J.D. Crowe & The New South

 (15 customer reviews)

After twenty-five years, this album is as fresh and exhilarating as when it was first released. This is the first and only recording by this configuration of the New South. In addition to master banjo picker J.D. Crowe, you have Tony Rice, who is one of the best flat pick guitar players and bluegrass vocalists ever; bass player Bobby Slone, who also served a stint with the legendary Kentucky Colonels; a very young Ricky Skaggs on mandolin and fiddle, and an even younger Jerry Douglas (whose not included in the cover photo) on Dobro.Whether it's traditional fare like the instrumental "Sally Goodin" or a cover of Fats Domino's "Im Walkin'" or Dean Webb and Mitch Jayne's (of the Dillards) "Old Home Place," these guys play like they've been performing together for decades as opposed to only months.Highlights include "Old Home Place," "Ten Degrees" (one of two Gordon Lightfoot covers, a songwriter much admired by Rice),...Read more

. . . this CD belongs in ANY serious bluegrass collection - the selection of material, the timeless vocals, the phenomemal musicianship, or the convergence of talent - take your pick.

A great mix of the traditional (Flatt & Scrugg's "Some Old Day" & "Nashville Blues"), progressive (Gordon Lightfoot's "Ten Degrees and Getting Colder" and "You Are What I Am"), and semi-novelty (Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'), J.D. Crowe and crew (more on them in a minute) arranged the songs in a way that appealed to both hardcore and younger bluegrass audiences of the time. The vocal core of the group consisted of Tony Rice and Ricky Scaggs swapping leads, with Skaggs supplying high harmony and Crowe filling out the baritone. From the opening number, "The Old Homeplace" (a great tune that almost became bluegrass music's version of "Freebird," it was played so often), this vocal triumverate delivers arguably the best trio...Read more

J.D. Crowe had been off on his own for only awhile, but was already legendary in Bluegrass circles since his work as a teenaged banjo gunslinger with Jimmy Martin on tracks like "Train 45" and "Cripple Creek". Ricky Skaggs was also young, but as a teenager with Keith Whitley he had already developed the soulful tenor, staccato mandolin and fluid fiddle lines that would lead him to superstardom. Jerry Douglas was an unknown teenager, but showed the seeds which would make him the undisputed MASTER of his instrument. Tony Rice had replaced the legendary Dan Crary in the Bluegrass Alliance, then joined his brother Larry with an earlier version of J.D.'s band. During his "spare time" in Louisville with J.D. he was working out the most devastating acoustic guitar technique in the world, and he began to unleash it on this album. Tony's soulful lead vocals were a departure from the nasal "high lonesome" sounds that had dominated bluegrass for 50 years. The trio of Tony with Ricky's searing...Read more