In the sixth session of The Banjo Style of J.D. Crowe, Bill starts to take a look at J.D.’s great banjo work with The Bluegrass Album Band. You’ll learn J.D.’s breaks to “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” and “Toy Heart” from the Bluegrass Album Band’s first recording, which was released in 1981, as well as a solo to “Banks of the Ohio” from Tony Rice’s 1977 Rounder album.

“Banks of the Ohio”

Bill looks at J.D.’s version of this bluegrass standard in the key of F without a capo. The transcribed solo is from Tony Rice’s 1977 Rounder album, simply titled Tony Rice. Check out J.D.’s great backup behind Tony’s singing on the fourth verse.

“Blue Ridge Cabin Home”

“Blue Ridge Cabin Home” is a Flatt and Scruggs standard that is the first track on the Bluegrass Album Band’s first recording, released in 1981. You’ll learn J.D.’s kickoff as well as his mind blowing second solo, which is perhaps the most intense and exciting distillation of many of the most important elements of his style and technique. 

High-quality video of the Bluegrass Album Band is hard to find on YouTube although there are several full-length concerts with decent to good audio quality. Here’s the band playing “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1991, featuring the twin fiddles of Bobby Hicks and Vassar Clements.

“Toy Heart”

This song was recorded during the first recording session of the “original” bluegrass band consisting of Bill Monroe (mandolin), Earl Scruggs (banjo), Lester Flatt (guitar), Chubby Wise (fiddle), and Cedric Rainwater (bass) on September 16, 1946. Played in the key of C on the first Bluegrass Album Band recording, J.D. lowers the fourth string of the banjo two frets from D to C, as Earl Scruggs did in his version of “Home Sweet Home.” Thanks to Ron Block for this transcription of J.D.’s solo.

“A Kentucky Treasure: The J.D. Crowe Story”

Over the next couple of weeks, watch Parts 8 to 10 of “A Kentucky Treasure: The J.D. Crowe Story.” These sections cover the evolution of J.D. Crowe and the New South through the late ‘70s and into the early 1980s, including the years with the great singer Keith Whitley and J.D.’s temporary retirement from music. Part 10 discusses the years with the Bluegrass Album Band, and the later (and very good!) versions of the New South.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4: “The Jimmy Martin Years” 

Part 5: “The Joslin Brothers, J.D. Crowe & the Kentucky Mountain Boys” 

Part 6: The Kentucky Mountain Boys, Part 1 

Part 7: The Kentucky Mountain Boys becomes the New South: Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Douglas join the band  

Part 8: The New South after Rounder 0044 

Part 9: The Keith Whitley Years 

Part 10: Time for a Break and On the Road Again. To watch the remainder of this documentary, join this link of the entire broadcast at 58:14.

“Crowe on the Banjo: The Music Life of J.D. Crowe”

Over the next couple of weeks, read through Chapter 9, which covers the late 1970s and early 1980s New South groups as well as the creation of the Bluegrass Album Band.