Jimmy Allen was born September 18th 1942 in Melrose, MA; he is the second oldest brother and fourth oldest child of 8.
"My first introduction to country music was when I was about five or six years old. Me and my brothers and sisters and Mom and Dad would sit by the radio on Saturday evenings and listen to the Grand Ole Opry live from Nashville, Tennessee.
I asked my Dad if I could have a guitar. He bought me a 4- string guitar that my brothers and I would play every chance we got! I started to learn some of the songs that I had heard on the Opry. When I was about twelve years old, I'd saved enough money to buy a six string guitar and before long, I was playing for friends and family, sometimes at parties and sometimes just sitting on the front porch with friends or family until it was time to go to bed.
I had dreams of performing in night clubs and hopefully also had a dream someday he would go to Nashville and maybe get a chance to see or perform with some of his early idols, such as Ms. Kitty Wells, Porter Waggoner, Merle Haggard, The Doyle Bros. and others. His dream came true one Sunday afternoon in the early 1960's at The Lone Star Ranch, in Merrimack, NH. He and his girlfriend, Sheila, (now his wife of 37 years) would try to go to The Lone Star every Sunday. This one particular Sunday, the headliners were Johnny Cash and Hawkshaw Hawkins along with a new singing group called The Statler Bros.
Sometimes during intermission Clyde Joy, the owner, would let some local entertainers get on stage and sing a song. Jimmy asked Clyde if he could do a song and Clyde said okay. As he was singing a song, the Statler Bros. came on stage and sang harmony with him - to this day Jimmy cannot remember the name of the song he sang as he was so excited to have them sing with him! This was the one time that he and Sheila left the camera home - so there is no proof of this very special day. (Maybe someone out there has a picture??)
Years later when he formed his Easy Country Band, he was selected by The John Penny Agency to be the opening act at Indian Ranch, Webster, Mass. for such well known performers as Miss Kitty Wells and Porter Waggoner. The big day came when Jimmy was asked to open for the award-winning musical group The Statler Brothers. They of course did not recognize Jimmy, but it didn't matter to him - by this time, many of his dreams had truly come true.....with more to come!
In the mid to late 1980's, Jimmy recorded two songs on the Belmont Label owned by John Penny and was asked to participate in Nashville, Tennessee. during DJ week, when DJ's from all over the country would come to Nashville looking for new artists. Jimmy was interviewed by many DJ's across America and even had his songs played over the Nashville Network (based out of Nashville, Tennessee) and broadcast all throughout the country. What a thrill it was for Jimmy to be mingling with the superstars of country music that he had listened to when he was a boy!!
Jimmy has played all over New England and once toured throughout New England and parts of Canada with Mr.Trenton Hull (also a Hall of Famer), who had a radio program for many years at The Ballard Restaurant.
The highlight to Jimmy's career was in 1998 when he was inducted into the Massachusetts Country Music Hall of Fame.
Currently, Jimmy lives north of Boston with his wife Sheila. His daughter Kerri lives in Florida and works for Walt Disney World. His daughter Kim and her husband John recently moved back to the northeast and are expecting their first child late spring, 2004.
