JIM REEVES MEMORIAL
(James Travis Reeves)
Panola Co Cemeteries of TX
Located on US highway 79 North 2 miles from Carthage. The State of Texas has erected a Historical Marker.
Entrance walk is a guitar that has written:
Gentleman Jim
Aug 20 1923-July 31 1964
Producer- God
Jim Reeves
The Marker is an exact size statue of Jim Reeves and his guitar.
The verse:
If I, a Lowly Singer, Dry one tear
Or, soothe one humble Human heart in pain
Then my Homely verse to God is dear
and not one stanza has been sung in vain
On the back side of the statue, liess a small marker that reads:
Jim's Beloved Dog
| REEVES, JAMES TRAVIS (1923–1964).
James Travis (Jim) Reeves, country and popular singer, was born in Galloway,
Texas, on August 20, 1923. He was the son of
Tom
and Mary (Adams) Reeves. After graduation from Carthage High School in
1942, Reeves attended the University of Texas and played for the university
baseball team. He pitched briefly for Marshall and Henderson in the Class C
East Texas League but retired from baseball in 1946 after a leg injury. In
1947 he was an announcer and disc jockey at KGRI in Henderson and began
singing locally under the name Sonny Day. Reeves recorded first in 1949 for Macy, a small Houston company, but had no real success until 1952, when he signed a contract with Abbott Records. His second Abbott recording, "Mexican Joe," brought him national popularity and led him in 1953 to employment as an announcer for KWKH, Shreveport, and subsequent appearances on the Louisiana Hayride. After his second successful recording, "Bimbo," Reeves joined the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1955 and began recording for RCA Victor. His most successful recordings were "He'll Have To Go" and "Four Walls." Reeves and his pianist, Dean Manuel, were killed on July 31, 1964, when his private plane crashed near Nashville. He was buried in a two-acre memorial plot near Carthage, Texas, on the road to Shreveport. At the time of his death Reeves owned KGRI in Henderson and three music-publishing companies. He had made three European tours and two trips to South Africa, where he starred in a film, Kimberley Jim, which was released the year after his death. He was survived by his wife, Mary, whom he had married in 1946. They had no children. His recording of "Distant Drums," a song written by Cindy Walker, was released posthumously and in 1966 topped the British charts and the U.S. country charts. Reeves became the first American to have a song ("Distant Drums") awarded Song of the Year in the United Kingdom. In 1967 Reeves was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was inducted in the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, located in Carthage, in 1998, and in 1999 his song "He'll Have to Go" (1959) won a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. In 2004 the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame dedicated a Jim Reeves exhibit made possible from Reeves collector James Newberry. Newberry's extensive Jim Reeves collection was later acquired by the Mike Curb Family Foundation. A life-sized statue of Reeves was placed at his gravesite in Carthage. His compilation albums and boxed sets have continued to sell well and attract new listeners into the twenty-first century. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Linnell Gentry, A History and Encyclopedia of Country, Western, and Gospel Music (Nashville: McQuiddy Press, 1961). The Jim Reeves Way (http://www.jim-reeves.com/), accessed November 10, 2008. Bill C. Malone, Country Music U.S.A. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968). Vertical Files, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. Bill C. Malone
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