Jim Smoak

The state of Louisiana is regarded as a hotbed of musical activity, but not bluegrass. Jim Smoak has been credited with being the first bluegrass banjo player to emerge from the land of crazy Cajuns and saints who go marching in. With so many other styles of music prevalent and popular, establishing an audience for bluegrass was no easy task and Smoak may have been worn out by the '50s, by which time he had headed north where his style of picking was more appreciated. In that decade, Smoak was a member of two top outfits in the genre. Off and on through 1952 and the following ...