Jimmy Lee Fautheree
Jimmy & Johnny, Johnny Angel, and Jimmy Lee Fautheree
Listen to Jimmy Lee & Wayne Walker on Love Me
Update: Deke Dickerson to back Jimmy Lee at the Stomp - they'll be doing all the Jimmy & Johnny favorites with full harmonies!
If Jimmy Lee Fautheree is remembered for nothing else, it'll be the alcoholic anthem he cut as one half of Jimmy & Johnny for Houston's D Records in 1958, the unbelievably brilliant "I Can't Find The Door Knob." The song is so perfect in its hillbilly rock 'n' roll stupidity as to simply boggle the mind. An excellent guitarist with a style similar to that of Merle Travis, Fautheree began playing at Dallas's Big D Jamboree at the age of sixteen before heading to the Louisiana Hayride in early '51. (Aural evidence of Jimmy's time on the Jamboree can be heard on the excellent Dragon Street Records twin CD set Live At The Big 'D' Jamboree Volumes 1 and 2). He signed to Capitol Records that same year and recorded as a solo artist until '53, commencing his run with "Go Ahead And Go."
Shreveport's Stan Lewis hooked Jimmy up with Chess Records in 1955, where he teamed up with Country Johnny Mathis for "If You Don't, Somebody Else Will," and then with Wayne "All I Could Do Was Cry" Walker for the totally insane "Love Me."
After the aforementioned "Door Knob," Jimmy Lee's hillbilly roots collided with New Orleans rhythm & blues when he cut "Teenage Wedding" as Johnny Angel for Vin at Cosimo's studio in New Orleans. The voice was totally country, the song was Jimmy Clanton-esque pop, and the band laying down the beat was pure Crescent City rock 'n' roll. The mid sixties found Lee returning to his old Hayride stomping grounds of Shreveport to record a string of singles for Stan Lewis's Paula Records.
Though Jimmy's never achieved the commercial success that his music deserved, his pedigree of having recorded some of the greatest hillbilly songs ever for some of the greatest record labels ever, as well as his uniformly excellent guitar playing, solidifies his reputation as an underground country music legend.
Listen to Jimmy Lee & Wayne Walker on Love Me
Update: Deke Dickerson to back Jimmy Lee at the Stomp - they'll be doing all the Jimmy & Johnny favorites with full harmonies!
If Jimmy Lee Fautheree is remembered for nothing else, it'll be the alcoholic anthem he cut as one half of Jimmy & Johnny for Houston's D Records in 1958, the unbelievably brilliant "I Can't Find The Door Knob." The song is so perfect in its hillbilly rock 'n' roll stupidity as to simply boggle the mind. An excellent guitarist with a style similar to that of Merle Travis, Fautheree began playing at Dallas's Big D Jamboree at the age of sixteen before heading to the Louisiana Hayride in early '51. (Aural evidence of Jimmy's time on the Jamboree can be heard on the excellent Dragon Street Records twin CD set Live At The Big 'D' Jamboree Volumes 1 and 2). He signed to Capitol Records that same year and recorded as a solo artist until '53, commencing his run with "Go Ahead And Go."
Shreveport's Stan Lewis hooked Jimmy up with Chess Records in 1955, where he teamed up with Country Johnny Mathis for "If You Don't, Somebody Else Will," and then with Wayne "All I Could Do Was Cry" Walker for the totally insane "Love Me."
After the aforementioned "Door Knob," Jimmy Lee's hillbilly roots collided with New Orleans rhythm & blues when he cut "Teenage Wedding" as Johnny Angel for Vin at Cosimo's studio in New Orleans. The voice was totally country, the song was Jimmy Clanton-esque pop, and the band laying down the beat was pure Crescent City rock 'n' roll. The mid sixties found Lee returning to his old Hayride stomping grounds of Shreveport to record a string of singles for Stan Lewis's Paula Records.
Though Jimmy's never achieved the commercial success that his music deserved, his pedigree of having recorded some of the greatest hillbilly songs ever for some of the greatest record labels ever, as well as his uniformly excellent guitar playing, solidifies his reputation as an underground country music legend.