Jimmy T. Harris

Jimmy T. Harris adopted his particular stage name to sidestep mix-ups with the numerous other musicians already working under variations of Jimmy Harris, James Harris, or Jim Harris. His musical focus leans toward country and western, and his first collection of original material has circulated since roughly the beginning of the present millennium.

Extensive checks into similarly named performers turn up a singular distinction for this artist: he stands as the first one discovered who openly acknowledges cashing payments intended for his namesakes. In his own promotional writing he estimates the situation with the remark, "there are about 10 dozen Jimmy Harris's in the area where I live. Some even play music. Once one of them even got mailed my paycheck from a gig, but that's another story!"

That anecdote belongs squarely to the present narrative. Harris shaped the album Seven Shades of Blue alongside acoustic players that include banjoist Tim Pendleton and fiddler Keith Stewart. Themes of romantic yearning surface across tracks such as “Reassurance” and “Where Are You Now,” while “Headed Home” finds the songwriter identifying as the “Son of the Blues” and conceding that he “Can't Hold on to You.” The final number may well reference yet another misdirected payment to one of the other Jimmy Harrises.