Biography
Jimmie Lee Robinson stood apart from many fellow Chicago blues artists because he never migrated from the Mississippi Delta. Born and raised in the Windy City itself, he grew up near Maxwell Street, the bustling open-air market on the near West Side that pulsed with blues activity throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
He absorbed those surroundings thoroughly. In 1952 he began a four-year musical alliance with guitarist Freddy King after the two first crossed paths outside the neighborhood welfare office; he subsequently contributed sideman guitar and bass to sessions for Elmore James, Little Walter, Eddie Taylor, Shakey Jake, and St. Louis Jimmy Oden. Around 1959–1960 Robinson issued three singles on the small Bandera imprint. The brooding “All My Life” carried enough force to reach England, where John Mayall later recorded a faithful version, while “Lonely Traveller” resurfaced decades afterward as the title track of his 1994 Delmark album.
In 1965 Robinson joined the American Folk Blues Festival tour organized by Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau, performing across Europe alongside John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, and Big Mama Thornton. Following his mother’s death soon after, economic hardship set in, and he spent roughly twenty-five years driving a cab and serving as a security guard for the Board of Education. Members of the Ice Cream Men, a younger Chicago band devoted to 1950s blues, eventually persuaded him that retirement was premature. That encouragement led to his first full-length release, the 1994 Delmark album Lonely Traveller. During the mid-1990s he issued Guns, Gangs and Drugs on his own Amina label. Early in 1998 he returned to the studio to record a collection of mostly original material that appeared in 2000 as Remember Me on the APO label.
At the close of 1998 Robinson launched a ninety-one-day fast protesting the demolition of historic Maxwell Street. As a member of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition he composed its theme song, “The Maxwell Street Tear Down Blues,” yet chose direct personal action. The protest drew widespread notice, including a front-page story in The New York Times, though the neighborhood was ultimately razed to allow expansion of the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. Robinson tracked All My Life in 1999; the album reached stores in 2001. On July 6, 2002, after an extended struggle with stomach cancer, he ended his life.
He absorbed those surroundings thoroughly. In 1952 he began a four-year musical alliance with guitarist Freddy King after the two first crossed paths outside the neighborhood welfare office; he subsequently contributed sideman guitar and bass to sessions for Elmore James, Little Walter, Eddie Taylor, Shakey Jake, and St. Louis Jimmy Oden. Around 1959–1960 Robinson issued three singles on the small Bandera imprint. The brooding “All My Life” carried enough force to reach England, where John Mayall later recorded a faithful version, while “Lonely Traveller” resurfaced decades afterward as the title track of his 1994 Delmark album.
In 1965 Robinson joined the American Folk Blues Festival tour organized by Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau, performing across Europe alongside John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, and Big Mama Thornton. Following his mother’s death soon after, economic hardship set in, and he spent roughly twenty-five years driving a cab and serving as a security guard for the Board of Education. Members of the Ice Cream Men, a younger Chicago band devoted to 1950s blues, eventually persuaded him that retirement was premature. That encouragement led to his first full-length release, the 1994 Delmark album Lonely Traveller. During the mid-1990s he issued Guns, Gangs and Drugs on his own Amina label. Early in 1998 he returned to the studio to record a collection of mostly original material that appeared in 2000 as Remember Me on the APO label.
At the close of 1998 Robinson launched a ninety-one-day fast protesting the demolition of historic Maxwell Street. As a member of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition he composed its theme song, “The Maxwell Street Tear Down Blues,” yet chose direct personal action. The protest drew widespread notice, including a front-page story in The New York Times, though the neighborhood was ultimately razed to allow expansion of the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. Robinson tracked All My Life in 1999; the album reached stores in 2001. On July 6, 2002, after an extended struggle with stomach cancer, he ended his life.
Albums
