St. Louis Jimmy

St. Louis Jimmy (aka "St. Louis Jimmy Oden") was born James Burke Oden in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1903. He left Nashville at around age 14 and moved to St. Louis, MO, where he teamed up with blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes and they played various clubs and private parties around the city. In 1932 he and Sykes left St. Louis for Chicago. There they cut several records for the Champion label and became part of the city's blues club scene. He eventually became more successful as a composer than a piano player, and he wrote songs for such artists as Muddy Waters, James Cotton and Otis Spann. He also had a hit with his own composition, "Going Down Slow", in 1941. From the 1940s onward he performed with various blues artists and recorded for several smaller regional labels. His health started failing in the 1960s, and by 1970 it had deteriorated to the point where he was forced to retire from performing.

He died in 1977.