May 15th, 2003

Reviews and other buzz about King of Bluegrass

King of Bluegrass traces bluegrass star Jimmy Martin's rise from the hills of Sneedville, Tenn., to his genre-rattling apprenticeship in Bill Monroe's band and his decades as a bandleader. At 75, Martin remains a compelling and eccentric presence, and Goehl's interviews with Marty Stuart, J.D. Crowe and others illuminate the king's indelible stamp on bluegrass and the difficulties Martin has brought on himself through hard-living. He's brash and insistent but quick to tear up when talking about the Grand Ole Opry management's refusal to welcome him into the Opry fold. In the end, the Opry snub is the poignant subplot that keeps this documentary from feeling like a celebration, but the electrifying footage of Martin onstage is enough to filch smiles from the sadness. (3 stars)

- Peter Cooper, The Tennessean

A bluegrass legend who played and sang alongside Bill Monroe before blazing his own flatpicking trail, Jimmy Martin is a king-sized subject for a documentary, and his rascally lust for life overflows the conventional boundaries of George Goehl's juicy portrait. When he isn't coon hunting or rehashing his long-standing love/hate relationship with the Grand Ole Opry, Martin's shown ripping into his repertoire (and the occasional heckler) with a showman's flair no rocker or rapper could touch. Watch and learn, youngsters, watch and learn. Martin, director Goehl and interview subject Tom T. Hall will appear at the screening.

- Jim Ridley, Nashville Scene

When George Goehl's insightful "King Of Bluegrass: The Life And Times Of Jimmy Martin" makes its debut at the Nashville Film Festival on April 29, it won't be the realization of a lifelong dream. Instead, the documentary will testify to the transformative power of one moment in time-the day the Indiana community organizer first encountered the legendary singer's brilliant music and colorful personality.

Though he had no prior filmmaking experience, Goehl procured a camera, began to line up a crew, and approached Martin with the idea of making a movie. "I felt like once we connected, we'd be able to move forward. We met at a Waffle House and he ran me through some tests," he says with a laugh. "And then we went out to his house and just started filming."

Combining footage painstakingly filmed over three years-vignettes include a coon hunting excursion, a visit with Martin to his childhood home in East Tennessee, interviews with friends like Marty Stuart and Tom T. Hall and former members of his Sunny Mountain Boys as well as performances at a half-dozen venues from Indiana to Virginia-with judiciously placed archival material, "King Of Bluegrass" presumes no familiarity with the man and his music on the part of viewers.

"I didn't want to make a film that was so insider that non-bluegrass fans would have no interest," Goehl notes. "We thought Jimmy has the kind of personality that could pull them in, and that's what carries the film - just let the camera run and something's going to happen."

A central figure in bluegrass history, Martin began his career as guitarist and lead singer in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in the early 1950s before branching out on his own. Dozens of his recordings have become standards, and his "good'n'country" sound was a curriculum studied by some of the genre's greatest musicians as they passed through his band. Yet his often abrasive personality has helped to keep him from his biggest career goal-membership in the Grand Ole Opry-and the film doesn't flinch from some difficult moments.

In one memorable scene, Martin hectors fiddler Matt Combs as the young man works over a passage in the lightning fast instrumental, "Fire On The Mountain." Unable to articulate exactly what he wants-"you're hesitatin', don't hesitate" is all he can find to say-the singer simply repeats himself while Combs struggles to comply. The sequence perfectly illustrates both the tenacity and the tactlessness that comprise Martin's single-minded devotion to his music.

"I had to make an honest film," Goehl says. "I knew there would be things in there that he wouldn't like, but I had to do that, and I feel good that we did that."

- Jon Weisberger

There was also an article about the film on CMT's website. You can read the article by clicking here.