8 Years Old
Jim's First Guitar
Although Jim has performed in front of a variety
of audiences, including concerts, competitions, weddings
and
the like,
playing at church has
always been a mainstay. He can regularly be heard in his church's worship
band and occasionally dressing up an interesting version of a favorite
old
hymn
to play
as
an offeratory
solo.
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Jim Deeming got his
first guitar - the one pictured at left,
when he was only six
years
old. He wanted to follow in his Dad's footsteps, learning to be
a Chet Atkins-style fingerpicker.
Jim started
with the first two Mel Bay books like most everybody else, but it
wasn't long though before he strapped on a thumbpick and added the Chet
part to Red River Valley so it "sounded better".
Although he did get some lessons early on, most of his learning has been self
taught, and by
ear. Jim spent countless hours with his Dad's collection of Chet Atkins
albums, moving the needle by hand and slowing down the player to decode
his favorite songs. They were never "right" until
they sounded just like Chet.
Around the age of 12,
Jim heard Jerry Reed for the first time and just knew he
wanted to be able to make that "Alabama
Wild Man " sound. The styles of Chet & Jerry always have been
one of the biggest influence on his playing.
Jim's Dad used to tell him he should always
keep a thumbpick in my pocket in case he ever met Chet Atkins.
"After all, he might want to hear you play Black Mountain
Rag", his Dad would say. Jim has done that ever since, and
as a tribute song to both his Dad and Chet Atkins, "A Pick
In My Pocket" is the title of one of Jim's most recent and
best loved original tunes.
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Influenes Chet Atkins (left),
and Jerry Reed
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After
spending his formative years pursuing Chet Atkins arrangements,
Jim has more recently pursued newer guitar heros, including
Buster Jones,
Tommy
Emmanuel,
and
Doyle
Dykes. Meeting all three of them in a single weekend at
the Walnut Valley Music Festival in Winfield, Kansas, convinced
Jim to spend some time broadening his influences.
This had an almost
immediate effect on his playing and inspired him to begin
doing more arranging and original writing of his own.
June 2007 saw the
release of Jim's debut CD project,
"First Fruits"
comprising a collection
of intrumental takes on hymns, gospel numbers, and two of
Jim's originals, including the title track.
Jim lives in Berthoud,
Colorado with his wife Linda and their four kids, Steph,
Ben, Tema and Leza.
He is currently
working on the next CD project, due for release in Summer,
2008. He is also actively filming instructional videos. Click
here for more information:
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