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About the video
Jimmy Martin & the Sunny Mountain Boys(Vernon Derrick, Alan Munde, Gloria
Belle, Jimmy Martin Jr) at Del Reeves show
About the artist
A self-described "poor boy from Sneedville, Tennessee" in references to his
early years, Jimmy (James H.) Martin was dubbed "The King of Bluegrass Music"
during the 1970s. A major force in defining and establishing the music's so-
called "high lonesome sound," he began as lead singer/guitarist with the Blue
Grass Boys in October, 1949.
In 1955 he formed his Sunny Mountain Boys and became a headline artist on
both the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport (1957-1959) and the WWVA Wheeling
Jamboree (1959-1962).
Jimmy Martin recorded 138 titles for a major record company, many of which,
including "Ocean Of Diamonds," "Sophronie," "Widow Maker" and "Sunny Side
Of The Mountain," did well in the country music charts of the 1950s-1970s.
Virtually all of the songs he popularized came to be regarded as standards. A
colorful and consummate entertainer and musician, Jimmy Martin produced
profound and enduring influences on the idiom during its critical formative years
and throughout the remainder of bluegrass music's first half century.