Jim Hendricks

Originating in Omaha, Nebraska, folk and gospel performer Jim Hendricks launched his career during the early 1960s as one of three voices in the folk group the Big Three, whose lineup also featured Tim Rose and Cass Elliot before she joined the Mamas & the Papas. The trio headed east to New York City, where they joined comedian Bill Cosby on a college tour and delivered a guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. By the middle of the decade, however, Rose had departed, bringing the Big Three to an end. Hendricks and Elliot recruited vocalist Denny Doherty to form the Mugwumps, whose updated approach did not yield commercial success yet proved instrumental in assembling the Mamas & the Papas, the quartet completed by the husband-and-wife team of John and Michelle Phillips.

Once the Mugwumps disbanded, Hendricks settled in Los Angeles and began writing material for Johnny Rivers’ publishing company while simultaneously pursuing a solo path that produced the hits “Summer Rain,” “Muddy River,” and “Look to Your Soul.” Early in the 1970s he composed the theme “Long Lonesome Highway” for his friend Michael Parks’ series Then Came Bronson, a track that crossed over onto the pop, country, and adult contemporary charts. Hendricks also produced three albums for Parks, two of which earned gold certification. Toward the close of the 1970s he moved again, this time to Nashville, Tennessee, and established himself as a gospel artist whose singles included “The Mighty One of Israel,” “New Wine,” and “From Glory to Glory.” The Benson label subsequently signed him, and over the ensuing years he released numerous projects on that imprint, among them the instrumental folk and mountain-music collections in the Appalachian Memories and Appalachian Hymns series as well as cowboy-song anthologies such as Home on the Range and West of the Pecos. By the late 1990s Hendricks had left Benson to start his own imprint, Maple Street, alongside longtime associate Johnny Rivers. Further sets of similar instrumentals appeared well into the 21st century, among them Iron Horse: Great American Train Songs and Celtic Heritage: Favorite Irish, Scottish and Old English Melodies, both issued during the 2010s.