“Free Born Man” began life outside bluegrass entirely. It was written in the mid-1960s by Keith Allison and Mark Lindsay, both connected to the pop group Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Allison first recorded it in 1967.
The song crossed into bluegrass through Jimmy Martin, the hard-driving singer and bandleader known as the “King of Bluegrass.” Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys recorded it in 1968 and released it as a single, and his swaggering reading — built around the boast of a rambling, free-born wanderer — turned the song into a bluegrass standard.
After Martin, “Free Born Man” spread quickly through the music, becoming a favorite for jam sessions and stage sets and a song closely identified with the assertive, road-worn side of the bluegrass repertoire. It has since been recorded by numerous bluegrass and country acts and remains widely played today.
