A Band, a Banjo and a Bluegrass Legend

By Amy Matzke amy.matzke@roanoke.com 381-1674

Tim Mills clearly remembers the first time he met one of his biggest musical influences, bluegrass legend J.D. Crowe, more than 20 years ago.

“I had been to his shows and had his albums,” said Mills, a Pilot native. “When I saw him, we got to talking and he was so nice and receptive. That makes a big impression on a teen.”

This week, Mills is the one planning the show. Crowe and the New South will be performing Saturday at Christiansburg High School in a concert organized by Mills.

This is the second time Crowe and the New South have performed in the New River Valley. The first time was in April 2005 at Auburn High School, a show also organized by Mills.

“It was a good venue,” Crowe said. “We came back basically because Tim wanted us to, and I like him. He’s a nice guy, sincere about everything, so we said we’ll give it a shot.”

Live performances are always preferable to being in a recording studio, Crowe said, because they’re more laid-back.

“It’s a lot looser atmosphere,” he said. “In a recording studio, everything has to be just exactly with no mistakes or flubs. Onstage, live, you’re always playing off the top of your head anyway.”

Because he likes performing live so much, he’s recorded only about a dozen albums with the New South since the band formed in 1971, which is a lot fewer than most recording artists, he said.

The Lexington, Ky., native has been playing the banjo nearly his whole life and professionally since 1954, when he was 13.

“I was always listening to music when I was growing up and always had a guitar around the house, so I tried to play it,” Crowe said. “I listened to Grand Ole Opry, and went to country music shows. … I’ve always been interested in music.”

Mills said he wanted to organize another show in the New River Valley because the last show was such a success. People kept asking him when he would get Crowe to come back, he said.

“He’s a top-notch banjo player, and the whole band has such a together sound. The material in their shows is nice and varied,” Mills said. “J.D. is the big name, but the whole band works so well together.”

Crowe and the New South have won two Grammys, one in 1983 for “Fireball” and another in 1994 for a CD called “Flashback.” This year, he earned a “Song of the Year” Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America award for the song “Lefty’s Old Guitar.”

Even though Crowe has been playing professionally for most of his life, he doesn’t have a plan to retire soon. “I have cut back from about 170 dates a year to 50, but I’m still enjoying it, and I like doing it, so why not?”

Want to go?

J.D. Crowe and the New South with special guests Heather Berry and Friends

n When: 7 p.m. Saturday (doors open at 6 p.m.)

n Where: Christiansburg High School auditorium

n Cost: General, $15; children under 12, free. Tickets sold at the door or in advance at McNeil Real Estate, Christiansburg; Britts Service Co., Pearisburg; First National Bank, downtown Christiansburg; Mainstream Music, Blacksburg; and Due South BBQ, Christiansburg

n Contact: 382-3843 or jdcroweshow08@ yahoo.comA minute with J.D. Crowe

n Instrument: Banjo

n Musical influences? Earl Scruggs, who popularized the three- finger banjo picking style often called “the Scruggs style”

n Why is your band called the New South? “I really don’t know! One thing was because nobody else used it. … Another thing was it wouldn’t limit you to a certain brand of music. If you’re called the Mountain Boys, people expect that kind of music. I just came up with the New South, because it can be any kind of music.”

n Describe your music. “Well, I’m known to play bluegrass. We combine country sounds — but not this new crap, the good country music that makes you feel good when you hear it. We do songs from years and years ago, that aren’t recorded to death, and adapt them over. We’ve done some country rock songs and adapted them over to what we play, too.”

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