Blessed with a booming voice and a hip delivery, Nelson cut a swath of fine sides for Modern's RPM and Kent imprints in the early 50's and 60's but only scored big with his signature "T-99 Blues." After getting dropped from Modern Nelson bounced through a number of small labels before giving up music in the 60's. It wasn't until the 80's that he decided to refocus his energies on music, playing locally and making some guest appearances on record and appearing at festivals. After many trials and tribulations Nelson finally made his long awaited comeback record with 1999's "Rockin' And Shoutin' The Blues" on Rounder, followed by two more on his own Nettie Marie label. Nelson is philosophical about the vagaries of the music business but remains optimistic about upcoming projects and continues to hone his craft.

 Jimmy Nelson was born on either April 7, 1919 or 1928 in Philadelphia. He came from a musical family with a mother who he declared "was a pretty tough singer", although she didn't play the clubs, and a father known as Big Boy John Nelson, who played tenor sax in Doc Hodges band around Philly. Jimmy's first musical experience was singing at a holy roller church. "They were rockin' and rollin' there! That was the first time I heard rock and roll. ...I heard a lot of music growing up - blues, minstrels, other stuff - but nothing phased me until I got to California" he recalled. He hopped a mail train out of Philly when he was 17 or 18 to visit an uncle in Washington. "I picked crops, tomatoes, and other things" and was also a gandy dancer, laying track for the railroad. He eventually landed in in Sacramento and then Oakland where, as he said, his life changed.

 It was in Oakland that he first met Big Joe Turner. "When I got to Oakland I saw Harlan Leonard's Kansas City Rockers with Big Joe Turner and the biggest band I ever seen in my life. ...Big Joe walked out there and started shakin' the house and 'I said hell I can do that.' ...I stand up and looked at him, you know, from the stage, he was big as a mountain and he was shoutin' and singin' the blues and the band was rockin' and 'I said hell this is my life right here.'" Big Joe took Jimmy under his wing and he learned all of Big Joe's numbers like "Piney Brown Blues" and "Wee Baby Blues" among others. Soon Jimmy was singing at various joints and started to enter talent competitions at the clubs. He even beat Jimmy Witherspoon at one of these contests. He started playing at a club in Richmond called Tapper's Inn and gigging with Johnny Ingram's band. "I stayed with Johnny Ingram a long time, and eventually we started gigging at the Long Bar Showboat in San Francisco." The Bay area scene was booming during this period, "every block had a joint", Jimmy recalled.

 It was with Johnny Ingram's band that he cut his first recording session for Ollie Hunt's Olliet label in Oakland in 1948. The song, "Baby Chile", achieved some regional success. Ollie Hunt was close friends of the Bihari brothers who owned LA's Modern records and recommended Jimmy to the label. Modern sent Maxwell Davis, who Jimmy described as a "genius", to get together some arrangements behind him. Jimmy was signed on to a four song session in 1951 and cut "Rain Drop Blues", "Fine little Honey Dripper", "Sweetest Little Girl" and his immortal "T-99 Blues" (named after a Texas highway) backed by the Peter Rabbit Trio. The session was recorded by Hunt on portable equipment at the Clef Club in Richmond. The Bihari's paired "T-99 Blues" with "Rain Drop Blues" for his debut on Modern's RPM subsidiary. The record hit big peaking at #6 on the R&B charts. Unfortunately Jimmy had trouble capitalizing on his success. "I stayed another year at the long Bar Showboat while "T-99" was the hottest thing in the country. I couldn't get out of the contract." Once the contract was up he signed with Ben Waller's booking agency and was soon touring the country. When Jimmy got back to California he recorded a number of additional sessions for the Bihari's between 1952 and 1954. "Meet Me With Your Black Dress On" gave Jimmy his second big hit and despite cutting many fine numbers during this period nothing else clicked. Unfortunately for Jimmy the Bihari's began devoted their energies to a young hot shot who was making noise out of Memphis. "They went down and got this cat out of Memphis, this cat hit five in row - his name was B.B. King!" Nelson was soon dropped from the label.

 In 1955 Jimmy relocated to Houston where he still resides to this day. Jimmy plugged away cutting lone singles for Chess, finding regional success with the fine "Free And Easy Mind", Music City, All Boy, Paradise and one final time for the Bihari's in 1960. As he says about the period after Modern: "Well you reach for straws after that. You try to get back because you think you're a hell of a writer since you had a big hit but that don't mean a thing. If the lord and got it for you you ain't gonna get it." Nelson met his wife Nettie Marie, dropped out of music and went into construction.

 After retiring from the construction business Jimmy began singing out again occasionally in the late 80's, stepping out at a local nightclub called Etta's. Iit was there, in the mid-90's, that he met trombonist Carl Querfurth, then a member of Roomful of Blues. Their friendship eventually led to a three-way co-production, along with Houston blues radio DJ and promoter Nuri A. Nuri, of Jimmy's 1999 comeback "Rockin' And Shoutin' The Blues." This was followed by acclaimed performances at New Orleans' Ponderosa Stomp, Houston Blues Festival as well as touring Europe. Subsequent records include 2002's "Take Your Pick" and 2005's "Legend" both on his own Nettie Marie label, named after his late wife. "The older I get the more I [know] how to write. If ...you get a block, just take another drink and shout the blues man. It'll be alright."

Essential Listening

Cry Hard Luck: The RPM And Kent Recordings 1951-61 (Ace): A long overdue CD collection of Jimmy's prime 50s and 60s RPM and Kent recordings. The 23 tracks, all from 1952-1954 except for four songs cut in 1960, include not just RPM and Kent singles, but also a bunch of outtakes and alternates, some of which didn't surface until the 1980s, a couple of which appear for the first time here. Includes classic numbers like "T-99 Blues", "Meet Me With Your Black Dress On", "Cry Hard Luck", "Second Hand Fool" and many other gems.

Rockin'And Shoutin' The Blues (Bullseye Blues): Jimmy's glorious 1999 comeback backed by a swinging eight piece band, including a number of Roomful of Blues vetrans, plus Houston legend Clarence Hollimon on guitar. Neslon is in marvelous voice on new numbers like "House Of The Blues", "Hurt Three Ways" and covers of Big Joe Turner's "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" and Eddie Vinson's "Sweet Mr. Cleanhead."

-Rounce, Tony. Notes accompanying "Cry Hard LucK" (2003, Ace CDCHD 976)

-Wood, Roger & Fraher, Down In Houston: Bayou City Blues, University of Texas Press, 2003.

-Brisbin, Anthony John & Bock, M. Scott. Jimmy T-99 Nelson: The Word Is Class, Living Blues no. 143 (Jan/Feb.1999), 42-47.

-Baumgartner, Brian. A Trip Down T99 With Jimmy Nelson, Juke Blues no. 13 (Autumn 1988), 8-11.