J.D. Crowe & The New South (Deluxe Edition / Remastered 2025) J.D. Crowe & The New South

• 1 Old Home Place (Remastered 2025) 02:45
• 2 Some Old Day (Remastered 2025) 02:25
• 3 Rock Salt & Nails (Remastered 2025) 02:58
• 4 Sally Goodin (Remastered 2025) 03:11
• 5 Ten Degrees (Remastered 2025) 02:13
• 6 Nashville Blues (Remastered 2025) 03:23
• 7 You Are What I Am (Remastered 2025) 02:17
• 8 Summer Wages (Remastered 2025) 04:31
• 9 I'm Walkin' (Remastered 2025) 02:05
• 10 Home Sweet Home Revisited (Remastered 2025) 03:17
• 11 Cryin' Holy (Remastered 2025) 02:19
• 12 Why Don't You Tell Me So (Remastered 2025) 02:34
• 13 Cryin' Holy (Version 2 / Remastered 2025) 02:17
• Total Runtime 36:15

Info zu J.D. Crowe & The New South (Deluxe Edition / Remastered 2025)

Craft Recordings proudly celebrates the 50th anniversary of J.D. Crowe & The New South’s self-titled album—a landmark collection that helped shape the future of contemporary bluegrass—with an expanded reissue on CD and hi-res/standard digital formats. Long revered by musicians, fans and the press, J.D. Crowe & The New South (or, “Rounder 0044,” as it is lovingly referred to), which was recently inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame and added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry features such classic tracks as “Old Home Place,” “Cryin’ Holy” and “Rock Salt & Nails.” The lineup of musicians on the album brought Crowe and his longtime bassist Bobby Slone together with three young players who were on their way to becoming bluegrass legends: Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas and Ricky Skaggs.

Esteemed banjo player and bandleader J.D. Crowe (1937–2021) was a pivotal figure in bluegrass music, who was instrumental in shaping the genre’s contemporary sound during his nearly 60-year career. Born and raised in Lexington, KY, Crowe first made a name for himself performing alongside bluegrass great Jimmy Martin before forming his own band in the early ’60s. Originally called The Kentucky Mountain Boys, the band evolved throughout the decade, both in lineup and musical style. By the early ’70s, reflecting his broad musical interests and a shifting cultural landscape, Crowe was eager for a rebrand.

“To me, the Kentucky Mountain Boys kind of labels you to one style of music,” he told The Bluegrass Situation. “I wanted to change it to something that wouldn’t label you—to a name that you could play whatever kind of music you wanted, and the name would still fit.”

And so, The New South was born, while Crowe’s forward-thinking vision was poised to transform the traditionally rooted genre. The banjoist was joined by his longtime bassist, Bobby Slone, as well as a who’s who of rising Bluegrass stars, including 23-year-old Tony Rice (guitar, lead vocals), 18-year-old Jerry Douglas (Dobro) and 20-year-old Ricky Skaggs (fiddle, viola, mandolin). As the band developed its repertoire, the younger players introduced Crowe to their favorite contemporary folk artists, while Crowe, in turn, began weaving elements of rock and R&B into his arrangements.

In January 1975, the New South entered the studio to record their debut for Rounder Records, then a fledgling roots label based outside of Boston. Captured in two sessions, the album featured a diverse selection of material, including folk songs by Gordon Lightfoot (“You Are What I Am,” “Ten Degrees (Getting Colder)”), Utah Phillips (“Rock Salt & Nails”) and Ian Tyson (“Summer Wages”). The quintet showcased their stunning vocal harmonies with a gospel staple, “Cryin’ Holy,” and put a bluegrass spin on the R&B classic “I’m Walkin’” (famously recorded by Fats Domino in 1957). Despite their progressive approach, the cross-generational band incorporated traditional bluegrass stylings into selections like “Sally Goodin’” and Earl Scruggs’ “Nashville Blues.” They also paid homage to the humble sounds of 1950s country with such songs as “Old Home Place,” “Same Old Day” and the Rodney Crowell-penned “Home Sweet Home Revisited.”

Released later that year, J.D. Crowe & The New South (often famously referred to by its catalog number, “Rounder 0044”) was vibrant, modern and disruptive. Despite sparking controversy among some traditionalists, the trailblazing album ushered in a new era of modern bluegrass, inspiring countless musicians to shift their approach to the genre and, in turn, expanding the reach of bluegrass to fresh audiences. While this incarnation of The New South would last less than a year (Skaggs, Rice, and Douglas would all pursue other projects soon after the album’s release), J.D. Crowe and the New South would live on as one of the most (if not the most) iconic bluegrass albums of all time.

Alison Krauss, a 27-time GRAMMY®-winning bluegrass star, told Bluegrass Unlimitedthat the album “Influenced every bit of music I ever made, because it was what made me really want to play…. It was the beginning of me loving music.” Multiple IBMA Banjo Player of the Year winner Kristin Scott Benson echoed that sentiment in The Bluegrass Situation: “This particular band presented a tightness and a level of execution that was new—I don’t think there had been a bluegrass record up until that point that was so well done.” She added, “It’s impossible to overstate how good it is and how influential it is.”

50 years later, J.D. Crowe and the New South continues to be revered in the press. Among the highlights, Bluegrass Unlimited called Rounder 0044 “one of the most influential bluegrass albums of all time” with “one of—if not the—most talented band lineups in the history of bluegrass music.” Bluegrass Today noted, “The track list reads today like a greatest hits of contemporary bluegrass.” No Depression hailed it as “a historical ledger of some of bluegrass’ most virtuosic playing and exemplary harmonies,” while AllMusic declared it to be “one of the most…pioneering records in the history of bluegrass.” Last year, J.D. Crowe and the New South was preserved in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” while earlier this year, the album was inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame.

J.D. Crowe, banjo, baritone vocals
Tony Rice, guitar, lead vocals
Ricky Skaggs, mandolin, fiddle, viola, tenor vocals
Bobby Slone, bass
Jerry Douglas, guitars, Dobro

Digitally remastered

J.D. Crowe
had a musical conversion experience at the age of twelve, on September 17, 1949, when he first heard Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys play at WVLK’s Kentucky Mountain Barn Dance in Lexington, Kentucky. There are photos showing the youngster sitting in the aisle, his eyes intently fixed on Scruggs’ banjo. Purchasing the Foggy Mountain Boys’ 78-rpm records, he would slow them down in order to decode the complex patterns of bluegrass banjo classics.

The next year, Crowe won a radio appearance with Esco Hankins in a talent competition, which led to other stage and radio work in the local area. Jimmy Martin, driving through Lexington, heard the young banjo player on the radio. Martin convinced J.D.’s parents to let him come to Middletown, Ohio, and play with his group on radio station WPFB. Crowe credits his emerging style – hard and constantly driving – as the way Jimmy Martin wanted to hear the banjo played. But there are blues licks in J.D.’s music that derive from a different source – his teen-aged interest in blues and rock ‘n roll guitar.

Having promised his parents he would, Crowe left the band in the fall of 1954 to return to school. Shortly thereafter, Martin obtained an RCA recording contract and moved to Detroit, teaming with Bob and Sonny Osborne. The Osbornes and Martin split in 1955 and Martin stayed in Detroit, where Sam “Porky” Hutchins and Earl Taylor joined the band. J.D. Crowe played the summer of 1955 with Mac Wiseman and returned to school again that fall. When Sam Hutchins returned to Baltimore in 1956, Crowe joined Martin full time in Detroit.

In 1958, former Lonesome Pine Fiddlers’ guitarist Paul Williams was discharged from service and joined Martin and Crowe on mandolin. From 1958 to early 1961, this crack ensemble built a huge following on KWKH’s Louisiana Hayride, WWVA’s Wheeling Jamboree, and Decca Records. The trio’s performances of songs such as “Ocean of Diamonds,” “Sophronie,” “Rock Hearts,” “She’s Left Me Again,” “Home Run Man,” “Who’ll Sing for Me,” “My Walking Shoes,” and “Undo What’s Been Done” left a permanent legacy in the bluegrass canon. J.D.’s crackling banjo and impeccable timing propelled instrumentals such as “Bear Tracks,” “Cripple Creek,” “Big Country,” and “Crow on the Banjo.”

Although he enjoyed his time with Martin, during which he recalls playing banjo in the touring car for 400 miles without stopping, Crowe left the band in 1961 to return to Lexington and work a “day job,” behind a counter at Wilson Equipment, a distributor and rental center for heavy equipment. It has never been easy for even the top musicians to make a living in bluegrass. In Kentucky, J.D. teamed with other local part-time musicians to work weekends in several local taverns. They took the name “The Kentucky Mountain Boys,” and soon included Doyle Lawson on guitar and mandolin, and Bobby Slone on bass and fiddle. During this time, Jimmy Martin called J.D. back to play on two Decca sessions in September, 1963, and November, 1966.

In 1968 J.D. was asked to take his band to the Red Slipper Lounge at Lexington’s Holiday Inn North for five-night-a-week performances. This was one of the first times a bluegrass group had played in an upscale environment, to primarily college-educated audiences. Crowds lined up in the parking lot to wait for vacant seats. With Doyle Lawson and Bobby Slone still in the band, Crowe recruited Red Allen to play guitar and sing lead vocals. This group of seasoned, full-time bluegrass professionals recorded the album “Bluegrass Holiday” on the Lemco label (later reissued on Rebel) before Red left the band in 1969.

Doyle Lawson briefly rejoined Jimmy Martin then came back with J.D., this time on guitar after Larry Rice moved from California to play mandolin and sing lead. Two albums from this configuration were released on Lemco and reissued on Rebel. The Kentucky Mountain Boys became a headline act on the early summer bluegrass festivals, while maintaining nightly appearances at several different clubs in Lexington, Louisville, and southern Indiana.

When Lawson joined the Country Gentlemen in the late summer of 1971, Larry Rice’s brother Tony came to the band on guitar. Retitled The New South, the band experimented with an electrified bluegrass/country/folk synthesis that can be heard on the Starday album “Bluegrass Evolution.”

One of the most brilliant ensembles in the history of bluegrass music came together in late 1974, after Larry Rice left to tour with a Dickey Betts-led spinoff of the Allman Brothers. Ricky Skaggs moved over from the Country Gentlemen, adding a strong tenor voice to the trio, and the band quickly “unplugged.” Now appearing five nights a week at the Lexington Sheraton Inn, the group perfected an acoustic sound and vocal trio renowned for its technical perfection, sparkle and originality. Jerry Douglas guested on Dobro for the legendary Rounder debut album “J.D. Crowe & the New South” (widely known as simply “0044”) in January, 1975, then joined the band for that summer’s festival season and an August tour of Japan. At the end of that tour, Tony Rice went to California to join the first iteration of the David Grisman Quartet. Skaggs and Douglas left to found Boone Creek, the first bluegrass supergroup composed entirely of young players.

J.D. continued to explore new musical ground with a succession of talented musicians. These included Jimmy Gaudreau, Harley Allen, Glenn Lawson, Gene Johnson, Steve Bryant, Paul Adkins, Wendy Miller, and Tony King (Bobby Slone was a constant, staying with the band through the mid-‘80s). When Keith Whitley left Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1978, he shared with J.D. his lifelong dream to perform country music. With Crowe’s encouragement, Whitley prepared for his subsequent solo career as a featured vocalist on the New South’s Rounder albums “My Home Ain’t in the Hall of Fame” (1979) and “Somewhere Between” (1982). Both included steel, electric bass, and drums, along with Crowe’s banjo.

Beginning in 1981, J.D. Crowe balanced the progressive sounds of his own band with those of a recording (and occasionally performing) traditional bluegrass supergroup. The Bluegrass Album Band was conceived as a vehicle for introducing to new generations the classic repertoire, mostly out of print in the early CD era. Six best-selling albums were released (the last in 1990) featuring Crowe, Tony Rice, Doyle Lawson, Jerry Douglas, Bobby Hicks, Vassar Clements, Todd Phillips, and Mark Schatz.

After a hiatus from touring with the New South, J.D. was back in 1993 with yet another generation of New South members: Richard Bennett, Don Rigsby, Curt Chapman, and Phil Leadbetter. That group’s “Flashback” on Rounder (1994) positioned the group firmly in the bluegrass mainstream. “Come On Down to My World” (1999) introduced Dwight McCall, Greg Luck, and Rickey Wasson to the band. “Lefty’s Old Guitar,” adding Ron Stewart and Harold Nixon, tied for Album of the Year in 2007. In his seven decades as a professional musician, Crowe remained at the top of his game, a living legend.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet