LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky has lost a Bluegrass music legend.
Renowned banjo player J.D. Crowe died early Thursday, according to a social media post by his son. He was 84.
The Lexington, Kentucky, native was first known by many for his work with Jimmy Martin & the Sunny Mountain Boys in the 1950s. He later performed with the Kentucky Mountain Boys in the 1960s for more than a decade.
In 1983, Crowe won a Grammy for his song "Fireball" in the Country Instrumental of the Year category. He was also named banjo player of the year in 1971, 1994 and 2004.
Crowe was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 2003. According to a bio on the site, he had a "musical conversion experience at the age of twelve, on September 17, 1949, when he first heard Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys play at WVLK’s Kentucky Mountain Barn Dance in Lexington, Kentucky."
The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History interviewed Crowe in 2020. In the video, he talked about first seeing musicians Flatt & Scruggs perform.
Bluegrass music and banjo legend J. D. Crowe discusses first seeing musicians Flatt & Scruggs perform.
Interview with J.D. Crowe, January 7, 2020
Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum Oral History Project
Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History
University of Kentucky Libraries
Access full interview: https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7vlfqwl4pgg
Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum: https://www.bluegrasshall.org
Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
The Hall of Fame said a young Crowe would watch Scruggs on the banjo and then bought 78-rpm records of the Foggy Mountain Boys, so he could slow them down to learn to play the banjo.
A post by the Hall of Fame on Friday called Crowe a legend and "an innovator on the banjo that influenced countless musicians with his technique and style."
Crowe is credited with helping foster the careers of other bluegrass and country musicians including Doyle Lawson, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas and Keith Whitley.
Plans for Crowe's funeral arrangements have not been made public.
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