Remembering Jimmy in song
Last updated 09:13, Saturday, 26 April 2008
I never met musician Jimmy Henshaw, but I wish I had. His reputation as one of the nicest guys you could ever meet makes you feel like you’ve missed out on something special.Tom told Timeline how the work was going on the making of the CD. “Basically we took Jimmy’s recorded work and transferred the information into my system.Timeline’s tribute to Jimmy will be a Sixties charity concert, for the same charities, to be held on Sunday afternoon, November 30, at Harraby Catholic Club with Cumbria’s very own Rue and the Rockets, great friends of Jimmy and Linda, heading the afternoon’s entertainment.
As we approach the first anniversary of Jimmy’s death on Thursday, his wife Linda, of Hart Street, Carlisle talks to Timeline about the man she adored for more than 25 years:
“JIMMY was, and still is, the most important thing in my life. I miss him terribly.
“He was a wonderful husband and father and a good friend to hundreds.
“Those friends, both in and out of the music industry have remained loyal to me, by visiting and keeping in touch regularly and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
“Our conversations inevitably always comes back round to Jimmy. He was so popular and his friends just love reminiscing about the good old days.
“Even though Jimmy battled with cancer and his voice had lost much of its strength, he wouldn’t allow it to stop him doing what he loved most – writing and recording music.
“After he died I decided I wanted to share these last songs he’d recorded with his friends and fans as a great and fitting tribute to him.
“I discussed with Tom Tyson, a good friend of Jim’s, who has a studio in Egremont, the possibility of putting three of the songs Jimmy had recorded onto a CD and selling them for charity.
“Tom and Jason Black have been absolutely brilliant, refusing any payment for doing this. They have organised everything.”
“I then asked musicians to come into the studio to add drums, guitars and backing vocals to Jimmy’s voice.
“I had no trouble getting musicians as they all wanted to do this for their friend Jim.
“Initially when they come into the studio there’s a feeling of sadness, but I tell them ‘our old friend Jimmy left this for us. We owe it to him’.
“We have some big names playing on the CD. Albert Lee, who is considered one of the best guitar players in the world and has played with the likes of Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman, plus the Van Morrison Band, are two of the big names on the CD, and we hope to add one or two more.
“We propose to put the names of all the local musicians on the cover of the CD.
“The three songs that are on the CD are Only A Woman, Cottonfields and Return to Sender.
“We hope to have it complete by the end of November.”
The charities Linda has chosen to benefit from the CD will be Carlisle Cathedral and a donation to the Cumberland Infirmary.
“I often went to the cathedral during Jim’s illness which I found comforting and of course the hospital was very supportive as well.”
We are also hoping that we can tempt some of the local musicians who played with Jimmy during his career to have a ‘jamming session’ and give them a chance to pay their own tribute to this amazing man.
We also plan to launch the CD at the concert.
More details to follow so watch this space!
Interested in the jamming session? Let Timeline know.
