The word "legend" gets used too often these days, but when it comes to James Dee "J. D."Crowe, no other will do. His pioneering work with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys, begun while he was still a teenager in the mid-1950s, contributed to scores of bluegrass classics and set a standard to which legions of banjo players and harmony singers still aspire. The Rounder Records debut he recorded in 1975 with his trailblazing band, The New South, is widely recognized as one of the genre's most important recordings and continues to inspire new generations more than a quarter of a century after its release. ...show more

The word "legend" gets used too often these days, but when it comes to James Dee "J. D."Crowe, no other will do. His pioneering work with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys, begun while he was still a teenager in the mid-1950s, contributed to scores of bluegrass classics and set a standard to which legions of banjo players and harmony singers still aspire. The Rounder Records debut he recorded in 1975 with his trailblazing band, The New South, is widely recognized as one of the genre's most important recordings and continues to inspire new generations more than a quarter of a century after its release.

He has been sited as an influence on Terry Baucom and Sammy Shelor's banjo styles. While subsequent albums have explored both hard-driving bluegrass and creative country blends. With the Bluegrass Album Band, he reintroduced audiences to the songs of the first generation's masters in a series of influential albums that spanned more than a decade and a half. He's earned Grammy and IBMA awards, been honored by his native state and acclaimed around the world.

Today, his name is synonymous with unsurpassed mastery of bluegrass tradition, bold innovation, the nurturing of fresh talent and an uncompromising devotion to musical excellence. Yet even as he continues to earn recognition for a lifetime of accomplishment, J. D. also continues to lead a hard-working bluegrass band that has earned comparison with the greatest of the New South's earlier lineups. ...show less