Posted on 05/16/2005 6:43:59 PM PDT by T. Buzzard Trueblood
May 16, 2005, 10:30 AM ET
Jimmy Martin, one of the greatest vocalists in bluegrass, died Saturday (May 14) in a Nashville hospice where he was battling bladder cancer. He was 77.
In 1949, Martin replaced Mac Wiseman in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, the premier bluegrass group, and served as the group's guitarist and lead vocalist until 1954. His tenor vocals were featured on many of the Monroe band's recordings for Decca -- perhaps most memorably on the gospel sides collected in 1969 on "A Voice From on High."
After recording with the Osborne Brothers in the mid-'50s, Martin founded his own group, the Sunny Mountain Boys. This band, which included such leaders in their own right as J.D. Crowe and Doyle Lawson, recorded such bluegrass standards as "Rock Hearts," "Widow Maker" and "The Sunny Side of the Mountain."
In 1972, Martin joined such other country and bluegrass legends as Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Roy Acuff and Earl Scruggs on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's album "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," a landmark merger of rock and country talent. In the early 1980s, Martin founded his own label, King of Bluegrass.
The oft-irascible musician was profiled in Tom Piazza's 1999 book "True Adventures With the King of Bluegrass" and George Goehl's 2003 film "King of Bluegrass: The Life & Times of Jimmy Martin."
Martin's funeral will be held Wednesday at the Cornerstone Church in Madison, Tenn.
-- Chris Morris, The Hollywood Reporter
How about "Widow Maker"?
A cornbread 'n sweet milk toast to you, Jimmy.
As Jimmy said, "d'ja ever hear such a jaw on a dawg"?
Great track. Kickin' mandolin player. I think the drums might've irked Bill Monroe, but I know for a fact that Jimmy Martin approved of the sound of "Bluegrass Brushes."
I have a copy of "in the pines" by the red clay ramblers that will make ya weep ;)
Wow! I'm sure we'd all love to hear more...
Them ol boys round here love cornbread an buttermilk ;)
I think that dates to deppression times
Well the mandolin was a rythym section of sorts and Bill may not have liked the idea of replacement by drums.
Trad bluegrass had no drums but often filled with washboards or whatever was at hand or voice.
NewGrass blends em all
I knew a fiddler named Mike Grove who had some Jimmy Martin stories. One involved a broke down bus.
How about " Sunny Side of the Mountain "
I knew his son Tim , who lived and played
music for a time here in Gatlinburg.
.....THUNDER.....
Yall ever hear Reno and Smiley?
I think that was the band..40s stuff "walk on the sunny side" Marvelous stuff
I was a kinda apprentice engineer to a feller named Mike Stone at the time. Unfortunately Mr. Miller was also a very large daily influence in my life, and memories are sorta fuzzy. When I say misspent youth, I mean MISSPENT!
And there was moonshine....
Cool - thanks.
I think THUNDER was his engine ?
Best I remember !
.....THUNDER......
Sure have - do a google on "birthplace of country music" and make a visit to upper east Tenn - Bristol and environs
the law they never got him...
Doc's doin fine but Merle died in a troctor accident several years back. At least that's what I heard.
The Lord's gonna have quite a bluegrass band to listen to!!!!!
I didnt realize that Don Reno played with Monroe and was a Lester Scruggs adversary L0L I just used to listen to them at My friends house on his old LPs L0L
Merles been gone for decades now, yes it was a tractor accident.
It a damned shame, doc and merle were so good as a team
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.