ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Jimmie Davis

(Sep. 11, 1899 – Nov. 5, 2000)

Career Highlights

Barn Dance Affiliate: Louisiana Hayride

Grand Ole Opry Member -1944

Radio, Film & TV

• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree
• Frontier Fury
• Louisiana and Square dance katy
• Strictly In the Groove 

Billboard Chart Data 

• No. 1 Singles: 1
• Top-10 Singles: 5
• Crossover Singles: 0
• Charted Singles: 5
• Years Active: (1944-1962)

Awards

Country Music Association

• Country Music Hall of Fame (1971)

Career Label

• Victor (1929-1934)
• Decca Records (1934-1975)

Billboard Top-10 Singles

• Is It Too Late New -1944
• There's a Chill On the Hill Tonight
• There's a New Moon Over My...*# -1945
• Grevin' My Heart Out Over You -1946
• Bang Bang -1947

*No. 1 Chart Single

#Biggest Chart Single

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Classic Album: You Are My Sunshine

Decca Records, Decca DL-78896 (1959)

Producer: Owen Bradley

Recorded: Bradley Film & Recording Studio, Nashville, Tennessee

Tracks

• You Are My Sunshine
• I Hung My Head and Cried
• Lost Love
• There's a Chill On the Hill Tonight
• There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder
• Nobody's Darlin' But Mine
• It Makes No Difference Now
• My Mary
• Worried Mind
• Columbus Stockade Blues
• I Just Dropped In To Say Goodbye
• Live and Let Live 

You Are My Sunshine: The Jimmie Davis Story

Born James Houston Davis in Beech Springs, Louisiana (LA), Davis was the son of a poor sharecropper, but nevertheless he earned a bachelor's degree from Louisiana(LA) College Pineville, LA and in 1927 a masters degree from Louisiana State University. The following year, he began teaching history at a small college in Shreveport, LA.

Jimmie Davis began singing occasionally for a local radio station and first recorded in 1928. One year later, he signed with Victor and began recording reflecting a style devoted to Jimmie Rodgers. Over five years he recorded almost 70 sides for the label, though none of the singles sold well, Davis was probably less to blame than the Depression-era economy.

Davis moved to Decca in 1934 and gained his first major hit, Nobody's Darlin' but Mine. Another hit, It Makes No Difference Now, was bought from Floyd Tillman, but Davis' biggest success came from his own composition, You Are My Sunshine. First recorded by Davis in 1940, the song quickly entered the first rank of popular and country music standards and was covered many times over by artists from many genres.

Meanwhile, Davis had quit teaching and accepted a position at the Criminal Court in Shreveport, LA. He became the chief of police in 1938 and moved to state government four years later by being elected Louisiana Public Service Commissioner. Davis appeared in three western films from 1942-1944 and in 1947 starred in the somewhat autobiographical Louisiana.

Elected governor of Louisiana in 1944, he continued to record and scored five top-5 singles during his first term, including the double-sided hit Is It Too Late Now/There's a Chill on the Hill Tonight (1944)and the number one There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder the following year.

Jimmie Davis moved back to full-time recording in 1948, and after a stint with Capitol, he returned to Decca. Some of his country singles such as Suppertime began to please gospel listeners as well and Davis gradually moved to a more sacred style. He returned to the governorship in 1960 on a segregationist platform, but to his credit, he prevented much of the unrest apparent in the South through his moderate position.

Though he hadn't recorded a hit since his first term, Davis reached the top-20 in 1962 with Where the Old Red River Flows.

By 1964, he was back to gospel music and he recorded heavily throughout the late '60s and early '70s. Decca ended his contract the 1975, but Jimmie continued to perform and record even into the 1990s. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1971.

Researched, written and compiled by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music, Nov. 1, 2011.