An unforgettable account of one of the last of the country music originals!
Everybody has a story to tell about Jimmy Martin. Fiction writer and music critic Tom Piazza drove from his home in New Orleans to Nashville to discover the man behind the stories. Although aware that Martin had "a reputation as a heavy drinker and a volatile personality," Piazza found himself pitched headlong into a world he couldn't have antcipated. Martin's mercurial personality drew the writer into a series of excalating encounters (with mean dogs, broken down cars and near electrocution), culminating in a harrowing expedition, with Martin, to the Grand Ole Opry. Published by the Vanderbilt University Press and Country Music Foundation Press, True Adventures with the King of Bluegrass is a humane and insightful portrayal of Martin's character. Included in this edition are a new afterword by Piazza, an essay on Martin's recordings, a timeline of Martin's career and photographs by Jim Herrington.
"Somewhere along the way, moonshine and dynamite collided. The result in the musical genius and tree-chord scholar names Jimmy Martin. Baptized in the same fire that gave us Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, this reigning King of Bluegrass is no doubt a charter member of the elite fraternity of Southern musicians that helped forge what the world now knows as bluegrass, rockabilly, country, and rock and roll music....He's part preacher, part prophet, and a card carrying madman who is completely filled with the musical holy ghost. Time spent with the king of bluegrass is not for the lily-livered of the faint of heart"
