There’s no doubt, Jimmy Martin was a character. His presence onstage, his banter, his love for hunting, and his being very vocal about not being invited to the Grand Ole Opry are well-known in the bluegrass community. Some say that his brittle attitude rubbed many in the music industry the wrong way, which caused him to not get the recognition he deserved. Whatever the case, there is no denying that his singing was powerful, his songs are timeless in bluegrass, and he was probably the best rhythm guitarist that the genre ever knew.
Jimmy died in 2005, yet he is still talked about by bluegrass fans and musicians alike. Everyone seems to have some crazy Jimmy Martin story. Not many people would have their tombstone made years before death, showing all of his accomplishments, but Jimmy did.
Unfortunately, it seem that even after being departed for 15 years, fate still wants to take a swing at Jimmy. A recent story on the Bluegrass Today website states that during a March storm in the Nashville area, a large tree feel on Jimmy’s old house near Hermitage, which led to the decision that the entire house would be demolished. Nothing is left except the chimney and a pile of bricks. Jimmy’s family sold the property in 2014, and fortunately, no one was home at the time of the storm. An update to the story states that the family didn’t know it was once Jimmy’s house, but later turned it into a daycare center named after his band, The Sunny Mountain Boys.
If you have never seen the documentary on Jimmy, The King of Bluegrass, by all means watch it! You will laugh and cry at the same time. Filmed just a few years before his death, the viewer sees how hurt he is about not being fully accepted by the country music industry, despite all of his success bridging bluegrass and country during the 1950s and 60s. This tragic ending to his house seems like it is just one more nail in Jimmy’s legacy coffin, as if some evil spirit did not want Jimmy to be continually recognized.
Americana singer/songwriter Otis Gibbs has a YouTube channel where he talks about unique and weird happenings in the history of country, folk, bluegrass and Americana music. One highly entertaining video is his interview with Mike Bub, bluegrass bass player who has worked with Del McCoury among many others. Mike tells some amazing stories about Jimmy that will make you smile.
Jimmy did a stint up here in Detroit with Sonny and Bobby Osborne right after he left Bill Monroe. Lord, if I could ever step back in time, I would love to have been able to tune in to WJR and hear them playing live on the radio back in the mid 1950s. Jimmy was a regular on many country music radio shows, including the WWVA Wheeling Jamboree. However, he was never asked to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry, despite performing at the Ryman dozens of times. If the powers-that-be at the Opry followed the same standards now that they followed back then, none of today’s country performers would ever be asked to perform the Opry, let alone become a member.
One could ask any of the number of musicians that worked with Jimmy, and they would probably all tell you the same thing. He was a hard man to work for, but in the end, you became a much better musician. There are tons of other stories about his drinking, creating havoc, and hunting that could fill plenty of music history books. Jimmy Martin should be in the same American Legends category as Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, and Pecos Bill. Our society is much better off because he was once a part of it.
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 