JIM REEVES FAN FORUM

1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Robert Wagner User icon on September 21, 2025, 8:05 am

Just discovered an 3 week old YouTube posting "Voices From the Past Jim Reeves" by Revolutions in Sound.

In it is an interview, new to me, detailing Jim's South African recordings and his contract songs for RCA.

I was surprised about the number of recordings made by contract or lack thereof.

I hope it may be new to other fans as well and just as interesting.

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by R User icon on September 24, 2025, 8:09 pm, in reply to "1963 Kenya Interview"

Good find Bob. Interesting and something I did not see before. Thank you for sharing

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Ron McBride User icon on September 25, 2025, 6:12 am, in reply to "1963 Kenya Interview"

Interesting that it states Chet Atkins encouraged Jim to develop the smoother sound. This is incorrect. Chet, in an interview, stated "that was all Jim. He came up with that."

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Mike Slater User icon on September 27, 2025, 5:27 pm, in reply to "Re: 1963 Kenya Interview"

Ron, I don't doubt what you're saying, but there have been many stories about this. Chet himself says in the Jim Reeves documentary that he tried to keep Jim in a lower key because he thought he sounded wonderful. There is also the story that Larry tells in his book that Bea Terry told Jim that his singing was all wrong and that his voice sounded harsh in the higher key he was singing in. She advised Jim to sing in a lower key k and to shed the cowboy image and wear suits. Larry has done years of research for his book and I lean toward his story as being the one we can depend on. I would like to know why Chet would claim responsibility for the change in Jim's style and then say it was all Jim's idea...

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Roy Zinck User icon on September 27, 2025, 7:38 pm, in reply to "Re: 1963 Kenya Interview"

Mike....Thank you for your detailed post. I must say it is so odd there are different side stories to the same event. I would also gravitate to Larry's explanation that is in the book. Eleven years of research gives me confidence that his account is the correct one. Larry singles out Bea Terry as the person that as Mike points out, nurtured the change that Jim needed, that is lowering his key range and a complete change of wardrobe.

That is not to say Chet picked up on this and supported, and maybe that is where the confusion lies.

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Ron McBride User icon on September 27, 2025, 8:14 pm, in reply to "Re: 1963 Kenya Interview"

I can tell you, if you watch all the interviews with Chet on this topic, he told two different stories at different times. In one he claimed credit, in another he said it was all Jim. In my mind, that makes him unreliable as a source on this. I believe Bea Terry's account as well.

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Robert Wagner User icon on September 29, 2025, 4:42 am, in reply to "Re: 1963 Kenya Interview"

I agree with your assessments of Chet.

A classic example is in a video documentary where he calls Jim "Difficult" and then walks back his comments.

I think later in life Chet had issues, but am not 100% on thet.

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Mike Slater User icon on October 1, 2025, 8:45 am, in reply to "Re: 1963 Kenya Interview"

Could be that Chet didn't really remember too well who was responsible for the change in Jim's style. It's possible that Jim was given some advice on this subject from more than one person. However,I have heard him say that Jim could have a temper at times, but he has said that he has never had any altercations with Jim at all. They were close friends and even played golf together. But I do think that the person who played the biggest part in Jim's change to a smoother style and a new image was Bea Terry...

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Roy Zinck User icon on October 1, 2025, 7:07 pm, in reply to "Re: 1963 Kenya Interview"

I was attempting to recall the first song Jim recorded in the "new style'. In other words, the lowering of the key range and slower tempo. I assume this didn't happen over night, but just maybe by 1957 the change was in. Long gone were the bib overalls, and hay bales, as it were..

I might suggest that "Four Walls" recorded on Feb.7, 1957 may just be the first one. Then closely followed by "Two Shadows On Your Window" June 24,1957. ( by the way, a very nice back up by the Jordanaires) That was followed by "Anna Marie" Sept3, 1957.

I am not sure how accurate this is, or what I left out. Can anyone add to this list to make it more complete.. thank you.

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Mike Slater User icon on October 2, 2025, 4:26 pm, in reply to "Re: 1963 Kenya Interview"

Yes, Roy, "Four Walls", recorded in February, 1957 was officially the beginning of Jim's newer and much smoother style sung in a lower key. In January, 1956, Jim recorded what was pretty much his last "cowboy" song sung in a higher register with the song "Oaklahoma Hills" which was included on his first RCA LP "Singing Down The Lane", but he did do some songs later in 1956 including "My Lips Are Sealed",Am I Losing You", "Look Behind You", and "Don't Ask Me Why" that are similar to his later recordings. His third album simply titled "Jim Reeves" was the first LP to introduce the "new" Jim with songs like "Teardrops In My Heart", "Need Me" and "You Belong To Me"...

Re: 1963 Kenya Interview

Posted by Roy Zinck User icon on October 3, 2025, 7:01 pm, in reply to "Re: 1963 Kenya Interview"

Thanks Mike for your info on the additional songs recorded by Jim in 1956 in Jim's new style. I can understand now that there was a gradual turnaround in style with a slight mixture of old and new to finally arrive at the "Nashville Sound'. The times ..they were a chnging...as the saying goes.

I do remember a passage in Larry's book and a reply from Jim to a question he was asked. I think it was a reporter that asked Jim why the change in singing style. His reply was ....If a crop doesn't grow in one season, the next season you sew something else. I take from that Jim was saying the old style was withering out and not selling...so time for a change, something we all came to appreciate to this day.

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