Jim and jesse mcreynolds biography of michael

Home / Celebrity Biographies / Jim and jesse mcreynolds biography of michael

It is a kind of earnestness and near naivete, a kind of youthful, openhearted sincerity.”

“Ranger Doug” Green, music writer, historian, and member of Riders in the Sky, in the liner notes to Jim & Jesse: Bluegrass and More, Bear Family Records, 1993.

Jim & Jesse McReynolds

bluegrass musicians, Gallatin
National Heritage Fellowship (1997)

Brothers Jim (1927-2002) and Jesse (1929- ) McReynolds were raised in a very musical family in the southwestern Virginia mountains.

Like most Appalachian bands of the era, they roamed widely from one radio station to another throughout the Southeast, performing a variety of styles of music. So that's where we went."

Quoted in Robert K. Oermann, "Jim & Jesse: Testing the Boundaries of Bluegrass Music - With a little Help from Charlie Louvin," Bluegrass Unlimited, September, 1982.

“There is a quality, an essence in Jim & Jesse’s music that has always set them apart as something very special.

Since Jim’s death, Jesse has continued to be musically active, often performing with younger members of his family.

National Heritage Fellowship profile

 

More Information

  • Cardwell, Nancy, “Jesse McReynolds – The Next Chapter,” Bluegrass Unlimited 38, #12 (June 2004): 30-34.
  • Ewing, Tom, “Jim & Jesse – 50 Years and the Future is Just Beginning,” Bluegrass Unlimited 32, #1 (July 1997): 16-21.
  • Govenar, Alan, Masters of Traditional Arts: A Biographical Dictionary (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2001), pp.

    jim and jesse mcreynolds biography of michael

    They issued recordings on their own labels, Old Dominion and Double J, and on other independent labels as well. It was widely imitated by his peers. She loved vocal harmony and taught it to her sons.

    By the early 1940s, Jim and Jesse McReynolds were playing mandolin and guitar and singing together. They performed widely in the United States and abroad.

    The brothers appeared on a nationally syndicated television show for several years through the mid-1970s, and they were inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1993.

    When neither was making much progress, the brothers exchanged instruments.

  • A 1954 Capitol Records promotion booklet listed the following details about Jesse: height: 5’11″, black hair, grey eyes, weight: 145 lbs., single, favorite food: fried potatoes, favorite color: blue, favorite sports: fishing, hunting.
  • Played mandolin on The Doors’ album “The Soft Parade.”
  • Toured and recorded as a member of The Masters, a quartet of “superpickers” that included fiddler Kenny Baker, Dobro player Josh Graves and banjoist/guitarist Eddie Adcock.

From the Archives

“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."

Quoted in Julie Knight, "Hoke Jenkins, Pioneer Banjo Man," Bluegrass Unlimited, September, 1985.

"When we first moved to Nashville, bluegrass wasn't doing that well.

Few players could duplicate this style. Later, he played a new instrument, a mandolobro, which was tuned like a mandola (C, G, D, A from bass to treble strings) with a resonator guitar body.

In 1952, the brothers signed a contract with Capitol Records and changed the name of their act to Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys.

314-25.

  • Stubbs, Eddie, “ Jim McReynolds, 1927-2002, “Bluegrass Unlimited 37, # 8 (Feb 2003): 24-25.
  • Willis, Barry R. America’s Music: Bluegrass (Franktown, CO: Pine Valley Music, 1992), pp. They pursued professional aspirations by the late 1940s, playing radio stations and live performances through the South, adopting the acoustic ensemble format of the then-new bluegrass style and becoming known for close vocal harmonies.

    Their grandfather, Charles McReynolds, was a fiddler who headed a string band from the 1890s to the 1930s and recorded for RCA during the Bristol Sessions of 1927. Playing the Western songs of the Sons of the Pioneers helped forge the McReynolds's distinctive harmony sound.

    In the early 1950s, Jesse developed a mandolin cross-picking technique that added a syncopated effect similar to that of Scruggs-style banjo playing.

    They sang and played together from an early age, developing their variations on the brother-duet pairing popular at the time, with Jim playing guitar and singing tenor and Jesse playing mandolin and singing lead. 204-9.

    • Bio

    Jim and Jesse McReynolds were raised in a family of coal miners and farmers who were also accomplished musicians.

    The Virginia Boys included Sonny James on fiddle and Curley Seckler on guitar.

  • 1962, performed their first song on the Opry: “I’ll Never Love Anybody But You.” Jesse wrote the song as a joke (intended to be a rock and roll song) but it caught on and became a hit.
  • 1964, joined the Grand Ole Opry.
  • 1966-7, had their own syndicated TV show, sponsored by Martha White.
  • 1966, to expand their audience, they recorded an album of Chuck Berry songs called “Berry Pickin’ in the Country.” It flopped.
  • 1967, had their only “top 10” song on the country charts– “Diesel on My Tail.”
  • 1969, Jesse played mandolin on an album by The Doors.
  • Close friends with the Louvin Brothers.

    Jim was born on February 13, 1927, and Jesse on July 9, 1929, in Coeburn, in the Clinch Mountains of southwestern Virginia.