This great Americana singer/songwriter has several CDs, a number of songwriter of the year awards, and a voice that has earned a pile of glowing reviews a good foot and a half deep. Writing about his 2001 release of Texoma, William Michael Smith of Rockzillaworld said, Texoma "is one of those honest, instantly familiar records that you'll be singing along with the second time you play it and will still be playing years from now." LaFave's plaintive voice and the songs masterfully selected for this album combine to make it an all-time top album.
His 1999 release, Trail, contains covers of Dylan songs and a couple of originals.
Road Novel, from 1997, is a collection of 15 cinematic songs, the kind that feel like there's got to be a movie scene tucked inside each one. The album contains a "road" motif, but in Lafave's vision "the road" comes to stand as much for the road of the heart as it does for the road to and from the places in our lives.
Martin Fullington, writing in Music Reviews Quarterly, said, "Lafave has a voice that somehow combines innocence and pain so effectively that it allows Lafave to wring more emotion from a ballad than perhaps anyone ever has. When he rocks, he does so with complete abandon. When he chronicles love, it's with complete immersion. There is no pretense in him. His songwriting is as direct and honest as his voice, and he absolutely can inspire the same from his band."
Buffalo Return to the Plains was released in 1995. Michael Corcoran, whom Austinites familiar with The Austin American Statesman know can be a harsh critic, said, "On Buffalo Return To The Plains, LaFave is on his way to where every kid who picks up a guitar and tries out his voice hopes to some day go. If this is to be LaFave's national breakthrough LP - and how can it not be? - the song that should get the job done is "Foolish Pride." LaFave wrings it out with that gloriously emotive voice.... The first time I heard "Never Be Mine," I played it over and over again, at least six times, wondering how a song so sad and gorgeous could come out of a man who tucks his jeans into his boots. "Never Be Mine" is a broken heart's best friend."
Describing his appearance at 2000 SXSW, singing the songs of Woody Guthrie, the Austin Chronicle wrote, "Perhaps even more powerful and distinctive than Lafave's writing, is his intimate, tender vocal delivery, which recalls Ray Charles in its soulful mixture of suffering and ecstasy. Esteemed rock critic Dave Marsh calls it 'one of America's greatest voices.'"
Most of Jimmy LaFave's albums are recorded on the Bohemia Beat label. However, Rounder has out a great compilation called Americana Road Warriors that contains a seven minute version of "Worn Out American Dream" plus songs by Slaid Cleaves, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and others.
Jimmy LaFave was born in Texas, and grew up in his formative music years in Oklahoma, where he finished High School. Although he has lived in Austin since 1986, many people think of him as being from Oklahoma, because of his musical ties to the state and what he often refers to as his 'red dirt music.' His sound is in part, a combination of his experiences there among authentic songwriters in the tradition of Woody Guthrie. After his move to Austin he quickly became an Austin favorite and a national and internationally known name as well. He appeared on Austin City Limits in 1996, a hallmark of success in any musician's career.
Winner MusicAustin's Austin's Best Albums Award for 2001
Be sure to visit his official web site at jimmylafave.com.
