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In my youth I got to see Jimmy and his band The Sunny Mountain Boys perform often. I thought some of you might know of him.
Bluegrass Singer Jimmy Martin Dies at 77
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/
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