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

Review

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

One of the best-known personalities in bluegrass music, Jimmy Martin was noted for a sparkling stage presence and charismatic delivery of such great hits as "Hit Parade of Love" and "Stepping Stones." In this disturbing behind-the-scenes look at the legendary performer, his one-time partner, Barbara Martin Stephens, tells a different kind of story.

Stephens was just 18 when she met Martin. She was working as a coffee waitress in Nashville where he was a frequent performer. She had been married, widowed and had a toddler to care for. At 25, the singer seemed like an old man to her, so at first she resisted his jokingly aggressive come-ons. But it wasn't long before they were a sex-obsessed couple, and she was in love. And then she was pregnant. Martin, though he never bothered to be faithful to her, loved the children they had together and expressed joy with each birth (although he would never accept or support her first child).

"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."

As Martin’s star rose in the music world, they moved a lot, enjoying, at times, the good life, but never making a marriage commitment. Martin drank --- every day --- and his moods ranged from unpredictable to derailed. After years of blaming herself and trying to pretend that his behavior was somehow normal, Stephens finally found herself unable to forgive her partner’s verbal abuse, batterings and frequent liaisons with other women.

Though she does not recount every drunken shouting session, there are sufficient vignettes to inform the reader that the affable and beloved public performer nicknamed the “King of Bluegrass” could be a screaming, physically dangerous man in private. The night she decided to leave him for good, Stephens recounts, began with shouted insults escalating quickly to threats and choking.

According to Stephens, it’s likely that Martin's fame might not have stood the test of his wild ways had she not started her own booking agency to keep him professionally afloat and in the public eye. This was partly from economic necessity, since some of his behaviors were too flagrant for his bluegrass buddies and she and the children often struggled to get by. Also, even though his talents were admired, it’s significant that Martin was never invited to join the Grand Ole Opry team, a fact that increased his frustrations --- and inflamed his misplaced anger at his wife. 

Set in the heyday of bluegrass and country music, DON’T GIVE YOUR HEART TO A RAMBLER is filled with famous names --- Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard --- and sparkles with the excitement of those times. Stephens is proud of her accomplishments and those of her children, though openly rueful concerning the years she spent with her husband. Since his death in 2014, Martin's estate has not been legally settled, causing distress and expense to the family. Still, Stephens is willing to credit Martin kindly as someone who loved his children and "appreciated his fans more than any entertainer I have ever known."

Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott on August 4, 2017

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

  • Publication Date: July 14, 2017
  • Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction
  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: University of Illinois Press
  • ISBN-10: 0252082761
  • ISBN-13: 9780252082764