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.
See more:
The Wild Jimbos
Wild Jimbos videos
Wild Jimbos CD
Lance Monthly Interview
The Colorado Springs Independant article
The Villager article
To purchase ANY OF THESE CDs by mail
Send check or money order payable to:
Raven Recording
P.O. Box 2333
Englewood, Colorado 80150 USA
Our CDs are $15 USD each and we pay the postage.
For international orders, a minimum of 2 discs is required for free shipping.
send email phone Jim at 303-720-5789
Now available on CD, recently re-mastered Runaway projects from the 80s; including Cadillac Dreams, Headed West, Kansas Skies, and 0. Each of these lengthy albums (from 64 to 96 minutes) is available for $15. Only by mail.