JAMES DEE "J.D." CROWE
ARTIST Biography
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. Read more of this bio on bluegrasshall.org
Bio source: bluegrasshall.org