Jimmy Reed, swamp‑blues pioneer whose songs were widely covered

Jimmy Reed was a swamp‑blues singer and songwriter whose records were widely covered by artists including Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead; he placed 12 singles on the pop chart and 18 in the R&B Top 20 and died of an epileptic seizure after a show in Oakland on Aug.

29, 1976, at 50, the obituary says. The article says Reed often needed help in the studio from his wife and songwriting partner, Mary Lee “Mama” Reed, who would whisper lyrics to him because of memory problems attributed to heavy drinking or a long undiagnosed case of epilepsy. Critics described his sound as “swampy,” marked by slurred vocals, trebly harmonica and echo, and his playing influenced musicians such as Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder.

Reed, born on Sept. 6, 1925, in rural western Mississippi to sharecroppers, left school after three years and learned guitar from a friend, Eddie Taylor. After moving north during the Great Migration and working in steel mills and a meatpacking plant, he began recording for Vee‑Jay Records.

His breakthrough was the 1955 R&B Top 5 hit “You Don’t Have to Go”; other notable songs included “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” and the pop Top 40 hit “Honest I Do.” The obituary reports that the Reeds never profited from many of those hits, having sold the royalty renewal rights to their songs for a flat fee of $10,000.

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