From wikipedia…
James Burke "St. Louis Jimmy" Oden (June 26, 1903
– December 30, 1977) was an American blues vocalist and songwriter.
Born in Nashville , Tennessee ,
United States , Oden sang
and taught himself to play the piano in childhood. In his teens, he left home
to go to St. Louis , Missouri
(c. 1917) where piano-based blues was prominent. He was able to develop his
vocal talents and began performing with the pianist, Roosevelt Sykes. After
more than ten years playing in and around St. Louis ,
in 1933 he and Sykes decided to move on to Chicago .
In Chicago he
was dubbed St. Louis Jimmy and there he would enjoy a solid performing and
recording career for the next four decades. While Chicago
became his home base, Oden traveled with a group of blues players to various
places throughout the United States .
He recorded a large number of records, his best known coming in 1941 on the
Bluebird Records label called "Goin' Down Slow." Oden wrote a number
of songs, two of which, "Take the Bitter with the Sweet" and
"Soon Forgotten," were recorded by his friend, Muddy Waters.
In 1948 on Aristocrat Records Oden cut "Florida
Hurricane", accompanied by the pianist Sunnyland Slim and the guitarist
Muddy Waters.
In 1949, Oden partnered with Joe Brown to form a small
recording company called J.O.B. Records. Oden appears to have ended his
involvement within a year, but with other partners the company remained in
business till 1974.
After a serious road accident in 1957 he devoted himself to
writing and placed material with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf ("What a
Woman!") and John Lee Hooker. In 1960 he made an album with Bluesville
Records, and sang on a Candid Records session with Robert Lockwood, Jr. and
Otis Spann.
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