I was born in Phoenix Arizona . My parents were both musicians, having met in the Arizona State University marching band. Mom played the clarinet and dad, the sax. Most likely if they hadn’t played instruments located in such close proximity I would not exist.
When I was 6 or so, two men in a truck delivered an upright piano.
(which I still have) It was love at first sight and I “wrote” my first song that very day which I played incessantly, terrorizing my family in the process. Piano lessons followed and I practiced a lot. In fact, my mom would sometimes ask me to stop and go outside so she could have some peace.
I was eventually “fired” by my piano teacher for making up my own notes to songs I was supposed to be reading. I thought they sounded better my way but the teacher did not agree, so I was “let go”. I still kept playing my own improvised pieces every day.
When I first heard the Beatles I knew that I had to perform publicly. I started my own lyp-sync band that put on concerts in our garage on Saturday mornings, playing along with records. I had a piece of rectangular plywood with a guitar crudely drawn on it and a hand truck that functioned as my microphone stand. We charged a nickel for each show and if I couldn’t enlist anyone to “play” me I would go it alone, sometimes the empty room.
When I turned 10 or so I experienced my first electric guitar up close. My parents threw a Christmas party and one of the guests brought a guitar and amp which he left behind when he went home that night. During the party , I hid around the corner on the stairs listening , and in the morning I quietly took the guitar and amp to my room to check it out.
I asked for a guitar for Christmas and was given a Ukulele instead (with a ukulele book). My father told me that when I could play every song in the book, he would get me a guitar. After opening our presents we went on our annual 4 hour trip to my Grandma’s. I took along the ukulele and by the time we got there I could play every song in the book. I asked for my guitar. There was an old one in the attic of my grandparents house, so grandma gave it to me. It was an arch top acoustic , nearly as tall as me. The strings were 1/4 above the fret board and it was very hard to play. I figured out melodies that I played on single strings since I was not strong enough to hold down chords. I played that guitar for at least a year.
I wanted a better guitar but was told I had to buy it myself. At this time we lived in Billings Montana, so one winter I applied myself and made enough money ($385) shoveling snow to buy a Lyle hollow-body jazz guitar. I bought this particular guitar because I could play it with out an amp, which I did for about another year. ( My first amp was a used Sears suitcase amp built into a guitar case that was way too small for my guitar, but it worked )
All this time piano took a back seat. I played a little but my true passion was the guitar. I wrote songs and convinced a friend of mine to get a bass so we could start a band. He did and we did but not much became of it.
There were some kids, however, down the street that had a real band and I started going to their house to watch their band practice. Unfortunately they already had a guitar player so I had to just sit and listen. One day their guitar player broke his arm and I got the chance to fill in with the understanding that it was only temporary. When he was ready to come back, the band wanted to keep me and didn’t know what to do so they devised a competition. The other guitarist and I stood in the center of the den (our rehearsal space) and played the short theme from the Twilight Zone over and over with the agreement that the first one to make a mistake was out. He messed up first and the rest is history.
We sued to buy 45 records for a dollar and pass them between i=us to learn the songs. We got good at learning our parts without scratching the record. I learned how to play Born To Be Wild, Purple Haze, Light My Fire, and all of the songs that have since become classics that way. This was 1968 and 1969, the golden era of rock
I played my first paid gig in the basement of the Catholic Church. Tickets were 10 cents and I made over a dollar. This was 1968 and I have been playing professionally ever since. I played in bands through junior high and high school always managing to land the school dances and lots of parties.
I met my wife while playing the finals of the Battle of the Bands which my band, Magpie won. We played Chico and Northern California and were very popular. By now I was singing, playing piano and guitar and writing songs for the band.
We moved to Seattle in 1976 and I joined a band called Mr Clean that toured the Northwest, crisscrossing the state hundreds of times. We were very popular and played a combination of covers and original material. In order for the band to agree to do my songs I had to write out full score sheet with every note for every instrument including all of the drum parts. This was the band leaders rule, possibly in an attempt to keep me form submitting my songs. It did not work and I owethat band a debt of gratitude for making me work so hard to learn how to do this. Thank you Steve.
While in Seattle I studied voice with a world renowned vocal teacher, George Peckham, who changed my life and helped me become the singer I am today. I owe him a great deal.
We returned to California and I took up with a cover band called BREAKAWAY based out of Chico California. This was in the early 80’s and if you have ever seen the movie the Wedding Singer you have a pretty good idea of what we looked and sounded like. Don Johnson T-shirt and suit coat with Michael Jackson pants (chutes) and hair cut short with a “tail” doing 80’s pop songs. What fun!
Eventually I got my”big break” and move to LA to do an album with a singer named Sharon Marie who had a record deal. After moving tmy family to LA, that all fell apart so I got a day job and began again. I worked in several bands and ended up in a band called the Natives playing country-rock just before the big country rock explosion of the mid 90’s. That gig led to a duo with John Caccianti, a great songwriter and friend but I soon tired of LA and moved myself, my wife and son to a calmer place to live and raise a family.
Grass Valley, my next stop, is located Sierra Nevada Foothills. Here I became a solo singer/songwriter and did not play with any bands , save a few one nighters as fill in, for nearly 10 years. I wrote songs, recorded and played coffeehouse, restaurants , concerts and house partiessteadily. Eventually I founded a band called BIG FISH small pond that did well in the area playing mostly my originals and some covers.
When our son went off to college we relocated to the Central Coast where I find myself today. I started the Jim Townsend Blues Band in which I play piano, guitar and sing with five of the best friends I have ever had. I also play under the name Jimmy Jimmy and the iPod Allstars doing a rock /blues /original show with backing tracks on my iPod recorded by me. I also play solo in restaurants, coffee shops and the like. I produce special themed shows at a local club called the Slo Down Pub. we have done several shows of all Beatles Songs, a show of all songs from the Summer Of Love, one with songs form the 60’s Dance Era and a Halloween show consisting of songs by dead rock stars called I HEAR DEAD PEOPLE . With the help of my band, I host a weekly blues Jam on Tuesday evenings, and I teach.
I am so fortunate to have discovered my passion for teaching. Throughout my career I have give music lessons here and there sporadically. Here on the Central Coast with the help of RHYTHM AND KEYS SCHOOL OF MUSIC I have discovered what this whole journey has been about. I now know I am here to help others realize their musical dreams and pass on what I have learned. Teaching is my passion, and while I will always perform, write, practice and the like, now I know that teaching is why I am here.
I will never give up on my quest to be the best Screaming Jimmy AKA Jim Townsend I can be. This is what I do and who I am. If I can entertain you in some small way it has all been worth it, otherwise I can always entertain myself!
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