Jimmy Louis to perform at Saltwater Smokehouse
Pine Island resident Jimmy Louis was living his life on “island time” when he received a call from Kenny Chesney.
Chesney is one of the premier country music stars who has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He has recorded 15 country music albums, 14 of which have been certified gold.
It seems Chesney had seen a video about the Flora-Bama Lounge located in Pensacola, Fla., entitled “The Last American Roadhouse” and wanted to meet the singer/composer who was responsible for most of the music in the movie Jimmy Louis.
“Kenny Chesney wants to include some of my songs on his next album,” Louis said. “But we’ll have to wait and see, I never count ‘mailbox’ cash until it’s in the mailbox.”
“I was born in Kansas City but all my people were from Mississippi and that’s where I spent most of my time until I escaped when I was 15,” Louis said. “My parents gave my brother a guitar for Christmas – he was 11 and I was 7 and I don’t think he ever saw it again. I am self taught, never had a lesson. I know my dad knew that I was determined to be a musician because he told my grandmother, so when I quit high school and went on the road it wasn’t any big surprise. I ended up in South Chicago in a black blues band and then we found some work in Las Vegas as a show band. Every night I would go down to the strip and see Sinatra, Louis Prima and Sammy Davis and all the greats of the time.
“I had a country upbringing in Mississippi and I went to Nashville to see Waylon Jennings in a small club,” Louis said. “I approached him and invited him out to a small farm we were staying at and to my surprise he showed up. Before he left he gave me the address to the office and said there will be a desk there for me as a songwriter. These were some of the happiest times of my life. I was such a young guy and to be accepted into the fold as a peer by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings is the highlight of my life.
“I found Pine Island by accident,” Louis continued. “I lived on a sailboat for over 30 years and Pine Island was on the way from the Florida panhandle to the Bahamas. I was sailing through and met a few people and started to do that thing at the hardware store we used to do. At the hardware store in St. James City, once a month, a bunch of us musicians would gather and do a music thing. People would bring lawn chairs and we had a hell of a crowd. This was a BYOB type of thing – we had a great time. I started spending most winters here.
“After decades of being on the road, I wanted to settle someplace with little or no development,” he said. “What better place than Pine Island to relax, write songs, play music and fish. The community here is just the perfect place for me to end up.
“I was thinking about performing again when the call from Chesney came through. That just pushed me a bit. I am currently playing at Saltwater Smokehouse on Wednesdays between the hours of 5-8 and I’d like to invite everyone to come out and enjoy a great meal and some blues.”
The Saltwater Smokehouse is at 10251 Stringfellow Road in St. james City. For more information, call 239-282-8811.