Fond memories of the late great 'gentleman' Jim Reeves who tragically died 60 years ago

Jim Reeves , 40 when he died, was the leading practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman Jim", his soft velvet-toned vocals are a treasured memory from a golden era in American country music He continued to chart for decades after his death and was a cherished member of both American and Texas Country Music Halls of Fame.

James Travis Reeves was born in Galloway, Texas, a small rural community near Carthage, youngest of eight children. He won an athletic scholarship to the University of Texas and enrolled to study speech and drama, but quit to work in the shipyards in Houston. He was a talented baseball player, figuring in the semi-professional leagues before contracting with St Louis Cardinals' club.

However, with his soft baritone voice, it was music that set Jim on a career path, and with elocution experience, he worked as a radio announcer. In the late 1940s, he was contracted with a couple of small Texas-based recording companies and was influenced by country and western swing artistes including Jimmie Rodgers and Eddy Arnold, as well as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

Reeves took a job as an announcer for KWKM-Am network in Shreveport, Louisiana, then home of the popular radio programme Louisiana Hayride, and among the artistes he introduced were Hank Williams and Elvis Presley.

Jim had success early in his career, first with the song 'Mexican Joe' in 1953. He followed with chart-toppers 'Bimbo' (1954), 'Four Walls'' (1957), 'Billy Bayou' (1958) and in 1960 the love parody 'He'll Have to Go', the song that enhanced his reputation beyond America and made him a superstar in the British Isles.

Reeves toured the UK and the Irish Republic with his Blue Boys band in the summer of 1963, between tours of South Africa and mainland Europe. They performed right across Ireland, though Jim occasionally shortened performances because he was unhappy with the available pianos at the rural venues. Indeed, the late Sammy Barr had to hire a grand piano when Reeves, a fussy tetchy man away from his music, appeared at his Flamingo ballroom, Ballymena and so pleasing to Jim's ear was this instrument that he wanted to borrow it from the affable Sammy for the remainder of the tour, which also comprised concerts in Londonderry (St Columb's hall), Portadown (St Mary's hall), Belfast (Ulster Hall), Portstewart and Omagh..

Jim Reeves' 1963 Irish tour caused a mighty stir, with thousands of fans flocking to his concert venues, both north and south. When he arrived at Shannon airport on May 29, he was enthusiastically greeted by a Radio Eireann team and leading country 'n' Irish singers Maisie McDaniel and Dermot O'Brien.

In the Republic, his concerts were mainly held in draughty breeze-block ballrooms on the Irish showband circuit, with basic backstage facilities. Contractually, it was a hectic schedule that frustrated Reeves and and his band and caused friction with the promoters.

In an interview when he returned to the US, Jim did express his concerns about the punishing Irish tour schedule and on the condition of the pianos and amplification, but said he was very pleased with audience reaction to his music He felt the reception north of the border was much warmer.

In Northern Ireland, Jim Reeves' unique velvet-toned music continues to enchant a large audience! The memory lives on, after 60 years.