Jimmy Reed - Found Love

It is hard for me to believe that this is the first Jimmy Reed post here, I LOVE me some Jimmy Reed, but sometimes you overlook the obvious.

"There isn't a bad track on Found Love. Not only are some of Jimmy Reed's biggest hits included -- "Baby What You Want Me to Do," "Big Boss Man," and "Hush Hush" -- but the title track is particularly notable, as it contains a one-note harp wail that proves to be vibrant, heartfelt, and timeless. As with most of Reed's albums of this period -- and most blues albums of this era -- the album contains material from across over a year's worth of sessions, from the spring of 1959 through the summer of 1960, with one track ("I Ain't Got You") pulled from a 1955 session. Eddie Taylor is playing a lot of the lead guitar, but Lefty Bates is also heard on many of the cuts, and Willie Dixon, no less, is playing bass on "Meet Me," "Big Boss Man," and "Come Love." Earl Phillips is responsible for all of the drumming, and Mary Lee "Mama" Reed is heard on the backing vocals of "Baby What You Want Me to Do." Reed's catalog has seen numerous reissues of varying quality across the decades, but the Collectables label did an admirable job in 2000, reissuing both Reed's library and that of John Lee Hooker from the same label with great sound quality and original packaging at a budget price." AMG

wiki - Reed was born in Dunleith, Mississippi, in 1925, learning the harmonica and guitar from Eddie Taylor, a close friend. After spending several years busking and performing in the area, Reed moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1943 before being drafted into the US Navy during World War II. In 1945, Reed was discharged and moved back to Mississippi for a brief period, marrying his girlfriend, Mary "Mama" Reed, before moving to Gary, Indiana to work at an Armour & Co. meat packing plant. Mama Reed appears as an uncredited background singer on many of his songs, notably the major hits "Baby What You Want Me to Do", "Big Boss Man" and "Bright Lights, Big City".

By the 1950s, Reed had established himself as a popular musician and joined the "Gary Kings" with John Brim, as well as playing 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", his first hit record. This was followed by a long string of hits.

Reed maintained his reputation despite his rampant alcoholism; sometimes his wife 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 tremors.


In spite of his numerous hits, Reed's personal problems prevented him from achieving the same level of fame as other popular blues artists of the time, though he had more hit songs than many others. When Vee-Jay Records closed down, Reed's manager signed a contract with the fledgling ABC-Bluesway label, but Reed was never able to score another hit.

In 1968 he toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival.

Jimmy Reed died in Oakland, California in 1976, of respiratory failure, eight days short of his 51st birthday. He is interred in the Lincoln Cemetery in Worth, Illinois.