By Walter Tunis Contributing Music Writer
J.D. Crowe turned 73 last week, but he keeps a busy schedule with tour dates and his festival.
With a career that has run a full half-century, from 1950s work with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys to the newest edition of his own band New South, it's safe to say that J.D. Crowe has seen and heard it all when it comes to bluegrass music.
"Oh yeah," said the Grammy-winning Lexington/Nicholasville banjo great. "I really have."
But as the bluegrass festival that bears his name prepares to celebrate its 10th edition this weekend, many milestones from Crowe's remarkable career are about to converge.
At the festival, he will host performances by longtime musical mates Doyle Lawson and Bobby Osborne. But there also will be sets by celebrated younger acts, notably The Grascals, that are redefining the string-music strategies of bluegrass in much the same way that Crowe did during the '70s.
Meanwhile, there is the matter of the present-day New South, which recently recruited two new members.
That's a pretty fair amount of time traveling for Crowe, who turned 73 last week.
"It just takes a while to get things like this rolling," Crowe said of his festival. "I've always said if you can hang on for five years, you're pretty good. We're up in attendance about 22 percent over the last two years. So we're real pleased with that, especially in this economy." Full story.
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/02/1417594/milestones-pile-up-for-kentucky.html#ixzz0yPT9QenT
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