Jimmy Anderson

Jimmy Anderson (Natchez, Mississippi, November 21, 1935), a.ka. "Soul Man Lee" took up the harmonica at age seven. At age 25, Jimmy Anderson went to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he played with his band, The Joy Jumpers. Between 1962 and 1964 he recorded for the Excello label. In 1992, Jimmy Anderson toured Europe with the Mojo Blues Band. Olga Records released his debut album The King of Swamp Blues in 2007. Jimmy Anderson can also be heard on various Louisiana blues and harmonica samplers.

His parents were sharecroppers who also worked in Natchez, and Anderson’s first exposure to the blues was via hearing the harmonica of Alexander “Papa George” Lightfoot, a deejay and recording artist who often played while he sold snowballs from a wagon. His main influence, though, were the recordings that he heard over the radio of Jimmy Reed, with whom Anderson’s vocals and harmonica style are often compared. At 16 Anderson moved to Baton Rouge for employment, and in 1959 he formed his first band, Jimmy Anderson & the Joy Jumpers. The group played mostly in the greater Baton Rouge area, and consciously performed in a style similar to that of local “swamp blues” artists including Slim Harpo and Silas Hogan, whose nephew Oscar Hogan, Jr. was in Anderson’s band.