James Lloyd Logsdon (April 1, 1922 – October 7, 2001) was an extremely popular American country and rockabilly singer, songwriter and radio DJ. He performed country music as Jimmie (or Jimmy) Logsdon, and rockabilly music, including his best-known song "I Got a Rocket in My Pocket," as Jimmy Lloyd.
Logsdon was born in Panther, Kentucky. For the first fifteen years of his life, Jimmie was mainly exposed to gospel music. He and his sister Martha Jean sang in choirs and took part in local talent contests. His father’s duties caused the Logsdon family to move frequently within the state of Kentucky and when they lived in the south east, Jimmie heard blues and secular country music for the first time. He later played clarinet in his high school band.
In 1940 Logsdon graduated from high school in Ludlow, Kentucky, and in the autumn of that year he married his first wife. He found a job in Cincinnati, installing public-address systems. Next he spent two years in the Air Force (1944-1946), stationed in Texas where he was put to work as a lineman, repairing damaged B-17s. Out of the service, Jimmie opened a radio shop in La Grange, Kentucky. He picked up records to resell and, after two years, decided that he would take a stab at the music business. He bought a guitar, taught himself to play and cut some demos. From 1950 until 1952 he had his own daily fifteen-minute program on radio WLOU in Louisville, then switched to competing station WINN for a post as senior announcer.He also performed in clubs as leader of a country trio.
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| Clyde Coffy, Lonnie Peerce, Logsdon & Howard Whited |
In 1951 he had formed his own trio and got the chance to make a record, financed by Art Rhodes, a Louisville businessman. “It’s All Over” was issued in December 1951 on the Harvest label. When Logsdon was booked to open a show for Hank Williams (his idol) in Louisville, Hank was impressed by his performance and recommended Logsdon to Paul Cohen, who ran the Nashville division of Decca Records. Jimmie’s first Decca single, “I Wanna Be Mama’d” came out in December 1952. It was followed by a double-sided tribute to Hank Williams (who died on 1st January, 1953), “Hank Williams Sings the Blues No More”
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| Jimmie with Lattie Moore |
His career received a boost in 1953, when he became the host of a live country show on WHAS-TV, which also featured his backup group, the Golden Harvest Boys. Logsdon’s work for Decca was predominantly composed of country songs, but some of them verged on rockabilly. After Decca had dropped him in late 1954, Logsdon’s career took a dive, when the aftermath of a messy divorce drove him to drugs and a six-month stay in hospital. Vic McAlpin, his agent (also a prolific songwriter), got him onto Dot Records where he cut four songs in September 1955 and thence went to Starday for one release.
It was McAlpin’s idea to get Logsdon recording in the rockabilly vein. Two sessions for Roulette were held in Owen Bradley’s studio in August/September 1957, with the Nashville A-Team. His first release was in the short-lived Roulette country series : “Where the Rio de Rosa Flows” The former was written by Logsdon in 1951 with Moon Mullican in mind and, with a few touches from McAlpin, was transformed into a rockabilly tune.
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| Standing from left Eddie Hill, Tommy Sosebee, Carl Smith, Ernest Tubb. Sitting from left DJ Carl Shook, Jimmie Osborne, Jimmie Logsdon, Pee Wee King |
To avoid confusion with his country records, Jimmie assumed the alias of Jimmy Lloyd for his Roulette repertoire. The second single appeared in the regular Roulette series and is one of the all-time best double-sided rockabilly platters. “I Got A Rocket In My Pocket” failed to chart, but went on to become one of the most sought-after records in rockabilly history.
He maintained a radio show on station WKLO, and interviewed many leading country performers, as well as Elvis Presley. In 1957 he recorded a rockabilly song, "Rio de Rosa", which he had co-written with Vic McAlpin, for Roulette Records. It failed to sell, but the song was quickly covered by Carl Perkins. For his next recording for Roulette, "I Got a Rocket in My Pocket", also co-written with McAlpin, he used the pseudonym Jimmy Lloyd, recognising that country fans did not appreciate him singing rock and roll, particularly a song with lyrics of which some disapproved. Few listeners realised at the time that the recording was by Logsdon.
However, Roulette dropped him after the second single and Logsdon’s rockabilly career was over. Jimmie himself realized that, at thirty-five, he was probably a little too old to be rocking or rolling. For the next few years he concentrated on radio work, mainly in Cincinnati. In 1962 he recorded a few EPs with gospel music for his own label. The next year he was signed by King Records, for which company he recorded six singles and an album (1963-64).
Meanwhile he continued to work for various radio stations in Kentucky and Alabama. In the early 1970s Logsdon recorded two instrumental LPs for the Crown label, credited to Jimmy Lloyd. He quit disc-jockeying in 1972 and took up a post with the Kentucky Labor Department in 1973. In 1981 he recorded one last album, for the Je-Wel label. In later years he worked in his brother-in-law’s swimming pool business and augmented his income by making commercials and singing in nightclubs.
Jimmie Logsdon died of unknown causes in Louisville on October 7, 2001, aged 79.
(Edited from This Is My Story and Wikipedia)