IBMA Foundation Launches J.D. Crowe Banjo Scholarship

The IBMA Foundation has launched the J.D. Crowe Banjo Scholarship. Kentucky bluegrass musician Arthur Hancock III made the initial $20,000 donation to create the fund and endow the scholarship for banjo players for generations to come.

The scholarship’s namesake, Bluegrass Hall of Fame member J.D. Crowe, passed away in December of 2021. Originally from Lexington, Kentucky, and inspired by the playing of Earl Scruggs, Crowe began performing as a teenager with Esco Hankins, Benny Williams, Curly Parker and Pee Wee Lambert before joining Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys in 1954. After a 1955 stint with Mac Wiseman, he re-joined Martin’s band in 1956. In 1961, Crowe formed the Kentucky Mountain Boys, changing the band name to J.D. Crowe & the New South in 1971.

He received a Grammy award in 1983 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Kentucky in 2012. He was also a member of the landmark Bluegrass Album Band alongside Doyle Lawson, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Bobby Hicks, Todd Phillips, and later, Vassar Clements and Mark Schatz.

“J.D. is a legend in bluegrass music, and I followed him all those years since the ’60s, watching him inspire and put together bands with so many important and influential musicians,” Hancock shares. “Outside of Nashville, Lexington became the mecca for bluegrass music, and it was all spearheaded and organized by J.D. Crowe. I am proud to have called him my friend and take great pleasure and pride in having seen this original art form flourish and become world famous, in no small part due to the lifelong dedication and expertise of J.D.”

IBMA Foundation board chair Fred Bartenstein offers: “We are so pleased about the establishment of a scholarship specifically for bluegrass banjo players in memory of the great J.D. Crowe. He taught and mentored so many banjo players during his lifetime; it is appropriate that a scholarship named for him will continue to educate and influence bluegrass banjo players for generations to come. We thank the Hancock family for their generous donation to found the J.D. Crowe Banjo Scholarship, and it is our hope that other bluegrass colleagues, friends and fans of J.D. Crowe will also support this scholarship.”

The J.D. Crowe Banjo Scholarships will be awarded to individuals planning to study the banjo on the college level or play the banjo in a college-level bluegrass ensemble. Applicants must demonstrate a high level of performance skills on the five-string banjo and plan to become involved in the bluegrass music industry on a professional level.

The first scholarship will be awarded in August 2022 for the fall semester of study. Applications will open on March 1 and the deadline will be June 1.