA4
I'm Waiting to Hear You Call Me Darlin'	 BA3
I'm Walkin'                              JDC
I'm Walkin'                              LIJ
I Shall Be at Home With Jesus            MCH
Is It Too Late Now 			 BA2
It's Me Again Lord                       MCH
J's Tune                                 COD
Journey's End                            MCH
Just When I Needed You			 BA2
Lady                                     MHA
Leaves That Are Green                    BEV
Letter From My Darlin'			 BA3
Let the Spirit Descend                   MCH
Lonesome Moonlight Waltz		 BA6
Lonesome Wind Blues			 BA4
Long Journey Home                        FBK
Look for Me                              MCH
The Martha White Theme                   LIJ
Memphis Mandolin                         LIJ
Miner's Lady                             SAH
Misty Morning				 BA6
Model Church                             MCH
Model Church				 BA1
Molly & Tenbrooks			 BA1
Monroe's Hornpipe			 BA6
Mr. Engineer                             FBK
My Blue Eyes You Left in Tennessee       COD
My Heart Talks to Me                     BEV
My Home Ain't In the Hall of Fame        MHA
My Home's Across the Blue Ridge MountainsBA5
My Window Faces South                    LIJ
My Window Faces the South                MHA
Nashville Blues                          JDC
Nashville Skyline Rag                    FBK
Nobody Loves Me				 BA4
No Mother or Dad                         MCH
North Country Waltz 			 BA6
Ocean of Diamonds			 BA2
Oh Heaven                                MCH
Old Home Place                           JDC
The Old Home Town			 BA4
One Tear				 BA2
On My Way Back to the Old Home		 BA1
On the Old Kentucky Shore		 BA5
Out in The Cold World			 BA5
Pain In My Heart			 BA1	
Please Search Your Heart                 BJK
Please Search Your Heart		 BA3
Portrait of the Blues                    BJK
Preaching Praying Singing 		 BA5
Railroad Lady                            MHA
Railroad Lady                            LIJ
Ramblin' Boy                             BJK
Red Rocking Chair                        LIJ
Ride the Train                           SAH
River Of Death				 BA1
Roanoke					 BA6
Rock Hearts				 BA5
Rock, Salt and Nails                     JDC
Rose Colored Glasses                     LIJ
Runaround                                SAH 
Sally Goodin'                            JDC
Say You Lied                             SAH
She's Gone, Gone, Gone                   MHA
She's Gone, Gone, Gone                   LIJ
Showboat Gambler                         MHA
Shuckin' The Corn                        LIJ
Sin City                                 MHA
Sin City                                 BJK
Sittin' Alone In The Moonlight		 BA2
Sledd Ridin'                             FBK
So Afraid of Losing You Again            BJK
So Happy I'll Be			 BA2
Somehow Tonight                          BJK
Somehow Tonight				 BA4
Some Old Day                             JDC
Someone Took My Place With You		 BA5
(I'll Be Your) Stepping Stone            MHA
Still Loves This Man                     FBK
Stoney Lonesome				 BA6
Stony Mountain Twist                     SAH
Sugar Coated Love                        SAH
Sugar Coated Love                        LIJ
Summer Wages                             JDC 
Sweet Sunny South			 BA5
Take Me in the Lifeboat			 BA2 
Talk It All Over With Him		 BA4
Tall Timber				 BA6
Ten Degrees (Getting Colder)             JDC
Ten Degrees and Getting Colder           BEV
Tennessee Blues                          MHA
There'll Be No Blind Ones There          BJK
Thinking About You			 BA5
'Til My Dying Day                        FBK
Toy Heart 				 BA1
Unfaithful One				 BA3
Waiting for You                          FBK
Wall Around Your Heart			 BA3
We Can't Be Darlings Anymore		 BA1
We May Meet Again Someday		 BA2
Wheel Hoss				 BA6
When the Angels Carry Me Home            FBK
When You Are Lonely			 BA4
White Freight Liner Blues                COD
Will You Be Lonesome Too?                MHA
You Are What I Am                        JDC
You Can Have Her                         BEV
You Can Share My Blanket                 BEV
You Didn't Say Goodbye                   COD
You're No Longer Mine                    SAH
Your Love is Like a Flower		 BA2

Musicians

MCH = Doyle Lawson, guitar, vocals	J.D. Crowe, banjo, vocals
      Larry Rice, mandolin, vocals 	Bobby Slone, bass
BEV = Tony Rice, guitar, vocals		J.D. Crowe, banjo, vocals
      Larry Rice, mandolin, vocals
JDC = J.D. Crowe, banjo, guitar, vocals Tony Rice, guitar, vocals
      Bobby Slone, bass			Jerry Douglas, dobro
      Ricky Skaggs, mandolin, fiddle, viola, vocals	
MHA = J.D. Crowe, banjo, vocals		Keith Whitley, guitar, vocals
      Jimmy Gaudreau, mandolin, vocals  Bobby Slone, fiddle
      Steve Bryant, electric bass	Doug Jernigan, steel guitar, dobro
      Jimmy Ashby, drums
LIJ = J.D. Crowe, banjo, vocals 	Keith Whitley, guitar, vocals
      Jimmy Gaudreau, mandolin, vocals  Bobby Slone, fiddle
      Steve Bryant, electric bass
SAH = J.D. Crowe, banjo, vocals		Tony King, guitar, vocals 
      Wendy Miller, vocals		Sam Bush, mandolin
      Randy Hayes, vocals, drums, bass  Steve Bryant, electric bass
      Bobby Slone, fiddle  		Jerry Douglas, dobro 
BJK = Doyle Lawson, guitar, vocals      J.D. Crowe, banjo, vocals
      Larry Rice, mandolin, vocals	Bobby Slone, bass
FBK = J.D. Crowe, banjo, vocals         Richard Bennett, guitar, vocals
      Don Rigsby, mandolin, vocals      Curt Chapman, bass
      Phil Leadbetter, dobro 		Randy Howard, fiddle
COD = J.D. Crowe, banjo, vocals 	Dwight McCall, mandolin, vocals
      Phil Leadbetter, resonator guitar Greg Luck, guitar, vocals
      Rickey Wasson, guitar		Curt Chapman, bass
      Glen Duncan, fiddle		Buddy Spicher, fiddle
BA1 = J.D. Crowe, banjo, vocal		Tony Rice, guitar, vocals
      Doyle Lawson, mandolin, vocal     Bobby Hicks, fiddle, vocal
      Todd Phillips, bass
BA2 = (as above)
BA3 = (as above, with Jerry Douglas, dobro)
BA4 = (as BA1)
BA5 = Tony Rice, guitar, vocals 	Doyle Lawson, mandolin, vocals
      J.D. Crowe, banjo, guitar, vocals Jerry Douglas, dobro
      Vassar Clements, fiddle 		Mark Shatz, acoustic bass
BA6 = Tony Rice, guitar 		J.D. Crowe, banjo 
      Doyle Lawson, mandolin 		Bobby Hicks, fiddle  
      Todd Phillips, bass  		Jerry Douglas, Dobro  
      Vassar Clements, fiddle.

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Upload 2a: 24/11/03
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