Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler: My Life with Jimmy Martin, the King of Bluegrass

by Barbara Martin Stephens

Overview

As charismatic and gifted as he was volatile, Jimmy Martin recorded dozens of bluegrass classics and co-invented the high lonesome sound. Barbara Martin Stephens became involved with the King of Bluegrass at age seventeen. Don't Give your Heart to a Rambler tells the story of their often tumultuous life together.

Barbara bore his children and took on a crucial job as his booking agent when the agent he was using failed to obtain show dates for the group. Female booking agents were non-existent at that time but she persevered and went on to become the first female booking agent on Music Row. She also endured years of physical and emotional abuse at Martin's hands. With courage and candor, Barbara tells of the suffering and traces the hard-won personal growth she found inside motherhood and her work. Her vivid account of Martin's explosive personality and torment over his exclusion from the Grand Ole Opry fill in the missing details on a career renowned for being stormy. Barbara also shares her own journey, one of good humor and proud achievements, and filled with fond and funny recollections of the music legends and ordinary people she met, befriended, and represented along the way.

Straightforward and honest, Don't Give your Heart to a Rambler is a woman's story of the world of bluegrass and one of its most colorful, conflicted artists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252082764
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	07/14/2017
Series:	Music in American Life
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Barbara Martin Stephens worked for many years as a booking agent and promoter, first for Jimmy Martin and then for numerous other bluegrass and country music performers.

Table of Contents

Foreword Murphy Hicks Henry ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction: Something About Me 1

1 Meeting Jimmy Martin 13

2 Moving On 22

3 Having Babies 33

4 Back and Forth 46

5 Up and Down 57

6 Booking Jimmy Martin 69

7 Funerals 89

8 Living with Jimmy Martin 91

9 Showers and Surprises 101

10 Goodbye 116

11 Life after Jimmy Martin 132

12 All My Children 143

13 Life in Florida and the Kids Return 148

14 Letting Go of Jimmy Martin 160

15 Through It All, No Regrets 172

16 Jimmy Martin's Family 185

Epilogue 191

Index 195

Editorial Reviews

"Set in the heyday of bluegrass and country music, Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler is filled with famous names . . . and sparkles with the excitement of those times."—Bookreporter.com


"[Don't Give your Heart to a Rambler] stands as a testament to survival, the will to persist, and the importance of choices in forging a life."—Ted Lehman's Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms


"Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler offers a fascinating look into the world of bluegrass during the 1950s and 60s." —Bluegrass Breakdown

"A rare insider's view of Nashville's music scene and of how life with a famous bluegrass musician used to be, this account also gives a good impression of what social roles women were expected to fulfill, no matter how their husbands acted."—popcultureshelf

"I've often said I wanted to know more about  performers lives, with all their warts showing. Barbara Martin Stephens has achieved that for Jimmy Martin. Human beings are complex. Our stories are never simple, and she has written her story, revealing a life and keeping it true."—No Depression

"There is not another book as direct and revealing about the socioeconomic background of a major bluegrass artist. . . . Barbara Martin Stephens has given us a unique and intimate memoir of those years."—Marian Leighton Levy

"A fascinating book. . . . There's never been a book quite like this in the bluegrass world."—Ken Irwin

“After reading this book, fans should have a broader knowledge of Martin’s flamboyant personality and the complex, conflicted character he displayed away from the spotlight.”—Bluegrass Unlimited

"For anyone who has ever yearned to know more about the man behind the boisterous King of Bluegrass personality, Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler should certainly offer an intriguing perspective."—Bluegrass Today

"While the music of Jimmy Martin is documented for the ages, his detailed personal life has never been so thoroughly told until now. Barbara Martin lived with the man, bore four of his children, and served as his manager and booking agent during the glory days when he was known as 'Mr. Good ‘N Country Music.' Brutally honest, this book runs the gamut of emotions giving us a first-person account of one the most talented—yet complicated—performers during the golden years of country and bluegrass music." —Eddie Stubbs, WSM Grand Ole Opry Announcer

"Jimmy Martin was a sparkling stylist, both as a singer and a guitarist, a brilliant showman whom few could follow onstage, and a tortured soul who once, when I simply said hello to him at the Grand Ole Opry, threatened to whip my ass right there on the side of the stage. I met Jimmy early in my career and thought I knew him fairly well. After reading Barbara's painfully honest portrayal, however, I realize I hardly knew him at all."—Bill Anderson

"I can't say enough good things about Barbara Martin and her influence on bluegrass music. She was an early pioneer with booking and representing her artist partner Jimmy Martin. The new venues she was able to put Jimmy into with his music was not easy in any way because Bluegrass is a music that is only appreciated by being watched and performed. Barbara was on the ground floor of all concerts and shows that was the forerunner of bluegrass festivals as we know them today. Thanks again Barbara for all your hard work, courage, many years of hearing no from promoters and telling us your story with this book."—Ronnie Reno

"Barbara Martin has written a fascinating book about her years with Jimmy Martin, the King of Bluegrass. If you are a fan of Jimmy Martin—the artist or the man—buy this book to understand more about both."—Jesse McReynolds

From the Publisher