Gentleman Jim Reeves was perhaps the biggest male star to emerge from the Nashville sound. He became known as a crooner because of his warm, velvety voice. From 1955 through 1969, Reeves was consistently in the country and pop charts — an amazing fact in light of his untimely death in an airplane accident in 1964. His big success was on RCA, but he started with several number one hits on the Abbott label in the early 1950's. He began his career as a disc jockey and newscaster at KGRI, moving to KWKH in Shreveport, LA, in November of 1952, becoming host of the popular Louisiana Hayride. The story goes that either Sleepy La Beef, or Hank Williams couldn't appear on Louisiana Hayrideand desperate for someone to fill in at last minute notice, Jim Reeves performed. His performance was enthusiastically received, and Abbott Records immediately signed him to a record contract. "Mexican Joe" was Reeves' debut single for Abbott, and it quickly climbed to number one in the spring of 1953, spending nine weeks at the top of the charts. "Bimbo" followed, prooving Reeves wasn't a one-hit wonder and established him as a full-time member of the Louisiana Hayride. I found the original Rod Morris Capitol 78 at Amoeba records in Hollywood once, I wished I bought it. Damn...
Here's a performance of Jim Reeves performing Bimbo in Norway three months before his fatal plane crash:
Jim Reeves
Abbott #148
01. Bimbo
02. Gypsy Heart
Jim Reeves was and still is one of the best male vocals for me. I can listen to him any time, anywhere and still enjoy his incredible soothing voice.
ReplyDeleteAlthough his earlier works were very much in line with the style of the Country/swing of the 50's, I'd say his records which were produced by the legendary picker/producer Chet Atkins made his voice come even more to the forefront.
Perhaps because I listened to it several million times, my favorite is "Tall Tales and Short Tempers".
You have very nice blog. Thanks for reminding folks around the Great Jim Reeves.