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*RBIのロードには多少の時間を要します* |
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Inductee Jim McReynolds
James Monroe "Jim" McReynolds Born February 13, 1927, Carfax, Virginia Died December 31, 2002, Gallatin, TN Primary Instrument: Guitar "Even into his early seventies, after a more than 50-year career, Jim never lost a thing musically or vocally. His solid rhythm guitar coupled with his pure clear tenor voice, whether singing harmony or as a soloist, was always right on." Composed: Early influences: Came to fame with: Performed with: Led the way: "To really entertain an audience, you make ‘em feel sad one minute and then the next one you get into, you get 'em hollerin' and laughin' with you and that sort of rounds out the show." By the Way For additional details on the career of Jim & Jesse, see the profile of Jesse McReynolds. Jim McReynolds was the elder of two brothers who were separated as musical partners only by military service and death. Jim and Jesse performed together, composed together, married sisters, and lived in adjoining residences - the Double J Ranch in Gallatin, near Nashville, Tennessee. So much has been made of the duet that Jim's remarkable voice seldom received the praise it deserved. A tenor with effortless range, Jim sang high harmonies and the occasional lead vocal with gossamer beauty, far from the strident intensity of most rural singers from the southwestern Virginia and eastern Kentucky coalfields. Remembered as a neatly dressed, quiet-spoken, and polite gentleman, Jim McReynolds seldom drew attention to himself. He managed the business of the band, while Jesse was the more visible public spokesman, predominant lead singer, and featured instrumentalist. Jim's personality showed its strength when the group was treated in a less than dignified fashion or when he bickered with Jesse - as brothers will - about some insignificant matter. The family was musical on both sides, but eked a living from farming, coal mining and during the Great Depression, the WPA. As a teenager, Jim followed his father into the mines but never returned after the senior McReynolds was almost killed in a mining accident. Jim learned guitar and gospel music from his mother. As World War II ended, he spent a two-year hitch in the Army. He returned home with a mandolin and soon joined his younger brother and his sister's husband in a local dance and radio band. Like all regional acts of the era, The McReynolds Brothers and the Cumberland Mountain Boys moved from city to city, angling for higher-wattage stations and playing out the local territory. When the mines were busy, they found their most lucrative bookings in coal country. During an economic lull there, they accompanied Curly Seckler to Augusta, Georgia, for a short hitch with Hoke Jenkins and his Smoky Mountaineers. A year later, the two brothers tried something uncharacteristic of Appalachian bluegrass musicians - they moved to Iowa and Kansas as singing radio cowboys. The McReynolds' first television and recording work came in 1951 and 1952 in southwestern Ohio - Middletown, Dayton, and Cincinnati. Ten gospel songs were cut for the Kentucky label as the Virginia Trio. It was in Cincinnati that they auditioned unsuccessfully for King. Then, in one of those unexpected quirks of fate, they ran into Capitol Records' Ken Nelson at the Jimmie Skinner Music Center, played a few songs for him, and were invited to record in Nashville. Nelson suggested a new name for the act: Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys. Capitol sessions in 1952, 1953, and 1955 resulted in 20 tracks, 16 of which were released as 78 and 45-rpm singles. The most enduring were the Louvin Brothers'-penned "Are You Missing Me," and the McReynolds' own "I Will Always Be Waiting for You" and "Just Wondering Why." The brothers were working at WCYB in Bristol when Jesse was drafted for service in Korea. Jim farmed from 1953 to 1954. Jesse returned to a changed musical landscape; Elvis had hit and even the most prominent bluegrass acts had trouble keeping a major label contract. In the late '50s and early '60s, Jim & Jesse established their base of broadcasting and touring operations in Danville, Virginia; Burlington, North Carolina; Wheeling, West Virginia; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Live Oak, Florida. In the deep South, they worked a circuit of television shows for Ford Tractors and Martha White Mills. Jim & Jesse built a tight and powerful performing ensemble with fiddlers such as Vassar Clements, Jimmy Buchanan, and Jim Brock; banjoists Bobby Thompson and Allen Shelton; and utility men Don McHan, Chick Stripling, and David Sutherland. In 1958 and 1959, Jim & Jesse self-produced three sessions for Starday Records in Jacksonville, Florida, including "Hard Hearted," "Border Ride," and "I'm Changing the Words To My Love Song." With the folk boom in full swing, adding urban and college audiences for southern bluegrass acts, Don Law signed them to Columbia Records in 1960. On that label and its subsidiary Epic, Jim & Jesse achieved their first top-100 country chart hits: "Cotton Mill Man" (1964), Better Times a-Coming" (1964), "Diesel on My Tail" (1967), "Ballad of Thunder Road" (1967), "Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman" (1968), "Yonder Comes a Freight Train" (1968), and "The Golden Rocket" (1970). In 1964, Jim & Jesse became members of WSM's Grand Ole Opry and moved to Nashville. With folk audiences shrinking and the bluegrass festival circuit still on the horizon, the act experienced strong economic pressures to record and perform with electric instruments and drums in a mainstream country format. In 1973, they formed their own record label, Old Dominion, and returned almost entirely to bluegrass for the remainder of their career. Successful international tours, Opry appearances, and a steady stream of headline appearances at bluegrass festivals allowed Jim & Jesse to continue as full-time musicians through the ‘80s and ‘90s. Jim encountered voice problems early in the new millennium and was diagnosed with cancer in early 2002. Despite surgeries and chemotherapy, he continued to perform whenever he was able. On December 19, 2002, Jim's wife Arreta died of a massive heart attack. Jim entered hospice care on December 20 and died December 31. He was buried on a mountain overlooking his childhood home in Carfax, Virginia. "One thing about the early days of this business, you had to believe in it and enjoy it because sometimes all the payoff was the enjoyment you got out of it." "Poise, professionalism, dignity, and class are four words that you'll never hear used to describe a current act in today's country music. Jim & Jesse, however, embodied these traits both musically and professionally, on stage and off. Jesse ran the band, while Jim took care of the business end of the operation. As a business agent, he was superb. He was always fair with promoters, and was as honest as the day is long with everyone." |
