Texas Jim Lewis

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James "Texas Jim" Lewis junior (born October 15, 1909 in Meigs , Georgia , † January 23, 1990 ) was an American country musician of western swing .

Live and act

James Lewis' mother died when he was five years old; his father, a US marshal and old-time fiddler, remarried and had two other children. In 1919 the family moved to Fort Myers, Florida, where Lewis lived until 1928 before moving to Texas. There he began to appear as a singer, soon under his nickname "Texas Jim". He returned to his hometown around 1930 while his family lived in Detroit and performed in local bars with his 14-year-old half-brother Rivers "Jack" Lewis. From 1932 to 1934 he lived again in Texas and played with the Swift Jewel Cowboys in Houston. He then lived in Detroit again, was a member of Jack West's Circle Star Cowboys and worked for the radio station WJR. He then founded the formation Lone Star Cowboys , who u. a. Jack Rivers and Smokey Rogers, and moved to New York City, where he stayed for five years. There he performed with a repertoire of western swing and popular numbers in clubs and radio; He also made recordings for Vocalion Records before he made around 40 pages of records for Decca Records between August 1940 and February 1944 , including the tracks "Molly Darling", "Squaws Along The Yukon", "Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry" ( Decca, # 3 in the country charts) and the humorous number "When There's Tears in the Eye of a Potato (Then I'll Be Crying for You)" '.

Lewis became known nationwide for his self-constructed musical object, which he called the Hootenanny or Hootin'nanny , and which contained washboards , sirloin , cowbells , horns , sirens and rifles . In 1937 he made his first film appearance in the Vitaphone film Stuck On the West . With his hootin 'nanny , he appeared in 41 other films in the same year, including Swingin' in the Barn at Universal Studios and in productions at the studios of Republic Pictures , Columbia Pictures and Warner Brothers , including Drug Store Follies , All Aboard and Down Mexico Way (1941, with Gene Autry ).

When Lewis was drafted into the military in 1942, Spade Cooley took over the leadership of the band. When Lewis returned to the music scene in 1944, he continued to have roles in western films; with Smiley Burnette he appeared in Law of the Canyon (1946). He also formed a new band, formed a club, and toured until 1950 when he settled in Seattle. There he had a radio show and was finally known for his children's program Sheriff Tex's Safety Junction on the television channel KING-TV, which ran for seven years. He has also appeared with the program on Canadian TV and recorded music for children. After the series ran out, he continued to perform in clubs in Seattle.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1940: Badmen from Red Butte
  • 1940: Carolina Moon
  • 1941: Down Mexico Way
  • 1942: Pardon My Gun
  • 1942: The Old Homestead
  • 1947: The Stranger from Ponca City
  • 1947: Law of the Canyon

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eugene "Smokey" Rogers (guitar), Andrew "Cactus" Soldi (fiddle), Billy Ulevitch (accordion) and Lewis (doghouse bass) -
personal data
SURNAME Lewis, Texas Jim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lewis, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American country musician
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Meigs (Georgia)
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1990