I Wanna Boogie - Jimmy Anderson

The son of sharecroppers, Jimmy Anderson was born in 1934 and began playing harmonica at the age of 8. He mastered the instrument with ease, entertaining customers at a friends snowball wagon. “That’s how I started off. There was blues in Natchez at the Cross Key Club, that’s about it,” he said. “No big names travelled through but they did have a band by the name of Earl Lee. They had horns, and played mostly jazz and blues together. “Then I was inspired by Jimmy Reed. I tried to sound like him. I learned the low parts of the harmonica and the ‘squeal’ as they call it. “ Back then we didn’t have TV and the local radio didn’t play the blues. At night I would listen to WDIA out of Memphis and they would play all the old blues by Smokey Hogg, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’Slim, Howlin’Wolf, all sorts of music like that. “We’d get around the radio just like the kids do around the TV today. There was no electricity and the radio was battery operated” Jimmy Anderson moved to Baton Rouge at the age of 25 to find employment. He found work with soft drink companies. He later put together a band, Jimmy Anderson and the Joy Jumpers, with two guitar players, a drummer and Jimmy would sing and play the harmonica. Associating with blues legend such as Lightnin’Slim, Silas Hogan and Slim Harpo, the band recorded their first record, I wanna boogie, in early 1962 with their second, Naggin’, coming at the end of the year on the Crowley music label of Baton Rouge. Naggin’ made it to Europe where it gained fame and allow Jimmy Anderson to participate in blues tours in Austria, Holland and London. Jimmy recorded a total of 15 records between 1962 and 1964 before disputes with his label over royalties left a bitter taste on his appetite for the music business. He still performed with other blues acts of the area for the next seven years or so returning to Natchez. Here he became a policeman and later a disc jockey. “I wanted a man for myself so I played the song Soul Man as my intro and I called myself Soul Man Lee. “ Jimmy left WANT in the early 1980s due to disputes with the stations program directors. Working in radio for the next 10 years , he found his way to Vidalia’s KVLA which he left in 1991 following the death of his mother. Later in that year he returned to Europe with the Mojo Blues Band to perform in Austria and England. In 1997 Jimmy suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body, but this has ceased stop him. He’s still performing around Natchez. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!