Jimmy Reed

Blues Singer

• Born: September 6, 1925
• Birthplace: Dunleith, Mississippi
• Died: August 29, 1976
• Place of death: Oakland, California

American blues singer-songwriter

Reed was one of the leaders of the post-World War II electric blues movement.

The Life

Jimmy Reed was born Mathis James Reed on September 6, 1925, in Dunleith, Mississippi, in the state’s northwestern cotton belt. Reed was the youngest of ten children of Joseph and Virginia Reed, African American sharecroppers who later moved to Shaw. Reed learned to play the guitar from his older brother, Buddy, and Reed began playing after working in the fields with Eddie Taylor, later a member of his band. Reed also took up the harmonica, learning to imitate Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Good Morning, Little School Girl.” Looking for more opportunities, seventeen-year-old Reed moved to Chicago, working as a laborer in a coal factory until he was drafted into the armed services in 1943. After basic training with the Navy, Reed contracted the measles, so he could not be shipped overseas. When he was discharged from the service, Reed married Mary Lee Davis, from Lambert, Mississippi, on May 26, 1945.

While working at a steel mill and at an iron foundry, Reed played on street corners before becoming a backup guitarist at Club Jamboree, where he was reunited with Taylor. Rejected by Chess Records, he was signed by Vivian Carter and Jimmy Bracken of Vee-Jay Records in Gary, Indiana, in 1953. With backing by guitar great Albert King on drums, “High and Lonesome” and “Roll and Rhumba” were released as a single, but the record did not sell well. Vee-Jay gave Reed one more chance, and the result, “You Don’t Have to Go,” entered the Billboard rhythm-and-blues Top 10 chart. More hits, including “Ain’t That Loving You, Baby,” followed. From 1955 to 1962, Reed had more songs on the charts than any other blues musician.

Life on the road meant neglecting his family, and his drinking increased. What was initially diagnosed as delirium tremens was eventually discovered to be epilepsy. Because his drinking affected his memory, his wife began attending recording sessions to remind her husband of the lyrics. She can be heard singing in the background on many recordings.

Until Vee-Jay filed for bankruptcy in 1966, Reed continued turning out hits, including “Baby, What You Want Me to Do,” “Big Boss Man,” and “Bright Lights, Big City.” His subsequent work for ABC-Bluesway was less successful. He entered a veterans’ hospital in Downey, Illinois, in 1969, but he returned to recording in the 1970’s. On August 29, 1976, in Oakland, California, after performing in San Francisco the night before, he experienced an epileptic seizure in his sleep, and he died of respiratory failure. At his funeral in Worth, Illinois, the honorary pallbearers included Muhammad Ali, Bobby “Blue” Bland, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, and Muddy Waters.

The Music

Lyrics. Like most traditional blues performers, Reed kept his lyrics simple and concise. The repetitiveness of the lyrics is mirrored in the steady rhythm of the melody, with guitars and drums playing softly. Taylor played lead guitar on most Reed recordings, with Reed providing rhythm on both electric and acoustic guitars. The style is often referred to as walking blues, with a strong backbeat that makes the music highly accessible.

Voice. This basic smoothness of the song is often broken by the high-pitched squeal of Reed’s harmonica and vocals. Reed sings in a whining, nasal voice, but he frequently varies the tone with a yelp or a shout, seemingly in imitation of the pitch and the range of the harmonica. His singing has also been described as lazy and slurred, with many lines ending in an almost indecipherable mumble. Although most of his music sounds much the same, with the tempo increased or slowed, there are often odd variations or embellishments. For example, in “Little Rain” he taps his feet to mimic the sound of raindrops hitting pavement.

Adult Themes. In the 1950’s—when most popular tunes dealt with teenagers, cars, and dancing—Reed addressed adult concerns, mainly the pains of love and the consequences of adultery. In “Honest I Do,” one of his most mournful songs, he asks for forgiveness without ever explaining what he has done wrong. The speakers in his songs are constantly tormented by romantic alienation, as he relates in one of his most tender ballads, “Blue, Blue Water.” At their best, Reed’s lyrics express an agonized sincerity.

Albums. Reed’s most significant album is Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall. Not actually a live recording, it re-creates the eleven songs, most previously recorded, he performed at the legendary theater on May 13, 1961, sharing the stage with Waters and other blues musicians. This album and The Best of Jimmy Reed feature all of his best-known songs. His most unusual recording is Jimmy Reed Sings the Best of the Blues. Though Reed disliked performing songs written by others, partly because of his difficulty in remembering lyrics, Vee-Jay pressured him into recording eleven blues standards. Though some Reed purists dislike the result, the singer bends such classics as “St. Louis Blues” and “Outskirts of Town” into his distinctive style. “Trouble in Mind” was noted for its plaintive sound.

Musical Legacy

Reed’s music was likely the first blues experienced by many white Americans in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and he reached more white listeners than any other blues performer. Some have argued that Reed’s popularity helped make some Southern whites more receptive to the changes brought about during the civil rights era. His style influenced numerous white performers, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Neil Young.

Reed’s songs have been recorded by such diverse performers as Aerosmith, Count Basie, Eric Clapton, Dion, the Everly Brothers, Bryan Ferry, Aretha Franklin, the Grateful Dead, John Hammond, Etta James, Jerry Lee Lewis, Taj Mahal, Delbert McClinton, Clyde McPhatter, Tom Petty, the Righteous Brothers, the Steve Miller Band, and Koko Taylor. Presley performed “Big Boss Man” and “Baby, What You Want Me to Do” on his 1968 comeback television special.

Reed’s influence even extends to literature and film. Austrian novelist Peter Handke’s Die linkshändige Frau (1976; The Left-Handed Woman) takes its title from a Reed song, as does Jay McInerney’s book Bright Lights, Big City (1984). Reed’s tunes can be heard in the 1988 film adapation of McInerney’s book, as well as in such films as Diner (1982), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Gross Pointe Blank (1997), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), All the King’s Men (2006), and The Pursuit of Happyness (2006).

Principal Recordings

albums:I’m Jimmy Reed, 1958; Found Love, 1959; Rockin’ with Reed, 1959; Now Appearing, 1960; Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall, 1961; Just Jimmy Reed, 1962; Wailin’ the Blues, 1962; Jimmy Reed Plays Twelve String Guitar Blues, 1963; Jimmy Reed Sings the Best of the Blues, 1963; T’Ain’t No Big Thing but He Is…Jimmy Reed, 1963; Jimmy Reed at Soul City, 1964; I’m the Man (Down There), 1965; The Legend: The Man, 1965; The New Jimmy Reed Album, 1967; Soulin’, 1967; I Ain’t from Chicago, 1973; Down in Virginia, 1974; Something Else, 1974; Blues Is My Business, 1976; Let the Bossman Speak, 1976; As Jimmy Is, 1977; Speak the Lyrics to Me, Mama Reed, 1993; Funky Funky Soul, 2001.

Bibliography

Forte, Dan. “Jimmy Reed.” In Blues Guitar: The Men Who Made the Music. Edited by Jas Obrecht. San Francisco: GPI, 1990. In an interview done two months before his death, Reed gives an overview of his life and his career. His details conflict with reports from other sources.

O’Neal, Jim, and Amy van Singel. “Jimmy Reed.” In The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from Living Blues Magazine, edited by Jim O’Neal and Amy van Singel. New York: Routledge, 2002. This extensive interview was conducted in 1975, and it offers details about Reed’s songs and recording sessions and difficulties he faced in collecting royalties.

Patoski, Joe Nick. “Jimmy Reed: Emancipation of the South—an Oral History.” Blues Access 24 (Summer, 2000): 42-51. Five white musicians share their memories of Reed’s impact on music in the 1950’s.

Romano, Will. Big Boss Man: The Life and Music of Bluesman Jimmy Reed. San Francisco: Backbeat, 2006. This complete source includes an analysis of Reed’s music combined with a biography drawn from recollections of family members and fellow musicians.