J.D. Crowe

Banjoist J.D. Crowe is a progressive bluegrass icon, yet his first album, 1968's Bluegrass Holiday, is stone-cold traditional. The earthy production of his '70s work with the New South is nowhere to be found. Instead, the vocals of Red Allen, a one-time Osborne Brother, come drenched in old-school reverb, as if he's crooning from inside an Appalachian mineshaft. That said, check out the instrumental "Train 45"; Crowe's fiery picking builds upon the innovations of the great Earl Scruggs.