Plaintive, Kentucky-born honkytonker Jimmie Skinner (1909-1979) is a personal favorite... Lesser-known and little remembered, Skinner had a lot of the same laconic, nasal sound as Ernest Tubb, but with a bluesier, rawer feel, a sound that was closer in many ways to their mutual idol, Jimmie Rodgers. Indeed, Skinner composed one of Ernest Tubb's greatest hits, "Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello," a success that opened the door for his own recording career. He scored a few hits in the 1950s, and even injected some extra bounce into his music in an attempt to keep up with the rock/rockabilly invasion, yet he mostly sank out of sight in the 1960s. Like many old-school, post-WWII hillbilly artists he slipped off the charts and lost his major-label mojo, but Skinner found new homes on smaller indie labels, as well as in the bluegrass festival scene, which operated in its own parallel universe. Jimmie Skinner's center of gravity was in the Cincinnati-Dayton area, which was a longtime hotbed of hillbilly twang, and in addition to recording his own music, Skinner worked as a producer and promoter of many independent artists and local-level hopefuls. Here's a quick look at his work...
Discography -- Albums
Jimmie Skinner "Songs That Make The Juke Box Play" (Mercury Records, 1958) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Country Singer" (Decca Records, 1960) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Jimmie Skinner Sings Jimmie Rodgers" (Mercury Records, 1962) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "The Kentucky Colonel" (Starday Records, 1963) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Country Blues" (Mercury-Wing Records, 1964) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello" (Starday Records, 1964) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Jimmie Skinner Sings Bluegrass" (Vetco Records, 1968) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Jimmie Skinner Sings The Blues" (Vetco Records, 1969) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner/Various Artists "Jimmie Skinner And His Country Music Friends" (Jewel Records, 1972) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Requestfully Yours" (QCA Records, 1973) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Jimmie Skinner Sings Bluegrass, Volume Two" (Vetco Records, 1976) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Take Me Home Tonight In A Song" (Wel-Dun Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Jimmie Skinner & Rusty York)
Jimmie Skinner "Have You Said Hello To Jesus Today" (Rich-R-Tone Records, 198--?) (LP)
An all-gospel set, apparently drawing on recordings made over many years... Not sure when this LP came out, though the liner notes seem to refer to Skinner in the past tense, so I'd guess it came out not long after he passed away in 1979. 1980, perhaps? Early ' Eighties, at the very least.
Discography -- Best-Ofs
Jimmie Skinner "The Late And Great Jimmie Skinner" (Cowgirlboy Records, 198--?) (LP)
Jimmie Skinner "Jimmie Skinner Sings Bluegrass" (Crosscut Records, 2001)
Jimmie Skinner "From The Beginning To Fame" (Binge Discs, 1997)
Some of his oldies, such as "I Found My Girl In The Good Old USA", are present on the Highland CD, but sadly they are not in their original form -- these seem to be re-recordings with dubious sound quality. Thank goodness for the German label, Binge Discs, which has put together a killer collection of Skinner's best stuff, recorded between 1949-1961. His big hits aren't on here but the slew of lesser-known tracks is just as great, if not greater, to listen to. The debt to Ernest Tubb is obvious, although Skinner, with a voice that often clumsily breaks out of his bluesier phrases, has an endearing quality all his own. Plus, the material is just great. The early songs include a lot of snappy, hard luck and cold-hearted lyrics as well as sappy heart songs galore. Later on, as country adapted to the rock era, Skinner's stuff took on a bouncy lope, as on tracks like "Don't Let Your Love Get You Down." The major labels aren't likely to reissue much of Skinner's work anytime soon, so this import disc is definitely worth looking for.
Jimmie Skinner "22 Greatest Hits" (Highland Music, 1997)
Jimmie Skinner "Doin' My Time" (Bear Family Records, 2003)
Well, leave it to Bear Family...! Here's a mega-delic, 6-CD box set, with Skinner's best work from 1947-62, including previously unreleased takes and rare bluegrass recordings that were pretty far off the radar... The sixth disc is made up of spoken word recordings drawn from Skinner's autobiography (oh, well...) Still, what a treasure trove of groovy, true-blue all-American hillbilly music, from one of the great, long-lost country artists of yesteryear.
Jimmie Skinner "One Dead Man Ago (Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight)" (Bear Family Records, 2008)
A great classic country release from one of the best reissue labels in the world. Plaintive honkytonker Jimmie Skinner is a personal favorite -- little known and little remembered, be had a lot of the same laconic, nasal sound as Ernest Tubb, but with a bluesier, rawer style, that was closer in many ways to their mutual idol, Jimmie Rodgers. Skinner had a few hits in the 1950s, and later put an extra little bounce into his music, in an attempt to keep up with the rock/rockabilly invasion. That suits this disc just fine -- like the rest of the records in the Shake This Shack series, this tilts towards upbeat material, and is a more modest, single-disc version of a more massive Bear Family box set (in Skinner's case, a 6-CD set). This should be just about right for most retro-twang fans. If you want to check out one of the most distinctive artists of honky-tonk's golden era, this is a great introduction to his work.
Jimmie Skinner "Too Hot To Handle" (BACM, 2005)
More old-school country gems... These are his more obscure recordings, but one noteworthy inclusion is his original version of "You Don't Know My Mind," which became a country and bluegrass standard. Great stuff! (Available through the British Archive of Country Music website.)
Links
Hick Music Index
