With 2025 being the 50th anniversary of one of the most trend-setting albums in bluegrass history, the original J.D. Crowe & The New South, or simply Rounder 0044, as it is known to pickers, industry folks, and deeply invested fans, there has been a good bit of press about this classic recording, issued initially on LP in 1975.
This, of course, is the record that introduced Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, and Jerry Douglas to the wider bluegrass world while they were still young men on their way up, alongside veteran performers J.D. Crowe and Bobby Slone. It also demonstrated a new path forward for the music, utilizing Rice’s energetic and richly orchestrated rhythm guitar, set against Crowe’s banjo work just as he was coming into his prime.
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this album, especially to the generation of bluegrass artists growing up and studying the music in the 1970s, as it formed the touchstone for what they would hope to accomplish in their own careers. On the off chance that someone reading this is unfamiliar with this record, it might be best to give it a listen, or having it playing as you read on.
Rounder 0044 had recently been selected by the Library of Congress for their National Recording Registry, and for inclusion in the Grammy Hall of Fame, both richly deserved. Expect to see further honors come its way as the music world focuses in on the golden jubilee.
At the urging of Ken Irwin, one of the three partners who launched Rounder Records in 1970, we have investigated one of the lingering mysteries about this album, to wit, who are the uncredited artists who appear on certain tracks? Careful listening reveals that electric bass was used on several cuts, along with pedal steel guitar, drums, and piano. But the original pressings of the LP and subsequent CD releases don’t mention them.
What was behind this omission, and who were these guys? Did it contain some dark secret? Is this a vast bluegrass conspiracy? Was it to protect the identities of the artists who profaned bluegrass norms in ’75?
Irwin says it was simply a matter of them being green and inexperienced in the record business, just as they didn’t notice Crowe flipping a bird on the original cover. One was corrected, and the other not in future reprintings.
Ken says that they learned a lot from those early days.
“Back then, we tended to print what we were sent by the artist or their representatives. We were new to the business and didn’t notice the omissions.
As for the cover, we were sent a slide and all we saw were the smiling faces. It wasn’t until the albums arrived that we realized why everyone was smiling!
Those intimately associated with the industry, or close to the people involved in recording this classic, may know most of the information shared here today, but many others will be seeing it for the first time. We thank Ken for his interest in seeing this published, and for sharing from his own personal archives.
Perhaps the first bit that those on the inside may know, was that Crowe played the guitar intro to Rock Salt & Nails. When asked, Jerry Douglas remembered it being Crowe, and that, “I can hear JD’s fingerpicks on Rock Salt.” J.D. also played guitar on Summer Wages, but Rice did the intro.
As it happens, the uncredited players on J.D. Crowe & The New South were a part of Emmylou Harris’ Angel Band in 1975, who were close to the bluegrass scene around Washington, DC at the time. The band featured Bruce Archer on guitar and banjo, Tom Guidera on electric bass, Danny Pendleton on pedal steel, Bing McCoy on piano, and Mark Cuff on drums. Bruce was the only member not invited to participate in the 0044 sessions, for the obvious reason that Crowe and Rice had banjo and guitar pretty well handled.
Guidera, who played on Nashville Blues, You Are What I Am, I’m Walkin’, Cryin’ Holy, and Home Sweet Home Revisited, said that while he and the rest of the group didn’t know J.D. Crowe, or the Rounder folks, they were all familiar with Track Recorders in Silver Spring, MD where the album was cut.
“The simple answer is that we were all in and out of the same studio frequently, the Red Fox Inn was common territory for all of us as a performance venue, and the late night ‘picking parties’ at the Starlings’ house certainly brought us together in an informal, congenial setting regularly.
Danny Pendleton, Mark Cuff, and I performed in the studio on demo tracks that John Starling was making. I remember very clearly that Tony Rice was there for those sessions, and very likely Ricky Skaggs was too.
I do not recall meeting J.D or Bobby Slone prior to the session, or that we had any idea they were going to make a record, until we were recruited.
We cannot have guessed the five-decades-long significance that those five musicians would have for the history of bluegrass music, and American music overall. And that is for the best. I don’t remember struggling to meet the moment or feeling overmatched.
It seems to me now that Danny, Mark, Bing, and I were comfortable with each other enough to get through a long recording session in which each piece (most of which were new to us) was rehearsed once or twice and recorded before we moved on to the next.
And because Ricky Skaggs played on both tracks of Emmy’s first album in that same studio, it seems most likely that Ricky may have been the one to suggest asking Danny Pendleton, Mark Cuff, Bing McCoy, and me to add performances to the J.D. Crowe record.
But I do remember that Ricky was very much the person who communicated with Mark, Danny, Bing and me during the sessions regarding the music, arrangements, the tempos, etc.”
Other members of the Angel Band showed up on several cuts as well. Cuff played drums (brushes on snare, high hat, and kick) on the same tracks as Guidera, Nashville Blues, You Are What I Am, I’m Walkin’, Cryin’ Holy, and Home Sweet Home Revisited. Pendleton added steel to You Are What I Am, and McCoy played piano on Cryin’ Holy.
A friend of J.D.’s and his de facto manager at the time, Hugh Sturgill, sang bass on Cryin’ Holy, also uncredited.
Emmylou tells us that there was no pre-planning that led to them ending up on the record, and that it was natural thing at the time to help each other out in the studio.
“I was good friends with The Seldom Scene and John Starling, part of that extraordinary musical family in DC when I was a struggling folk singer. They were very important to my musical education. Ricky had been part of that scene that ended up in the Starlings’ living rooms after shows, and so we knew those guys through those jams – Ricky and Jerry. It was like going to some sort of bluegrass university.
Everybody was jamming with each other, and recording with each other, and Ricky played on my first album and became part of my Hot Band.
The most important thing was the collaboration, playing together, looking for the real thing.”
Harris herself added vocal harmony to Cryin’ Holy, though it wasn’t used on the initial release.
“I wasn’t sure that my part was that good – still never heard it. It was just part of what was going on at the time. It was natural to be invited. You don’t think about what will happen with an album. If it doesn’t work, it was just a moment in time. It was just a part of the tapestry of what was going on at the time.
It was such a fertile, rich, and inspiring thing going on back then. I have always felt that it was a brilliant record.”
But she recognized the slightly heretical direction of the music being recorded with her bandmates.
“Bluegrass albums didn’t have drums, or electric bass, and viola… my God!”
Perhaps the most striking thing when discussing this project with Emmylou and Tom was the fact that neither they, nor the people at Rounder, nor J.D., Tony, Ricky, Bobby, and Jerry, understood that they were in the process of recording something that would alter the direction of bluegrass music going forward. Rounder had actually initially approached Crowe to make a banjo record, though he convinced them to do a band album, as he was sure that he had an unusually strong group that he might not be able to keep for long.
It is one for the ages.
Thankfully, Rounder 0044 has remained in print consistently since 1975, and is available on CD and on vinyl, as well as for download and streaming.
A special 50th anniversary remastered CD edition on Craft Recordings, a division of Concord Records, will be coming later this year. Real Gone Music will be re-issuing a 50th anniversary vinyl copy next month, with all 13 tracks from the 1975 sessions, including Why Don’t You Tell Me So and the version of Cryin’ Holy with Emmylou’s harmony vocal.
Many thanks to Ken Irwin and Tom Guidera for their help in assembling this article.
