supersonic
Artist Information
Biography
The word “legend” gets used too often these days, but when it comes to James Dee “J. D.”Crowe, no other will do. His pioneering work with Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, begun while he was still a teenager in the mid–1950s, contributed to scores of bluegrass classics and set a standard to which legions of banjo players and harmony singers still aspire. The Rounder Records debut he recorded in 1975 with his trailblazing band, The New South, is widely recognized as one of the genre’s most important recordings and continues to inspire new generations more than a quarter of a century after its release. While subsequent albums have explored both hard–driving bluegrass and creative country blends. With the Bluegrass Album Band, he reintroduced audiences to the songs of the first generation’s masters in a series of influential albums that spanned more than a decade and a half. He’s earned Grammy and IBMA awards, been honored by his native state and acclaimed around the world. Today, his name is synonymous with unsurpassed mastery of bluegrass tradition, bold innovation, the nurturing of fresh talent and an uncompromising devotion to musical excellence.
Yet even as he continues to earn recognition for a lifetime of accomplishment, J. D. also continues to lead a hard-working bluegrass band that has earned comparison with the greatest of the New South’s earlier lineups. Dwight McCall, Harold Nixon and Rickey Wasson all grew up musically within a hundred miles of Crowe’s long time home ground of Lexington, Kentucky. Inspired not only by the New Southˆs classic albums but by personal appearances, the Crowe repertoire and approach to bluegrass are as familiar to them as bluegrass itself. Supplemented at times on personal appearances by outstanding instrumentalists like fiddle players Ronnie Stewart, Aubrey Haynie and Michael Cleveland, they’re equally at home with the bluegrass classics, the wealth of the New South repertoire and their own additions to it.
Dwight McCall was born in Maryland, moving to Cincinnati shortly before he began playing mandolin and singing in earnest as a teenager. The son of bluegrass great Jim McCall, he first drew attention as a member of Union Springs, releasing three well-received CDs and touring regionally between 1992 and 1995. He stopped onto the national stage as a member of Charlie Waller’s Country Gentlemen before joining the New South in 1996. He appeared on J. D. Crowe & The New South’s Come On Down To My World (1999), taking the lead on the title track as well as several other songs, including his own “I Don't Know.” His powerful tenor has been paired with the Lost & Found’s Scottie Sparks on his self–titled debut of 1999, and with two time IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year Dan Tyminski, both on the latter’s solo album and the award–winning Stanley Gospel Tradition.
Rickey Wasson is a lifelong Kentuckian who began playing guitar when he was five. After playing in area groups, he joined Southern Blend in 1985, recording three albums with the band and earning a reputation throughout the region as a gifted lead and rhythm guitarist and New South-influenced singer. He recorded his own solo gospel album, Songs From The Old Country Church (1989), with a guest list that included Alison Krauss, for whom he returned the favor in 1993 by filling in on tour dates as a member of Union Station. Rickey joined the New South in 1998, taking part on several of Come On Down To My World's tracks as guitarist. He also appeared with J. D. Crowe & The New South on the live album, At Bean Blossom: Uncle Pen Days (2000). Like Dwight, Rickey took a hiatus from playing with the New South before returning to the group at the beginning of 2002.
Harold Nixon is the least well–known of the New South’s members, but it’s no exaggeration to say that’s a consequence of his youth than his talent. He first came to the New South’s attention playing with John Cosby and the Bluegrass Drifters, a durable central Kentucky outfit, and served a stint with Unlimited Tradition before joining Crowe’s band in early 2002. Harold’s steady, tasteful but energetic bass is an indispensable part of the New South.
With a compelling blend of youth and experience, tradition and bold creativity, this is a band as close to the heart of bluegrass today as it — or anyone else — has ever been.
Ron Stewart is fast becoming a bluegrass legend in his own right, and is probably the most respected multi–instrumentalist in bluegrass today. If your ear has been turned by a great, traditional sounding fiddle or banjo break on the latest bluegrass hit record, chances are you’re listening to Ron Stewart! Ron grew up playing with his family band in Paoli, Indiana, and had already been invited to play fiddle on a live album with his legendary hero, Lester Flatt, by the time he was nine years old. His gutsy and soulful fiddle playing has earned him the Indiana State Fiddle Championship twice, and the IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year in 2000, as well. He makes his home in rural Paoli, Indiana and maintains a blistering schedule as a recording session player.
His new solo CD on Rounder, Time Stands Still, features Ron’s earthy vocals and fiery instrumental drive on banjo, fiddle, and guitar (as well as mandolin and bass on one of his original cuts, Riding the Saranac.) Ron hand picked some of his most talented favorites to appear as guest artists on the project, and wrote half the material himself. Don't miss this one, folks!
When it comes to J. D. Crowe & The New South, no other word but “legend” will do.
Instrumentation
J.D. Crowe (banjo, vocals)
Dwight McCall (mandolin, vocals)
Rickey Wasson (guitar, vocals)
Ron Stewart (fiddle)
Harold Nixon (bass)
Discography
Lefty's Old Guitar (2006)
Bluegrass Hits: Twenty Timeless Favorites from Yesterday and Today (2005)
Bluegrass Express (2004)
Bluegrass Number 1's (2004)
My Home Ain't in the Hall of Fame (2002)
Bluegrass Goes to Town: Pop Songs Bluegrass Style (2002)
Bluegrass Mountain Style: Over 60 Minutes of Classic Bluegrass from Rounder Records (2002)
Roots Music: An American Journey (2001)
Come On Down to My World (1999)
Blue Ribbon Banjo (1996)
Blue Ribbon Fiddle (1996)
Hand-Picked: 25 Years of Bluegrass on Rounder Records (1995)
Blue Ribbon Bluegrass (1993)
Flashback (1994)
Bluegrass Class of 1990 (1990)
Live in Japan (1987)
Straight Ahead (1986)
J.D. Crowe & the New South (1975)
Official Website
Video
Press
Setlist
Lefty's Old Guitar (2006)
1 Mississippi River Raft
2 Lefty's Old Guitar
3 Just Loving You
4 Rovin' Gambler
5 In My Next Life
6 You Can Be a Millionaire with Me
7 I Only Wish You Knew
8 Loneliness
9 I'm a Hobo
10 Too Often Left Alone
11 Blue Bonnet Lane
12 She Knows When You're On My Mind Again
Come On Down to My World (1999)
1 Back to the Barrooms
2 Come On Down to My World
3 Come Back Sweetheart
4 I'm So Afraid of Losing You Again
5 J's Tune
6 I Don't Know
7 Grandpa's Shoes
8 You Didn't Say Goodbye
9 Careless Love
10 My Blue Eyes You Left in Tennessee
11 White Freightliner Blues
12 I'm Goin' That Way
Flashback (1994)
1 Waiting For You
2 I'll Just Pretend
3 Ever Changing Woman
4 Nashville Skyline Rag
5 Bouquet In Heaven
6 Long Journey Home
7 If I Could Go Back Home Again
8 'Til My Dying Day
9 Still Loves This Man
10 Mr. Engineer
11 Sledd Ridin'
12 When The Angels Carry Me Home
J.D. Crowe & the New South (1975)
1 Old Home Place
2 Some Old Day
3 Rock Salt & Nails
4 Sally Goodin
5 Ten Degrees
6 Nashville Blues
7 You Are What I Am
8 Summer Wages
9 I'm Walkin'
10 Home Sweet Home Revisited
11 Cryin' Holy
