Who was/is Jimmy Copeland ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
Jimmy Copeland
If you want to buy a Chrysler or Jeep in the Houston suburb of Tomball, you'll probably go see Jimmy Copeland. He'll give you a good deal, and he has prospered there. If you buy a new car, he'll give you a CD of his old recordings, joking that he can't sell them any more so he's giving them away. Copeland was born in Flynn, Texas, in 1933, and was raised by his grandmother. Grandma's sons (i.e. Jimmy's uncles) played in a local country band led by A.J. Winn, and Jimmy eventually joined his uncles on WTAW in Baylor. Then he joined the 101st Paratroop regiment, based just north of Nashville in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and organized another band in the service. One of the band members was from New England, and called Jimmy after they were discharged, telling him, "Hey man, they haven't even heard of Elvis Presley up here. Come on up."
So Jimmy and the Westernaires got a slot on a daily early evening television show on WMUR in Manchester, New Hampshire. Jimmy played rhythm guitar; Lefty Nason (formerly with Hank Thompson's Brazos Valley Boys) was on pedal steel, and Rocky Carroll was on fiddle. The identity of the other musicians is lost to time. Their rockabilly adaptation of Jealous Hearted Me (a Carter Family song that Minnie Pearl often sang on the Opry) was the flip-side of Jimmy's first single. They played all across New England and up into Canada before Jimmy returned south. He hosted a kids show on Channel 4 in Columbus, Georgia before heading back to Texas. Gabe Tucker managed him and recorded him for his TONKA RECORDS. His band were union members, and local booker Billy Deaton used him to back established stars like Charley Pride, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn.
There were a few other records for assorted local labels, including ALL STAR and BREEZEWAY. His last steady gig in the music business was at the Breezeway Club in Houston. His daughter was born just as the club went out of business, and Jimmy needed a job. He started servicing cars, then selling them, and finally opened his own dealership, which brings us back to Jimmy Copeland Chrysler-Jeep in Tomball, Texas.
Copyright © Bear Family Records
Copyright © Bear Family Records®. Copying, also of extracts, or any other form of reproduction, including the adaptation into electronic data bases and copying onto any data mediums, in English or in any other language is permissible only and exclusively with the written consent of Bear Family Records® GmbH.