Wild Jimbos began their sometimes distinctive career in the early 1980's when the duo of Jimmy Ibbotson (taking a brief six year sabbatical from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) and Jim Ratts were joined on stage in Breckenridge, Colorado by Jim Salestrom who was playing at the time with Dolly Parton. The joy of this combination was immediately apparent.

Jimmy rejoined the Dirt Band in 1982 and enjoyed a good number of top ten and number one country chart hits, including "Dance Little Jean", "Long Hard Road" and "Fishin' in the Dark". In 1990 Chuck Morris, manager of NGDB, secured a record deal for Wild Jimbos with MCA Nashville, in part to give Ibby another outlet for recording his original songs. Sam 'Sambo' Bush joined the group at the time to produce the album and propel the Wild Jimbos shows with his electrifying mandolin and fiddle work. The Wild Jimbos hit Nashville with something unusual, fresh, spontaneous and just a little bit wild, and were welcomed warmly into the scene. They had a hit video from their record that year in heavy rotation on CMT and TNN cable TV. Ralph Emory of the Nashville Now TV show played along with their antics in support of the album's single "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian". While the boys performed their song, Ralph relaxed on a lounge chair with sunglasses, an umbrella drink in his hand and (this is a historic first) he was barefoot on the air. The ol' drugstore truck-drivin' man takin' off his socks for Wild Jimbos!

In 1993 Wild Jimbos recorded their second album, cleverly called Wild Jimbos II, produced by Jim Ratts. Since that time they've kept a low profile making occasional appearances to re-inspect that old Wild Jimbo connection. They've resurfaced on the new Runaway Express Buddy Holly album, "Yeah, Buddy!" singing two of the songs.

Besides the Wild Jimbos performances on "Yeah, Buddy!" limited numbers of their other two albums are still available through this web site. Go to the Discs page.

Wild Jimbos take their light-heartedness seriously.

Hidden Site Links | Lance Monthly interview | Those Fabulous Sixties Editor's Letter | The Jack Len Tape | Co Springs Indy | Lubbock Magazine Interview

Runaway Express

E-Mail

PO BOX 2333
Englewood, Colorado 80150

303-781-3314

copyright © 2007 All rights reserved.