"J.D. Crowe & the New South stretched the boundaries of bluegrass throughout the 1970s, and this particular Keith Whitley-fronted band was one of Crowe's most experimental outfits. While the group's sole studio album was a masterpiece of modern country/bluegrass fusion, it didn't tell the whole story of this trailblazing band. Live in Japan fills in the rest of the picture by confirming a basic point: No matter what happened in the recording studio, when it came time to take the stage, J.D. Crowe & the New South was a bluegrass band. At the end of the 1970s, there wasn't a hotter one anywhere in the world." --Jon Hartley Fox, from his the liner notes Here are the only bluegrass recordings made by this late '70s edition of the New South: J.D. Crowe, Keith Whitley, Bobby Slone, Jimmy Gaudreau and Steve Bryant.