J.D. Crowe (1937 to 2021) was the banjo player whose timing and tone set the standard for modern bluegrass. He made his name in Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys in the late 1950s, then led his own band for five decades. His mid-1970s New South, with Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Douglas, made an album fans still call by its catalog number, 0044. He won IBMA Banjo Player of the Year twice and joined the hall of fame in 2003.
Why Crowe matters
Crowe took Scruggs style and made it sit deeper in the groove. His right hand was strong and even, and his timing pulled whole bands along. Then he opened bluegrass to new songs. From the mid-1970s the New South played material from Gordon Lightfoot, Gram Parsons, and rock and country writers, with bluegrass drive. A generation of banjo players learned their time from Crowe records, and his band trained some of the best singers and pickers in the music.
Life and career
Crowe was born on August 27, 1937, in Lexington, Kentucky. He started banjo young and played with Pee Wee Lambert and Curly Parker as a teenager. Jimmy Martin offered him a job in the Sunny Mountain Boys, and Crowe recorded 42 studio tracks with Martin, most of them from late 1956 to August 1960. Those records, with Paul Williams on mandolin, established Crowe as one of the top banjo players in the world.
He went home to Lexington and formed the Kentucky Mountain Boys. Over the years that band included Doyle Lawson, Larry Rice, and Red Allen. In 1971 he renamed it the New South. The early New South had Tony Rice, Larry Rice, and fiddler Bobby Slone. Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas joined, and that band made J.D. Crowe and the New South, released by Rounder in 1976. Later lineups featured Keith Whitley on lead vocals. Other alumni include Jimmy Gaudreau, Paul Adkins, Gene Johnson, Tony King, and Phil Leadbetter.
From 1980 Crowe also played in the Bluegrass Album Band with Tony Rice, Doyle Lawson, Bobby Hicks, Jerry Douglas, and Todd Phillips. He stopped releasing records in the late 1980s, worked as a mail carrier, and came back with a new New South in 1992. In 2000 that band left together, with his blessing, to form Wildfire, and he built another. He won IBMA Banjo Player of the Year in 1994 and 2004 and joined the IBMA hall of fame in 2003. Lefty’s Old Guitar won IBMA Album of the Year in 2007. He retired for good in 2012, the same year the University of Kentucky gave him an honorary doctorate and a biography, Crowe on the Banjo, came out. He died of pneumonia in Nicholasville, Kentucky, on December 24, 2021, at 84.
Playing style
Crowe’s sound starts with his right hand. He picked hard and even, so every note in a roll had the same weight. That gives his banjo a punchy, clear tone and rock-solid time. His breaks stay close to the Scruggs vocabulary, with bluesy slides and chokes that banjo players still study.
He was also a great backup player. Behind singers he played soft, low rolls and fills that framed the vocal. When the band kicked into a break, he turned up the drive. Listen to the Jimmy Martin records for his early power and to the New South for his mature touch.
Influences and legacy
Crowe grew up on Earl Scruggs. He played beside Jimmy Martin for four years. In his own band he gave early chances to Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, Keith Whitley, and Doyle Lawson. Ron Block and many others teach Crowe licks to this day. BluegrassBios calls the 0044 album one of the best bluegrass records ever made.
Signature tunes and songs
Flint Hill Special Train 45 Blackjack Blue Ridge Cabin Home Model Church.
Essential recordings
Bluegrass Holiday, the Kentucky Mountain Boys (King Bluegrass, 1968) Blackjack (Rebel, 1973) J.D. Crowe and the New South (Rounder, 1976) My Home Ain’t in the Hall of Fame (Rounder, 1979) Lefty’s Old Guitar (Rounder, 2006)
Awards and honors
IBMA Banjo Player of the Year (1994) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2003) IBMA Banjo Player of the Year (2004) Kentucky Music Hall of Fame (2004) IBMA Album of the Year, Lefty’s Old Guitar (2007) Bluegrass Star Award, Bluegrass Heritage Foundation (2011) IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance and Recorded Event of the Year, Prayer Bells of Heaven, with Doyle Lawson and Paul Williams (2011) Honorary doctorate, University of Kentucky (2012)
Watch and listen
Crowe and the New South play Flint Hill Special. Watch how even his right hand is at speed.
Ron Block breaks down two Crowe licks in this short lesson.
What to learn from Crowe
Learn Blue Ridge Cabin Home and focus on the backup. Play quiet, low rolls under the singer, then dig in on your break. The technique to steal is his even right hand. Play a forward roll with a metronome and make every note the same volume. It sounds simple, and it takes years.
Sources
J.D. Crowe, Wikipedia Crowe, J.D. (and the New South), BluegrassBios.com
Related players
See the banjo players hub and the bluegrass banjo guide for more pickers. Crowe built on Earl Scruggs, played with Jimmy Martin, and led bands with Tony Rice and Keith Whitley.