JD

J.D. Crowe

As in J.D. Crowe, not the kind of degree lawyers have. If degrees were handed out for bluegrass banjo (and in some places perhaps they are), this man would be at the head of the line.

Back in the 1960s, he three-finger-picked the banjo alongside Jimmy Martin, still considered one of the best rhythm guitarists in the business.

"I got to work the Opry with Jimmy and I met so many of the artists back then [who have] since passed away," he recalls. "That's some of my greatest memories of Nashville."

One of those who has passed is Martin, who died in 2005.

In the 1970s, Crowe relocated to Lexington, Kentucky, where his band, the Kentucky Mountain Boys (later the New South), had a steady, six-nights-a-week gig at the Holiday Inn. There he had the pleasure of picking with another premiere guitarist, Tony Rice, perhaps the best rhythm and lead player of that (or any) era of bluegrass.

In a recently published biography of Rice, Still Inside (Word of Mouth, 2010), Tony speaks highly of his former boss: "One thing's beyond dispute -- playing with Crowe shaped my guitar playing permanently," he says. "He is the guy who made me aware of the fact I have the capability of taking this guitar and having a rhythm section in my hand."