Jim
Reeves was a native of Panola County, Texas, born on August 20,
1924. His father died when he was 10 months old and his mother was
left to raise nine children on the family farm. Although only aged
five, Reeves was entranced when a brother brought home a
gramophone and a Jimmie Rodgers record, "Blue Yodel No. 5". When
aged nine, he traded stolen pears for an old guitar he saw in a
neighbor's yard and a few years later he appeared on a radio show
in Shreveport, Louisiana. Through the years of boyhood and early
manhood he always kept his guitar handy.
Besides his preference for music, Jim Reeves was also interested
in sports: he intended to become a professional baseball-player. By
virtue of his athletic abilities, he won a scholarship to
the University of Texas. He was a member of the Bulldog baseball
team and had a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. But early in
his baseball career he suffered a leg injury and he decided to make singing his life's work.
The road to stardom was long and hard. His
first singing work was with Moon Mullican 's band in Beaumont,
Texas, and he worked as an announcer and singing disc jockey at
KGRI in Henderson for several years. He recorded two singles for a
chain store's label in 1949.
In
November 1952 Jim Reeves moved to KWKH in Shreveport, where his
duties included hosting the Louisiana Hayride. He stood in as a
performer when Hank Williams failed to arrive and was signed
immediately to Abbott Records. In the early fifties, Jim Reeves received gold
discs for two high-voiced, country novelties, "Mexican Joe" and
"Bimbo". Especially his million selling "Mexican
Joe" was being hummed by everyone, everywhere ..
In 1955 he joined the Grand Ole Opry and started
recording for RCA in Nashville, having his first hit with a song
based on the 'railroad, steamboat' game, "Yonder Comes A
Sucker".
Chet
Atkins considered "Four Walls" a 'girl's song', but Jim Reeves
persisted and used the song to change his approach to singing. He
pitched his voice lower and sang close to the microphone, thus
creating a warm ballad style which was far removed from his
hillbilly recordings. "Four Walls" became an enormous US success
in 1957, crossing over to the pop market and becoming a template
for his future work.
From then on, Atkins recorded Reeves as a
mellow balladeer, giving him some pop standards and replacing
fiddles and steel guitar with piano and strings.
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