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Submitted: 11/14/13 • Approved: 11/15/13 • Last Updated: 8/14/15 • R15147-G0-S3
August 10, 1927 - May 14, 2005
A self-described "poor boy from Sneedville, Tennessee" in references to his early years. Jimmy/James H./ Martin was dubbed "The King of Bluegrass Music" during the 1970's. A major force in defining and eestablishig the music's so-called "high lonesome sound. He began as lead singer/guitarist with The Blue Grass Boys in October 1949.
In 1955, he formed his Sunny Mountain Boys and became a headline artist on both The Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport (1957-1959) and the WWVA Wheeling Jamboree (1959-1962.
Among other labels, Jimmy Martin recorded 138 titles for a major record company. Many of which including "Ocean of Diamonds", "Sophronie", "Widow Maker" and "Sunny Side of the Mountain" did well in the country music charts of the 1950's-1970's. Virtually all of the songs he popularized came to be regarded as standards.
A colorful and consummate entertainer and muscian. Jimmy Martin produced profound and enduring influences on the idiom during its critical formative years and throughut the remainder of Bluegrass Music's first half century.
Inductee into the Bluegrass Hall of Honor
1967 Into Walkway of Stars in the Country Music Hall of Fame
Photograph courtesy of:
David M Habben
dhabben@aol.com
Contributed on 11/14/13 by ashaw444
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Record #: 15147