Blessed with an exceptional tenor, bluegrass singer and guitarist Jimmy Martin honed his abilities while serving as lead vocalist for Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys during most of 1949–1951 and again from 1952 through 1953. His singing and forceful guitar work meshed seamlessly with Monroe’s style, leading many observers to regard him as the strongest lead singer and guitarist the bandleader ever employed. Between those engagements, Martin teamed with the Osborne Brothers in 1951 to establish the Sunny Mountain Boys, an alliance that ended in 1955 yet whose name Martin retained thereafter. Maintaining rigorous musical standards across decades, he employed such future bluegrass standouts as banjoists J.D. Crowe, Bill Emerson, Vic Jordan, and Alan Munde, along with mandolinist Paul Williams. Anyone seriously interested in the genre must hear Martin’s work.
Born and raised in the Cumberland Mountains of East Tennessee, Martin embraced Monroe’s sound as a teenager and resolved to become a professional singer. He gained experience performing on radio outlets near Morristown, TN, while supporting himself as a housepainter. At twenty-two he successfully auditioned in Nashville to succeed Mac Wiseman in Monroe’s band. He remained with Monroe for the next four years, cutting forty-six sides for Decca Records. In 1951 he briefly recorded several King Records singles alongside Bob Osborne and participated in the Monroe side project the Shenandoah Valley Trio, which produced tracks for Columbia.
Martin severed ties with Monroe permanently in 1954 when he joined Bobby and Sonny Osborne’s duo as lead singer. That association lasted roughly a year and yielded several RCA-Victor sessions. Upon departing the following year, Martin adopted the Sunny Mountain Boys name previously used by the Osbornes. In spring 1956 he signed with Decca and began his solo recording career. Appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride, coupled with his emphasis on vocal-driven bluegrass rather than instrumental display, helped move the music toward wider audiences. Within two years he reached the country Top 40 with the number-fourteen single “Rock Hearts,” and throughout the sixties he continued to register occasional hits while becoming a fixture on the bluegrass festival circuit.
Over time the Sunny Mountain Boys lineup featured an array of emerging talents, among them Doyle Lawson, Bill Emerson, Clarence “Tater” Tate, Paul Williams, Alan Munde, and J.D. Crowe. Although personnel shifted frequently, the caliber of musicians stayed consistently high. Martin contributed vocals on “I Saw the Light” and “Sunny Side of the Mountain” to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1971 album Will the Circle Be Unbroken, thereby expanding his listenership. He left Decca in 1974 and promptly joined Starday/Gusto Records, where he remained nearly ten years and issued six albums. After Gusto ceased operations in the eighties, Martin launched his own imprint, King of Bluegrass, which reissued his classic Decca material. He continued performing at concerts and festivals into the nineties.
A biography titled “True Adventures With the King of Bluegrass” appeared in 1999. Four years later, the documentary King of Bluegrass: The Life & Times of Jimmy Martin chronicled his career. The bluegrass legend died May 14, 2005, following an extended struggle with cancer.
