BIO
Jimmy Dale Richardson is keeping the integrity of roots music alive through his versatile vocals and biting guitar leads. Jimmy’s family is rooted in tradition by his grandfather Hubert Pearce. Hubert played dance halls in the 50s and 60s with music greats such as Hank Thompson and Wanda Jackson. Jimmy’s father Melvin is an upright bass player and Melvin’s passion for music turned into a record collecting and sales business.
When Jimmy was growing up, he spent most of his time traveling to help his dad with selling records at antique shows. This experience provided a lot of knowledge about antiques and textiles. His dad taught him guitar at age 11 while they listened to a wide variety of obscure music. Honky tonk, delta and jump blues, roots rock n roll, jazz, western bop, mountain and bluegrass were all flavors of music he grew to encompass.
Around age 13, Jimmy started strolling through the antique shows playing guitar and singing. He entered local singing contests for Elvis's music to get comfortable in front of people. When Jimmy was just 16, he began playing professionally with his mentor Cliff Major. Cliff owned C Major Guitars in Wichita. Jimmy played SXSW and toured with Nick Curran and "Smiley" Jake Erwin in the late 1990s. Melvin and Jimmy constructed an outdoor Route 66 performance venue on the property of an antique store called the Western Trail which garnered local news coverage and articles. For several years, they performed historic mountain music and delta blues there every week in the mid-2000s.
Jimmy released his album Heartaches and Honkytonks with Wild Records in 2016 with a majority of original material. The album reached Japan, Spain, and England with sales and radio play. In April 2016, the UK Rock n’ Roll Magazine published an article citing Jimmy’s story and his family heritage of musicians. He was featured in Blue Suede News magazine around 2017. Jimmy’s band was nominated for the Academy of Western Artists “Pure Country” award in four categories. He played Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend in 2016, 2018, and 2021 with a great audience reception.
In 2019, Jimmy performed a showcase in Memphis for the Ameripolitan Awards Production. People from all over the world nominated various artists in roots music categories. Jimmy was nominated and won the award for “Best Rockabilly Male.” In August 2019, Jimmy performed for Summer Jamboree festival in Italy and in September, he entertained for High Rockabilly festival in Spain.
After meeting Jim Heath at Ameripolitan Awards, Jimmy and Jim released the Dallas Barbershop Sessions in 2019 on Fun Guy Records. The obscure rockabilly cover song recordings were preserved for decades and finally brought to light. The songs feature Jimmy on vocals and rhythm guitar, Nick Curran on lead guitar, and "Smiley" Jake Erwin on bass around 1998-2000. Legions of Nick Curran fans all over the world now have recordings of him that no one heard before or knew existed. The release took place ten years after Nick’s passing. Dallas Barbershop Sessions climbed to number 5 on the Alt Country Chart.
The next release from Jimmy’s partnership with Jim Heath and Fun Guy Records was made in 2021 with "58 Buick," an original song written by Jimmy. Members of Reverend Horton Heat are backing him on the recordings. Jimmy plays boogie-woogie piano in the song. The 45 also includes an updated version of “She’s Wild,” a rockabilly screamer that has proven popular at vintage festivals and car shows. The record release was at historic Trees in Dallas, TX and The Jimbo’s Show was featured for the event, including Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats with Jim Heath and Jimbo Wallace. Jimmy was thrilled to share the stage performing his original music with such legendary talent. Today, Jimmy’s music is played in over twenty countries around the world and "58 Buick" reached top 17 on the Alt Country Chart.
Jimmy married Lynn Crowe-Richardson in 2017 and they own and operate Teaze Dance & Fitness, an aerial arts and showgirl studio with a vintage pin-up theme. Lynn has owned and operated the studio since 2009 in historic Automobile Alley downtown OKC. The business has been a mainstay long enough that nearly every storefront on the block was vacant for several years during its tenure. Today, the area has experienced an upturn with boutiques and very popular eateries surrounding the studio.
The business is in the very building where Lynn took her first ballet and tap dance classes and where she lived with her parents in the early 80s. Lynn spent her childhood in dance classes and competing in artistic roller skating. In high school, she was part of dance team performances and musicals. She was in the dance program at the University of Central Oklahoma, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in 2005 with an emphasis in dance and business management.
Lynn is also the owner of Oklahoma Showgirls, a vintage entertainment company. Her group has contracted with Osage Casinos and Kickapoo Casinos for over ten consecutive years among hundreds of other casinos and galas. The dancers were featured in several Osage Casino commercials as well as the film Yellow and the film Reagan. Lynn’s costumes and dancers were set in the 1954 scenes in Las Vegas at the Last Frontier as showgirls with Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan.
With original choreography, Lynn's troupe performed the can-can for Glitter Ball and Oklahoma City Ballet’s Ballet Ball. The group provided Vegas showgirls and aerialists for the Miss Oklahoma Pageant. The Oklahoma Showgirls were 1940s dancers for Oklahoma City Orchestra League’s Maestro’s Ball as Jimmy crooned with The Savoy Trio band. The Oklahoma Historical Society booked the team for roaring 20s, swing era 40s with tap dancers, and a rock and soul show for the swingin’ sixties event. Jimmy belted out a range from CCR to James Brown while the showgirls go-go danced.
New show concepts are now available from 1800s through 1990s. Oklahoma Heritage Show includes Chet Baker’s beat jazz to Eddie Cochran’s rock n roll and western bop by Jack Guthrie. The most recent addition to Jimmy’s offerings is Route 66 Road Show, a carefully curated list of covers and originals deigned for the nostalgia of historic Route 66 and its upcoming Centennial celebrations.
Jimmy was featured in an article for Vintage Rock magazine in 2021. Original music was recorded with Jim Heath in 2022. Songs with a Route 66 theme and a haunting Roy Orbison flavor song. In 2023, he was booked as a headliner for Hemsby Rock n Roll Weekender in the UK. The Presley Perkins Lewis & Cash shows in the US and Canada booked Jimmy for the Carl Perkins role through the end of 2023. Jimmy and Lynn are excited to bring their era shows to life around the world combining a shared passion for historic art forms, music abilities, and vintage dance revue.
"In the 80s, acts like the Stray Cats and Robert Gordon revived the old-fashioned exciting rockabilly sound. And if there is one contemporary artist who can once again bring such a revival, it is the American singer, guitarist and pianist Jimmy Dale Richardson." Writer: Peter Marinus - bluestownmusic.nl - a news and media website for blues, rock, roots, and Americana
