Searching for Jimmie Strother: A Tale of Music, Murder, and Memory
Gregg D. Kimball
University of Virginia Press/Rivanna
In June 1936 James Lee Strother performed thirteen songs at the Virginia State Prison Farm for famed folklorist John Lomax and the Library of Congress. Rooted in the rich soil of the Piedmont region, Strother’s repertoire epitomized the Black songsters who defy easy classification. Blinded in a steel mill explosion, which only intensified his drive to connect to the world through song, Strother drew on old spirituals and country breakdowns as readily as he explored emerging genres like blues and ragtime.
Biographer Gregg Kimball revives this elusive but singular talent and the creative and historical worlds in which his dramatic life unfolded. Musician, murderer, and beloved family member—Strother somehow played each of these roles, and more.