Jimmy Arnold never gained broad fame, and his short life yielded just a few albums, yet he stood among the most respected bluegrass players of the 1970s and 1980s. Music first drew him in as a boy when he overheard friends rehearsing next door. He started on guitar before switching to banjo, and by age twelve he had formed the Twin County Partners with cousin Tommy on mandolin and Wes Golden on guitar. Local popularity brought the group spots on area television broadcasts and a single on Stark Records. After they split in 1965, Arnold played music festivals across the South.
Once he finished high school, studio musician Joe Greene asked him to collaborate in Nashville. Arnold then rejoined Wes Golden in the Virginia Cut-Ups, recording an album for Latco Records. He moved through several other groups, including Keith Whitley & the New Tradition, but repeated firings followed because of heavy drinking. His first solo effort, the banjo album Strictly Arnold, appeared in 1974. Jimmy Arnold Guitar followed in 1977, and Southern Soul came out six years later. None sold well, so he quit music in 1984. He opened a tattoo parlor in North Carolina that served as cover for drug sales while he struggled with addiction. Arrested in 1985, he served a brief jail term. After release he worked for a short time as resident artist at Martin Community College before returning to the stage. In 1992 he joined the Pentecostal Church and stopped drinking, yet lasting physical damage caused his death from heart failure on Christmas Day that year.
