⬇️ JIMMY REED ⬇️
(Mathis James Reed)
DISCOGRAPHY 1959-2022 (58CD)
BIOGRAPHY
Reed influenced other musicians, such as Elvis Presley, Hank Williams
Jr., and the Rolling Stones, who recorded his songs. Music critic Cub
Koda describes him as "perhaps the most influential bluesman of all" due
to his easily accessible style.
Reed was born in Dunleith, Mississippi, in 1925. He learned the
harmonica and guitar from his friend Eddie Taylor.[4] After several
years of busking and performing there, he moved to Chicago, Illinois,
in 1943. He was then drafted into the U.S. Navy and served in World
War II. He was discharged in 1945 and returned briefly to Mississippi,
marrying his girlfriend, Mary (henceforth known as Mama Reed).
He then moved to Gary, Indiana, to work at an Armour meat-packing
plant. Mama Reed was an uncredited background singer on many of his
recordings, notably the hits "Baby What You Want Me to Do", "Big Boss
Man" and "Bright Lights, Big City".
By the 1950s, Reed had established himself as a popular musician. He
joined the Gary Kings with John Brim and played on the street with
Willie Joe Duncan. Reed failed to gain a recording contract with Chess
Records, but signed with Vee-Jay Records through Brim's drummer,
Albert King. At Vee-Jay, Reed began playing again with Eddie Taylor
and soon released "You Don't Have to Go", his first hit record. It was
followed by a long string of hit songs.
"At his best—on Vee-Jay in the '50s—Reed sang with the languid
self-assurance of a man who never ran for the bus because he wanted to
spend the fare on a glass of wine, and the unindustrious shuffle
rhythms of the Vee-Jay band ambled right along behind."
Reed maintained his reputation despite his rampant alcoholism; his
wife sometimes had to help him remember the lyrics to his songs while
recording. In 1957, Reed developed epilepsy, though the condition was
not correctly diagnosed for a long time, as Reed and doctors assumed
it was delirium tremens. When Vee-Jay Records closed, his manager
signed a contract with the fledgling ABC-Bluesway label, but Reed
never produced another hit. In 1968, he toured Europe with the
American Folk Blues Festival.
Reed died of respiratory failure in 1976, in Oakland, California,
eight days short of his 51st birthday. He is interred in the Lincoln
Cemetery, in Worth, Illinois. Reed was posthumously inducted into the
Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1991..... (Wikipedia)
NEW!
1985-I'm The Man Down There (LP) @320
2016-My Happy Heaven @FLAC