Bryan Chalker of Sky-CMR interview of J.D.Crowe at
The Barbican Theatre, London, 11th April 1998

Fotos: Copyright © D.Brandon May not be used without permission

The Interview

BC: Well, I’m in the great presence here at the Barbican Centre of J. D. Crowe, one of the great luminaries of the banjo and Bluegrass music; It’s good to have you here, to be with you... one of the great survivors!

JD: I tell ya I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I heard there was a possibility that we may be coming to London, England and working this hall, It... It’s gorgeous! And I’m really looking forward to it. It’s almost so good it makes you nervous but I’m really looking forward to doin’ the Concert tonight.

BC: Well, I heard a bit of your sound check, but it was fascinating just now to see you and Alan O’ Bryant swapping banjo’s - what were the comparisons?

JD: Ah, well, of course that was ah.... the one I’m playing is the new Gibson model, the J.D.Crowe model and they made that one, Al’s, they made that fer him special and we were just comparing the sound to see the difference, and the feel of the neck... and they all have a little bit different feel to ‘em and er, that was what that was all about, er.. us banjo players we kinda do that every once in a while.

J.D.Crowe and Alan O'Bryant Swap Banjos
Photo by D.Brandon copyright © NWBN

BC: I noticed you made a comment about the narrowness of the neck or the width of the neck..

JD: Right, yeah, everybody has their own feel, the way they want a neck, some of ‘em like ‘em a little fat, some like ‘em more narrow, some of ‘em wider and thin and you know I kinda like the way mine feels, a kinda fullness you know, when you can tell you got something in your hand you know the way the neck feels, gotta be comfortable for you to play it.. ‘cause if an instrument’s hard to play, even if it sounds good...you’ll be reluctant to play it a lot.

BC: What are the gauge of strings you use to get that beautiful rolling sound of yours?

JD: Ah, Well, I’m with the G.H.S. company out of Detroit, Michigan and I use the J.D.Crowe set, that’s the one they designed especially for the type of playing that I do, that’s what I like, and I know a lot of the pickers use my set and it’s kinda personal - I mean you can play hard or easy or whatever and they have a good tone... and they last a while.

BC: What’s your work schedule now? As one of the leading light’s in Bluegrass do you have a heavy schedule?

JD: Ah...pretty much this summer, It’s starting to pick up now and it’s about every week-end we’ll go out two or three days at a time. We don’t do any long tours, maybe one a year...one every two years and then it’s not what I call a long tour, not a 30 day tour, more like a ten day sometimes, we’ll do a ten day tour but that’s about as long as I want to be gone.

BC: How are you regarding the confines - the strict confines - of Bluegrass as laid down by the great Bill Monroe?

JD: Well... (laughter in the background!) Well, you know, I love what he did, that era especially but you can’t sound like everybody else you gotta do something that’s different, you gotta try and get a sound that’s distinctive, that when you hear a band you know who it is and there’s so many groups that sound alike that it’s real hard for me to tell who’s doing what! But you gotta try to get a different sound, a different style, something that people can recognise and although I love doing the old stuff, the Bill Monroe and the Flatt and Scruggs, we do some of that, and I think of course that it’s expected of us, and we do it because we love it but you have to try to do something of your own that establishes you as an artist as a “sound” you know, that they recognise.

BC: How hard is it for you to recruit band members?

JD: I tell ya... (laughs) It’s rough cause my standards are probably a little higher than a lot of people’s, by that I mean... you know... it covers more than just being a good musician, it covers are you able to travel in a band? You’ve got to be able to work within a band’s confines. There’s a lot of good pickers out there but they can’t work in a band, they have trouble working in a group per se and you got to have somebody that’s...when you’re out on the road with them more than you are your family you’ve gotta have somebody that’s got a heck of a sense of humour! (more laughter in the background) Were always gettin’ on at each other, pulling pranks, and that’s what makes it a lot of fun! As well as playing good music you’ve got to withstand the pressure of being up a lot, of being confined a lot, you know...close quarters an’ all that, so it covers a whole range of things so I look for somebody’s attitude, their picking capabilities of course, so I try to reach a happy medium there.

BC: What about showmanship with Bluegrass?

JD: Well, I’ll tell you what, to me, and ’cause we’ve all been guilty of it there’s a little lack of that! That’s because of the way we grew up we saw that that’s the way it was so you think that that’s the way it ought to be, but there’s groups now that are getting into a little bit more of the way of showmanship and that’s good, I think it needs that but people don’t realise it’s hard to dance around on stage like a lot of groups do in other types of music because it being an acoustic instrument you’ve got to do your own volume, your own tone, and you have no help. You have to do that all your self! and of course that’s what makes acoustic music good, and therefore I think it’s really hard to get out there and be good out there and do all the jumpin’ around, you won’t be as precise out there doin’ that, you going to lose a little bit in the music, I think. You’ve got electric and that’s a little easier, I think. Your instrument’s set up different, it’s a lot easier to play, you don’t have to worry about volume, you just turn the knob and raise the volume but with an acoustic instrument you can’t do this! You have to be more serious, you know, well I do, anyway!

BC: Why do you think it is that Bluegrass and gospel seem to go so beautifully hand in hand?

JD: Well, Of course it’s always been I guess, you know, a tradition that goes back...there again you know in the Thirties and Forties when there was a lot of gospel music being performed because all those guys that started this music (Bluegrass) was raised in church and they grew up listening to that music and they made that part of their show...they always included two or three gospel numbers and some of ‘em more than that, which I love, those quartets, (BC: “Oh, they’re beautiful!) We do some gospel things, as a trio ’cause I don’t have a Bass singer (BC: I’ll join!) (laughter)... I believe you could do the job if you knew the words, your voice is low enough, that’s fer sure! You could probably ride all the speakers out there in the auditorium!

Bryan Chalker (Sky-CMR) interviews J.D.Crowe
Photo by D.Brandon copyright © NWBN

BC: One of the things I was going to ask is the general, ah well, rapid resurgence of Bluegrass in the ‘States, it seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds....

JD: I don’t know, it seems there for a while, it kinda took a nose dive, of course I’ve seen it in all forms and all stages, You know, I know in the Seventies it took a surge and was going real good and then sometime in the Eighties it kinda died down a little bit, then it stabilised and now it seems like in the Nineties it’s starting to rejuvenate. Myself I think there’s not as many young people getting back into it like it used to be, I know there back in the late Sixties and Seventies there was a lot of college students into the music and when they graduated, grew up and had children then their children was gettin’ into it but now they’re not into it as much...you don’t see as much picking out in the lots, like at a festival where they had a lot of jam sessions, you don’t see that as much as you used to...I think that’s part of the problem.

BC: You appear to have attracted a huge audience here in London for this particular show tonight. We’re talking about Saturday the 11th of April at the Barbecue... er Barbican... Barbecue centre (laughter) I’m getting hungry! (lots more laughter!!)

JD: I know, I mispronounced it too, don’t feel bad, and I’m not even from here!!(he laughs) But, ah, what was the question?

BC: I’ve just forgotten what I asked you now! (everyone laughing together!) How do you feel coming over here? It’s basically your first time here, it’s a strange audience, it’s a strange venue, a huge venue for you. You’re used to probably playing smaller venues in the States, rural states and now suddenly here you are in the capital city of England, Wow!! Where do we go from here?

JD: Well of course we do play quite a few bigger, pretty good sized venues in the States. We don’t play ’em every night like this, every once in a while we’ll run up on one where it’s a special thing and we’ll have it in a big hall, a big auditorium where it seats two thousand people or something like that but for the most part we play outside events, we play festivals during the Summer and in the Fall we play a lot of clubs, Winter clubs and they’re in school auditoriums and some theatres that seat five, six hundred people, you know or maybe a thousand but you know, coming to London, England, is an experience that I’ve looked forward to but the hall, when you walk out, you know, I think, here I am and it’s great but I kinda look at it, It’s another place to play, you know, but it’s gorgeous!! It’s a great place. The acoustics are great!

BC: Well, you’ve done a sound check, a long sound check and you’ve had a long nine hour flight (“yeah” from J.D.) I’m going to say a gracious “Thank you” and wish you all the best for tonight’s show ( JD: Well, I’m going to enjoy doing this) and we wish you all a great success for the future, we want you back here.

JD: We’d love to!! We haven’t even finished the concert but we already want to come back, you know, I’d like to... In fact I’d like to play in different areas around here and go to... I don’t know... I’m not even sure what’s close round here! France?... (BC: Oh that’s close!)... (laughter) JD: Maybe Spain or whatever and I’d like to do like a ten or twelve days here, like a couple of weeks, different venues and different countries.

BC: Well, there’s a huge following in Switzerland and Sweden, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Austria, Holland, Belgium, France, England....

JD: I knew they had some Bluegrass clubs in those areas but there again, I don’t know how big they are it’s probably limited. They have to promote all that thereselves, if they’ve got a lot of members that can get out and promote that helps but if it’s very small then it’s kinda hard for them to afford for people to come over, ’cause it’s so expensive you know, but I’d love to come over and do a tour like that!

BC: Well, we’ll do all we can on C.M.R. to make sure that J.D.Crowe & the New South come back!

JD: I’d especially love to come back and see London. I really didn’t get to go out and see all the things I wanted to see ’cause we really don’t have that much time, and like I say I’ve gotta kind of rest a little bit (laughter from everyone!) If I went out today I’d probably give out by tonight but I’m kinda lookin’ forward to playing tonight!

BC: Oh, we’re looking forward too. Thank you for your time!

JD: Thank you!

Updated 23rd Jan 1999