Jimmy Reed

Biography

Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with a wide variety of audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby What You Want Me to Do" (1960), "Big Boss Man×Big Boss Man1991 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks1You Don’t Have to Go3:062I Ain’t Got You2:213Ain’t That Loving You Baby2:154Can’t Stand to See You Go2:495You Got Me Dizzy2:516Honest I Do2:437Down in Virginia2:278I’m Gonna Get My Baby2:429I Wanna Be Loved2:1710Going to New York2:2011Take Out Some Insurance2:2112Baby, What You Want Me to Do2:2313Hush Hush2:3314Found Love2:1915Big Boss Man2:4916I’m a Love You2:0317Bright Lights, Big City2:4218Aw Shucks, Hush Your Mouth2:2519Good Lover2:2920Shame, Shame, Shame2:49" (1961), and "Bright Lights, Big City" (1961) appeared on both Billboard magazine's R&B and Hot 100 singles charts.
Reed influenced many other musicians, including Elvis Presley, Hank Williams Jr., Bob Dylan, Neil Young, 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.

Biography

Reed was born in Dunleith, Mississippi. He learned the harmonica and guitar from his friend Eddie Taylor. 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). Mama Reed would be an uncredited background singer on many of his recordings, notably the hits "Baby What You Want Me to Do", "Big Boss Man×Big Boss Man1991 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks1You Don’t Have to Go3:062I Ain’t Got You2:213Ain’t That Loving You Baby2:154Can’t Stand to See You Go2:495You Got Me Dizzy2:516Honest I Do2:437Down in Virginia2:278I’m Gonna Get My Baby2:429I Wanna Be Loved2:1710Going to New York2:2011Take Out Some Insurance2:2112Baby, What You Want Me to Do2:2313Hush Hush2:3314Found Love2:1915Big Boss Man2:4916I’m a Love You2:0317Bright Lights, Big City2:4218Aw Shucks, Hush Your Mouth2:2519Good Lover2:2920Shame, Shame, Shame2:49" and "Bright Lights, Big City". He then moved to Gary, Indiana, to work at an Armour meat-packing plant.

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×You Don't Have to Go15 May 1992 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 18 tracks1You Don't Have to Go3:052I Ain't Got You2:173Can't Stand to See You Go2:464You Got Me Dizzy2:475Honest I Do2:416Down in Virginia2:267Too Much2:218I'm Gonna Get My Baby2:399I Wanna Be Loved2:1310Baby, What You Want Me to Do?2:2111Hush Hush2:2912Big Boss Man2:4613Bright Lights, Big City2:4014Down the Road2:3515I'm Going Upside Your Head2:5516Shame, Shame, Shame2:4817Take Out Some Insurance2:1718Found Love2:17", his first hit record. It was followed by a long string of hit songs.
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 Blue Island, Illinois. Reed was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Influence

The Rolling Stones have cited Reed as a major influence on their sound, and their early set lists included Reed's songs "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby", "The Sun Is Shining×The Sun Is Shining2004 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks1High and Lonesome2You Don't Have to Go3I Don't Go for That4Ain't That Lovin' You Baby5I Ain't Got You6Rockin' With Reed7Honest I Do8Little Rain9I Know It's a Sin10Go on to School11Going to New York12Take Out Some Insurance13Found Love14Baby What You Want Me to Do15Bright Lights Big City16Shame Shame Shame17She Don't Want Me No More18Big Boss Man19The Sun Is Shining20Ends & Odds" (played by the Stones at the 1969 Altamont concert), "Bright Lights, Big City", and "Shame, Shame, Shame×Shame, Shame, Shame1980 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksA1Shame, Shame, ShameB1Big Boss ManB2Bright Lights, Big City". "Little by Little", the B-side of their February 1964 UK hit single "Not Fade Away" was a pastiche of "Shame, Shame, Shame". "Honest I Do" was included on their first album, The Rolling Stones (subtitled England's Newest Hit Makers in America), in 1964 (the U.S. edition also included "Little by Little"). For their 2016 release, Blue & Lonesome, they recorded a version of Reed's "Little Rain".
The Yardbirds recorded "I Ain't Got You" for the B-side of their second single "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" with guitarist Eric Clapton. With Jeff Beck, they recorded the Reed-inspired instrumental "Like Jimmy Reed Again", which was released on a reissue of their album Having a Rave Up. The Animals considered Reed one of their main sources of inspiration and recorded versions of "I Ain't Got You" and "Bright Lights, Big City". Van Morrison's group Them covered "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Baby, What You Want Me to Do", both of which are on the album The Story of Them Featuring Van Morrison. "Big Boss Man×Big Boss Man1991 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks1You Don’t Have to Go3:062I Ain’t Got You2:213Ain’t That Loving You Baby2:154Can’t Stand to See You Go2:495You Got Me Dizzy2:516Honest I Do2:437Down in Virginia2:278I’m Gonna Get My Baby2:429I Wanna Be Loved2:1710Going to New York2:2011Take Out Some Insurance2:2112Baby, What You Want Me to Do2:2313Hush Hush2:3314Found Love2:1915Big Boss Man2:4916I’m a Love You2:0317Bright Lights, Big City2:4218Aw Shucks, Hush Your Mouth2:2519Good Lover2:2920Shame, Shame, Shame2:49", sung by Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, was regularly performed by the Grateful Dead in the 1960s and early 1970s and appears on their live album Grateful Dead.
Elvis Presley recorded several of Reed's songs, having a hit with "Big Boss Man" in 1967 and recording several performances of "Baby, What You Want Me to Do" for his 1968 TV program. (Presley's 1964 hit "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby" is a different song from that recorded by Reed.) "Baby, What You Want Me to Do" was also covered by Wishbone Ash on their 1973 album Live Dates. Johnny and Edgar Winter performed it live in 1975 and included it on their album Together. Omar Kent Dykes and Jimmie Vaughan released the album On the Jimmy Reed Highway as a tribute to Reed. Bill Cosby covered four of Reed's songs, "Bright Lights, Big City", "Big Boss Man", "Hush Hush" and "Aw Shucks, Hush Your Mouth", for his 1967 album, Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings.
The Steve Miller Band covered five of Reed's songs: "You're So Fine" (originally recorded by Reed as "Honey, Where You Going?"), on the 1968 album Sailor, and "I Wanna Be Loved (But by Only You)", "Big Boss Man", "Caress Me Baby×Caress Me Baby1993 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Honest I Do2:462Found Love2:233Ain't That Lovin' You Baby2:204Little Rain2:275Hush, Hush2:386Boogie in the Dark2:337Cold and Lonesome3:368Close Together2:369Caress Me Baby2:5110I'm Nervous2:3211Oh, John2:5312Shame, Shame, Shame2:5213You're Something Else2:2814I Ain't Got You2:1615Going Fishing2:43" and "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby", on the 1986 album Living in the 20th Century.
Bob Dylan paid tribute to Reed with the song "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" on his 2020 album Rough and Rowdy Ways.