Next to Earl Scruggs, J.D. Crowe is the most influential five-string bluegrass banjo player in the history of the instrument and The Banjo Style of J.D. Crowe provides an overview of his long career, teaching tunes and techniques from J.D.’s earliest days with Jimmy Martin through his time with the Kentucky Mountain Boys, his classic recordings with his band The New South and his remarkable work with The Bluegrass Album Band. Special guests will include Ron Block, best-known for his banjo and guitar playing with Alison Krauss and Union Station, and Ron Stewart, who is currently playing banjo with Seldom Scene and who played fiddle with J.D. Crowe for more than eight years. They provide valuable insights into J.D.’s approach by demonstrating solos, licks, and techniques. This course is designed for intermediate to advanced players and consists of eight one-hour lessons.

This course has been approved and endorsed by the Crowe family. J.D. had agreed to take part in a workshop series that was originally planned for early 2022, but his health concerns made it impossible for him to participate. J.D. had encouraged Bill to present the series on his own at a future date, and this workshop is the result. 

Here are some of the tunes Bill covers in the course: “You Don’t Know My Mind” (two solos), “Blue Ridge Cabin Home”, “Free Born Man,” “Black Jack,” “Molly and Tenbrooks,” “The Old Home Place,” “Dark Hollow,” and many others.

Bill says, “We take a deep dive into J.D.’s right- and left-hand techniques (pick angles, wrist arch, note separation, muting techniques, pull-offs, etc.), his rhythmic approach and accenting, back up, and much more. In addition, we explore J.D.’s approach to country-style tunes and slow-song back up and cover the many blues-influenced licks that expanded the vocabulary of bluegrass banjo and influenced generations of banjo players. 

“While we’re tracing J.D.’s evolution as a player through his career of more than 50 years, we’ll also be learning about his life by reading Marty Godbey’s Crowe on the Banjo: The Music Life of J.D. Crowe. In addition to working on solos from J.D.’s recordings, we’ll also use selected YouTube performances to focus on J.D.’s right-hand technique, left-hand fingering, banjo tone, and much more.” 

Here are some places you can purchase Crowe on the Banjo: The Music Life of J.D. Crowe:

University of Illinois Press  

Barnes & Noble

Amazon/Kindle