Bill Monroe will forever be the Father of Bluegrass. But it was Jimmy Martin, who studied under Monroe, who was able to rear back and declare himself “The King of Bluegrass.”
It’s in the Grammy Hall of Fame. It’s in The Library of Congress. It sold Gold. It sold Platinum. Chet Flippo once said it was one of the most important albums that ever came out of Nashville. “Will The Circle Be Unbroken…”
It is a mournful week in country and bluegrass as we’ve lost two mandolin playing legends, two influential titans of the bluegrass discipline, and the two oldest members of the Grand Ole Opry in a span of five days.
Hunting for the gravestones of country legends can be one of the most fulfilling enterprises for dedicated country music fans. It’s a way to get filled with the country music Holy Ghost, and gives you an opportunity to pay your respects to some of the titans of the genre.
Undeniably baby faced, but sounding as mature as anyone and standing at an imposing 6’5″, young Alex Miller is here to re-instill your faith in the future of the country music genre, and maybe in life itself. The Kentucky native is definitely country.
When it comes to the banjo in bluegrass or anywhere else, aside from maybe Earl Scruggs, nobody else has been heard and enjoyed more than Sonny Osborne of The Osborne Brothers. Both prolific and influential, the Osborne Brothers rendition of the iconic song “Rocky Top.”
Yes, John Schneider. The guy from that show. And no, I never thought I would be reviewing an album from Bo Duke either. But being a sucker for country trucker songs and hearing he released an album of them, I got sucked in.
Not as a rebuke of the work of the documentary, but as an addendum for those who watched and might want to dig deeper into the history of country through some of its more important personalities not represented well in the film, here are some of the Country Music film’s biggest oversights.
If you’re into country music and the history of it, you’re probably used to hearing about the “King” of this, or the “Father” of that. Since the history of country music is so important to keeping the lineage of the music alive, country pays special homage to the people who helped form or popularize the genre.
Many of the bold changes in the direction of popular music begin with artists that are too fey, too polarizing to become popular themselves. So it takes others who understand how to soften music with sensibilities to make it accessible to the masses, and hopefully, if time is on their side, transect the popularity timeline, resulting in superstardom.
For those that missed the Hank III interviews with Outlaw Radio Chicago and Big G of the Real Deal, they are now both archived, HERE and HERE. But for those who are unable or willing to listen to the full interviews, below you will find a summation of the meatier nuggets: From Outlaw Radio: Jashie […]
He’d Tell ‘Em All To Suck His Dick That line comes from the first song on Damn Right, Rebel Proud , due out Oct. 21st, ‘The Grand Ole Opry’: (if you haven’t heard or seen it before) So who was Jimmy Martin? Well, if you want to read a full bio you can click here […]