26 Facts About Jimmy LaFave

Jimmy LaFave was an American singer-songwriter and folk musician.

Jimmy LaFave later became an Advisory Board member and regular performer at the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival.

In 1996 Jimmy LaFave received the Kerrville Folk Festival songwriter of the year award and appeared on the TV show Austin City Limits.

Jimmy LaFave recorded 15 albums and his 2007 release, Cimarron Manifesto, reached the No 1 mark on the Americana Music Association album chart.

In 2012, Jimmy LaFave released the studio album Depending on the Distance.

Jimmy LaFave was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2017 alongside Carl Belew, musician-actor Rodney Lay, the Red Dirt Rangers, David Teegarden, Sr.

At age 15 Jimmy LaFave switched to guitar and began writing and singing his own songs in a band called The Night Tribe.

Jimmy LaFave had a job as the manager of a music club called Up Your Alley and during this period recorded the albums Down Under in 1979 and Broken Line in 1981.

Between 1997 and 2001, Jimmy LaFave released three more albums on the label including the 1999 double CD Trail, which was a 15-year retrospective of live performances and studio outtakes.

In December 1995, Jimmy LaFave won the Songwriter of the Year Award at the Kerrville Folk Festival and in March 1996 received the same honor at the Austin Music Awards sponsored by The Austin Chronicle.

Jimmy LaFave gained nationwide exposure in 1996 through his appearance on the PBS music show Austin City Limits when he was paired with Lisa Loeb for an evening of "acoustic ballads and electrified folk-rock numbers".

In 1996, Jimmy LaFave made an appearance at a tribute to Woody Guthrie held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the invitation of Guthrie's daughter.

In 1998, Jimmy LaFave began attending the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festivals held in Guthrie's hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma and in 2007 became a member of the Woody Guthrie Coalition that organizes the festival.

Jimmy LaFave says Woody Guthrie is his musical hero and pays homage to him in the song "Woody Guthrie" on the Texoma album.

In 2003, Jimmy LaFave produced a Woody Guthrie tribute show called Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway.

Jimmy LaFave said, "It works because all the performers are Guthrie enthusiasts in some form".

Also in 2007 at Nora Guthrie's invitation, Jimmy LaFave spoke and performed at Woody Guthrie's induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

Jimmy LaFave left Bohemia Beat for Red House Records and released his 2005 album Blue Nightfall which one reviewer called his "best work yet" and "a great introduction to an important artist".

Two years later Jimmy LaFave was one of the guests of the Americana Tour with the Italian bluesman.

In 2007, Jimmy LaFave joined forces with recording engineer Fred Remmert and Dallas businessman Kelcy Warren to create Music Road Records, located in Austin, Texas.

The 2-disc tribute album was produced by Jimmy LaFave and was two years in the making, after Jimmy LaFave garnered Browne's approval during the 2012 Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration.

At the time of the public announcement, The Austin Statesman announced that a concert to honor Jimmy LaFave would be held at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas on May 18,2017.

Jimmy LaFave helped in the selection of friends and musicians who would perform that night.

Jimmy LaFave selected charities that would benefit from a crowdfunding effort set up in his honor.

Jimmy LaFave died of cancer at his home in Austin, Texas, at the age of 61.

Jimmy LaFave's death came just three days after making an appearance at the Paramount Theater tribute show in Austin.