July, 2000

Norwalk, OH--Still recovering from a wet weekend in Bean Blossom, Jason and I headed out to tape Jimmy’s show in Norwalk, OH. The Maple City Bluegrass Festival is put on by Don Cordle. If you live in the region you should check it out, he brings in great acts (Jimmy, Ralph Stanley, Country Gentlemen, etc.) and the place has an relaxed, intimate feel.

Spent a big part of the day staying out of the rain and then moving into gear once the rain stopped. We focused on interviewing Jimmy Martin fans, including a truck driver, an oilman, a rabid coon hunter, and a computer programmer. All of them were upset about not being able to here ole Jimmy Martin on the Grand Ole Opry.

We also interviewed bluegrass musician, James King at this show. He was a great interview. He held his guitar during the interview and talked about very specific contributions Jimmy has made to bluegrass. He also compared keeping Jimmy Martin off the Opry to keeping Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame. At the end of the interview he sang the opening line to Widowmaker for us. It was excellent.

This was the first show that we filmed with Derek Dillman playing banjo. He replaced Larry Wallace who had been with Jimmy for over a decade. Derek is the son of Bean Blossom owner, Dwight Dillman (also a former Sunny Mountain Boy and Bluegrass Boy).

Boy, you really could here the effect Derek had on the band. Jimmy definitely stepped things up a notch and the band had a real drive. It was clear that Derek’s dad must have had a lot of Jimmy Martin records around the house, cause he played the breaks as close to JD Crowe’s style as you could.

At the end of the show, Jimmy brought Dr. Ralph Stanley out and after Jimmy made some cracks about the Grand Ole Opry, they kicked into Rabbit in a Log and Lonesome Road Blues. It then started to pour and Jason and I headed out down some old country road for a good while before we found a hotel and called it a night.