His family confirmed on Facebook the death of Grammy-winning bluegrass musician and Lexington native J.D. Crowe, at age 84.
“We just want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” he son David said in the message. “As a great a musician as dad was, he was an even better husband, father and friend.”
Crowe died Friday of undisclosed causes.
Born James Dee Crowe in 1937, his path was set when at age 12 he hear Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys play at a barn dance in Lexington. His career included stints with Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, Mac Wiseman, and his own band, the Kentucky Mountain Boys which because the New South.
A living legend, he was an innovator on the banjo and influenced countless musicians with is technique and style. He was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro in 2003.
Crowe won a Grammy in 1983 for best country instrumental performance for “Fireball.”
The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History interviewed Crowe in 2020.
He is survived by his wife, Sheryl; his children David and Stacey; and a granddaughter, Kylee.
