Big Jim Pipkin

 

Jim Pipkin Biography

I have played my songs on hundreds of stages over the years, from the now-defunct Union Grove Fiddler’s Convention in North Carolina to Nashville’s Bluebird Café.

At the same time I worked on farms and loading docks, in orchards, gold mines, and textile mills, even serving as a Gunner’s Mate in the United States Navy.

The Pipkin family first landed at Jamestown as indentured servants in the 1670s, and we have been here ever since. We have a family website at pipkinusa.org

I was raised on a small farm out on Route 42 just west of Sanford, NC, where I inherited music from a whole passel of talented relatives.

My grandfather Clifton White Pipkin played roadhouses and corner bars all over Harnett, Lee, and Chatham Counties during the 30s and 40s. I inherited his mailorder Stella guitar when I was ten, and spent hours in the barn loft teaching myself how to play it.

I’ve appeared by invitation at the World Folk Showcase in Washington DC, and represented Arizona’s songwriting tradition as a guest of both the State of Arizona and the Folklore Society of Greater Washington at the FSGW’s annual Getaway at Camp Letts, Maryland.

My original songs have been recorded by Oklahoma’s Sour Diesel Trainwreck, Kerrville Folk Festival co-founder Allen Damron, Arizona’s Joe Bethancourt, Portland’s Haris Blackwood, and Baltimore’s Sue Trainor, among others.

The songs on this DPK are from my most recent album, “Rollin’ the Dice” with the exception being “Forever With You”, released in 2004 on “Time is Talking”.

All songs written or co-written by me, produced in the studios of Hit Warehouse, Mesa Arizona, and mastered by Bill Roberts in Pensacola Florida.

“Rollin’ the Dice” released Saturday, March 2, 2013 at Higley Center for the Performing Arts, Gilbert, AZ.

Nominated for Arizona Governor’s Arts Award by Southwest Folk Music Association