J.D. Crowe.

J.D. Crowe.

If there were such a thing as bluegrass royalty, J.D. Crowe would rule all he sees. The Kentuckian with "perfect time" has made incalculable contributions to bluegrass, Kentucky's own contribution to music. Jubilee features bluegrass legends J.D. Crowe and the New South, taped in concert at the 1999 Festival of the Bluegrass in Lexington, Ky.

Throughout his long career, J.D. Crowe has been in the vanguard of bluegrass musicians, first as a banjo picker and then as a group leader. He is regarded as the quintessential Scruggs-style banjoist, a consummate craftsman with flawless timing and fullness of tone. His band, the New South, has been a proving ground for some of the leading lights of bluegrass music's third generation, including Ricky Scaggs, Jerry Douglas, Keith Whitley, Tony Rice, Jimmy Gaudreau, Gene Johnson, Richard Bennett and Don Rigsby.

Residing in Nicholasville, Ky., Crowe heard his very first bluegrass performance in Lexington. Now, he is as much a symbol of Kentucky as the music he plays.

Jubilee is a KET production, produced and directed by H. Russell Farmer. The program is closed-captioned for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.