Jimmy Martin, pioneering bluegrass singer, dies at 77

[phunkyb]

Another loss of an amazing musician.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jimmy Martin, a pioneering

bluegrass singer and guitarist who performed with the

Blue Grass Boys and many other musicians, died

Saturday. He was 77.

Martin died in a Nashville hospice, more than a year

after he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, said his

son, Lee Martin.

“He loved bluegrass music, country music. Bill Monroe

was his idol and someone he patterned himself after

musically,” Lee Martin said, referring to bluegrass

legend Bill Monroe, head of the Blue Grass Boys.

After performing as lead vocalist for the Blue Grass

Boys periodically through 1955, Martin formed his own

band, the Sunny Mountain Boys, and recorded with Decca

records for 18 years.

“In his heyday, he could take an audience of any size

and have them eating out of his hand,” said Sunny

Mountain Boy member Bill Emerson. “He’d just smoke

those people, and they’d be waiting in line for him

when he got offstage.”

Martin recorded several bluegrass standards, including

“Rock Hearts,” “Sophronie,” “Hold Watcha Got,” “Widow

Maker” and “The Sunny Side of the Mountain.”

Martin was inducted into the International Bluegrass

Music Association’s Hall of Honor in 1995. His life

was also the subject of an independent documentary

film, “King of Bluegrass: The Life and Times of Jimmy

Martin,” which was released in 2003.

“Jimmy’s strong, high vocal range pushed (Bill)

Monroe’s tenor up into the sky, helping shape what has

become known as the ‘high lonesome sound,”’ wrote

George Goehl in the liner notes to “Don’t Cry To Me,”

a compilation that accompanied the documentary.

According to the film’s Web site, Martin was fired at

the age of 21 for singing on the job at a factory in

Morristown. He then went to see the Grand Ole Opry in

Nashville and talked his way backstage, where he

persuaded Monroe to sing a couple of songs with him.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, Martin performed on both

the “Louisiana Hayride” and “WWVA Wheeling Jamboree,”

which were well-known country music shows. He also

made guest appearances on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry,

but never became a regular cast member, which was his

childhood dream.

Martin collaborated with many other artists throughout

his career, including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. His

voice was the first heard on the Dirt Band’s “Will the

Circle Be Unbroken“ album in 1972, and his appearances

on subsequent albums brought his feisty spirit to

audiences that might never have attended a bluegrass

festival.

“Jimmy’s temperature is higher than the rest of ours,”

Dirt Band member Jeff Hanna said in a 2002 interview.

“He’s a wild man in the best sense of the term, and

he’s the only one who brought the fire of rockabilly

music to bluegrass.”

Martin performed until his later years, usually from

April until October. He also served as a mentor to

many musicians, including J.D. Crowe and Paul

Williams.

On the Net:

http://www.kingofbluegrass.com/

[Del]

That's too bad... Jimmy Martin was an amazing performer... R.I.P.

[PassedOutGuy]

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=14314

For anyone interested... this is a torrent of the last known public performance he made... Del McCoury guests on Will the Circle be Unbroken as well...

[Del]

Yeah, I just posted it in the BitTorrent Forum...