Farewell, Old Friend: Jimmy T99 Nelson Is Dead

Jimmy T99 Nelson died yesterday evening in Houston. He had been suffering from lung cancer. Roger Wood, a lover of the music and a dear friend to T99, gave me the sad news. Roger's book, Down in Houston, is the definitive word on the Houston blues scene.

Jimmy was the last of the great blues shouters, a house wrecker from the days gone by. There will be no more like him. Here's the proof.

He was also a friend like no other. When I called him from the West Coast in 1999, to tell him I had made the journey from Texas safely, despite being robbed along the way, the first thing he said was, "Do you need any money?"

I can see him now, sitting at the dining room table in his home on Calumet Street, good music on the stereo, a yellow legal pad in front of him, still writing great songs in his 80s.

Now he passes into memory, myth and legend.

To have called Jimmy Nelson my friend -- what can a life in music give, that's any better than that?

UPDATE:

By way of commemoration, I have posted an unreleased track from a mid-90s session I did with Jimmy. You can listen to it here.

It will only be online for a few days.