Trivia by Dick Bowden
The winners are Andy Bing and Bobbi Bowden
What Big Revelation Was Made in Barbara Martin’s Book About Jimmy Martin?
Barbara Martin Stephens is the first ex-wife of the King of Bluegrass, Jimmy Martin.
Barbara wrote a book titled Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler, My Life with Jimmy Martin, the King of Bluegrass. It is, without a doubt, a “tell-all”!
Barbara published this book in the last 10 years or so, and has done an interesting trade being booked on bluegrass festivals as a guest speaker, with books for sale! (I saw her a few years about at the Jenny Brook Festival in Vermont.)
NOVEMBER 8, 2024 TRIVIA QUESTION
Barbara included a bombshell of a revelation about Jimmy’s career in her book. What was it?
A. Jimmy worked closely with Hank Williams Sr. to develop what became his “high lonesome” lead vocal to match with Bill Monroe, when Jimmy was a Blue Grass Boy.
B. Jimmy “hired away” (stole) Flatt & Scruggs’ Dobro player Buck Graves for several months in the early 1960s.
C. Jimmy’s decked-out Martin D 28 herringbone guitar was won in a poker game with Opry star Hank Snow, and Hank even had to pay to have Jimmy’s name inlaid in the fingerboard!
D. Jimmy convinced Bill Monroe’s older brother Charlie Monroe to come out of retirement in the early 1970s and get booked on the bluegrass festival circuit, backed by Jimmy and his Sunny Mtn Boys, much to Bill Monroe’s annoyance.
E. The reason why Bill Monroe blacklisted Jimmy from becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry, which Jimmy complained sorrowfully about for the rest of his life.
Additional Bowden Comments
Yes, Barbara revealed the reason for Monroe working diligently with Opry management to keep Jimmy Martin OFF the show, denying him Opry membership. Jimmy made guest appearances on the Opry, and always got a great reception and encores. He knew how to make a quick good impression with an audience. It is reported one time he was a guest on Hank Snow’s portion of the Opry and he got such an uproarious reaction from the audience that Snow spoke to Opry management in disgust about the guest upstaging the host!
It is super-ironic that the current Grand Ole Opry theme song on SiriusXM is “The Grand Ole Opry Song” sung by Jimmy, from one of the “Circle” albums (#2?). That song was written in 1949 or 50 by bluegrass artist Hylo Brown, by the way. Jimmy made a terrific record of it with his own band in the mid 1950s. MUCH better than the version with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band!
As to Jeanne’s comment about Jimmy and Barbara never being “officially” married, yes that is apparent in her book. Their relationship was, uh, complex. Jimmy’s mother back in Sneedville TN had the court take Jimmy’s and
Barbara’s children away from her to be raised by Granny up in the hills. Barbara is frank about the basis for their long-term relationship — animal attraction might be a good term.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!! Stop reading now if you don’t want to know!
In addition to Barbara, Jimmy was tangled up with Bill Monroe’s daughter, Malissa. Very tangled up. Monroe got wind of it and FORBADE them to see each other. Again, I guess, the “animal attraction” couldn’t be denied. They continued to sneak around for several years. It got to be a chronic issue with Monroe. Of course after Jimmy left the Blue Grass Boys, Monroe lost of leverage on Jimmy’s behavior. But Bill made it his life’s work to keep a decisive role in Jimmy’s career. When Jimmy’s Grand Ole Opry membership came up with Opry management, Monroe issued a powerful veto. For years.
Not surprisingly to anyone who ever observed Jimmy live and close up, he would not be controlled. He was a force of nature in many many ways. There’s a famous live tape of an early festival where Jimmy is called on stage to sing “The First Whipoorwill” with Monroe. The band kicks it off and Jimmy’s lead singing is SO exuberant and his guitar is so driving, that after the first verse and chorus Monroe simply STOPS playing. The Blue Grass Boys obediantly skid to a halt. End of duet.
Of course Jimmy Martin’s love and respect for the MUSIC of Monroe, Flatt, Scruggs, Wise and Watts was endless. In Jimmy’s IBMA accceptance speech for entering the Hall of Fame (Honor at the time…), as usual he started to shed tears and blubber a bit when he was expressing his LOVE for the music they created together. It was really very touching. And yet, he couldn’t control himself to avoid pi$$ing off Monroe when it came to being with Malissa.
Jimmy Martin — the King of Bluegrass. Blacklisted from the Opry.
As for the multiple choices: many have suggested that Hank Williams’ singing had some effect on Jimmy’s singing with Bill Monroe. It has been said that Monroe urged Jimmy to let his singing get really “lonesome”. But as far as anyone knows, Jimmy never “worked” with Hank to develop the sound — it was a natural creation of Jimmy’s.
Jimmy did indeed hire away Buck Graves from Flatt & Scruggs for a few months in the early 1960s. I’ve seen an official band photo including Uncle Josh with his Dobro. The banjo player in the photo was the wonderful Billy Edwards. This particular grouping never recorded. Uncle Josh must have found Jimmy’s band leadership a LONG ways away from how Flatt & Scruggs ran their show! But this wasn’t a revelation in Barbara’s book — it was already known.
I made up choice C about Jimmy’s pearl trimmed Martin guitar. It is true that Hank Snow was among the first to have this kind of decorative upgrade done to the basic D28 Martin model. Those who followed Hank’s lead in this trend would say they were getting a “Snow job” on their guitar.
D is partially true. Bill’s older brother Charlie Monroe needed to come out of retirement and work to pay medical bills. At one point, Charlie had been reduced to being a short order cook to pay bills. Some promoters heard about this and invited Charlie to appear on bluegrass festivals and Charlie was happy to agree. At first he borrowed band members, like Mac Wiseman, but eventually Jimmy kindly provided his band, the Sunny Mountain Boys, to back up Charlie. Charlie got a wonderful reception at festivals, he could have become a senior statesman. Alas cancer got him within a couple of years in the mid 1970s. I’ve seen exactly one video/film of Charlie on stage during this period (with a pick up band) and his “show” was much different than “bluegrass” — quite old fashioned and based heavily on Charlie’s solo singing and quartet hymns. How Bill Monroe felt about Charlie playing festivals, I can’t say.
E. The reason Bill Monroe used his influence to keep Jimmy Martin off the Grand Ole Opry.
Barbara and Jimmy were never officially married.
No they never married, in fact she had a total of 5 children in Tennessee and gave 4 of them Martin’s name. Only one was Martin’s child proven by recent DNA testing. She never was a mother to her children, she did give birth to them but let others be responsible for their raising. She was all about promoting herself in the Nashville music scene. She fictitiously claims to have been instrumental in getting Martin performance gigs at music venues, claiming she was an agent, which is not true. He actually went out of his way to avoid her but she continually pursued him. There are some truths in the books she has written but for the most part the stories are made up to gain favor and attention and sell books.
E