[vc_row iron_row_type=”full_width” iron_remove_padding_medium=”” iron_remove_padding_small=”” iron_overlay_pattern=”” iron_parallax=”” iron_bg_video=”” css=”.vc_custom_1712733567586{margin-bottom: 150px !important;background-image: url(https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/jb_80s_2.jpg?id=691) !important;background-position: 0 0 !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner gap=”35″ iron_bg_video=”” css=”.vc_custom_1456788182214{margin-top: 250px !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”Where the words leave off,
\nthe music begins.” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:left|color:%23b51639″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” fit_bg_text=”0″][vc_separator color=”custom” align=”align_left” accent_color=”#b51639″][vc_custom_heading text=”MY STORY” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left|color:%23b51639″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” fit_bg_text=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1456846770841{margin-top: 30px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner gap=”35″ iron_bg_video=”” css=”.vc_custom_1456788103810{margin-top: 125px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
O<\/span>ne of Jimmy Baker\u2019s earliest music memories is squeezing into a rocking chair with his father, listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio, and a particular song he recalls by Ernest Tubbs that caught his attention.<\/p>\n \u201cFor some reason, I always thought the title was \u201cDriving Them Nails in My Coffee\u201d, but it was \u201cDriving Them Nails in My Coffin.\u201d The irony is that I\u2019m not much of a country music fan today, but that song made a impression on me as a kid\u201d , Jimmy remembers.<\/p>\n Jimmy Baker was born in March of 1963 in Montgomery, Alabama. His family included his parents, sister and grandparents. He began taking piano lessons and singing in church around the time he was 9-years old. He was often called upon to lead the congregation in songs which were performed acapella.<\/p>\n Outside of church, he was becoming interested in the music of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and songs from Elton John\u2019s Captain Fantastic , the first album Jimmy ever purchased. Jimmy says, \u201cI always wanted to play the piano like Elton John, but the teachers would put sheet music for Beethoven or \u201cRow, Row, Row Your Boat\u201d in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n Influenced by the music he was hearing, Jimmy\u2019s interests shifted to guitar, and there was a particular moment that he recalls that helped spark his interest. By the time he was fifteen, Jimmy learned to play guitar mainly by ear. A year later, he was singing lead and playing guitar in several local bands, performing tunes by groups like Rush, Led Zeppelin, \u201cand some stuff that was over our heads, for a three piece band.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Jimmy later attended a couple of Christian colleges and Auburn University in Montgomery before arriving at Auburn\u2019s main campus. On something of a whim, and at the suggestion of a friend, Jimmy decided to travel to Boston to attend summer classes at the famed Berklee School of Music.<\/p>\n While there, Jimmy studied voice, guitar and music theory and had a chance to see and perform with fellow students like Al Pitrelli, who went on to play guitar with Alice Cooper and The Tran-Siberian Orchestra and Jim Odom, who became the guitarist for the acclaimed Louisiana-based band LeRoux.<\/p>\n He returned to Alabama and Auburn, where word of his attendance at Berklee helped earn him a gig with a popular local band called Sailor, which toured the southeast. The band\u2019s guitarist Allen Hinds, whom Jimmy calls \u201cthe most incredible guitar player I\u2019ve ever seen\u201d, was leaving for some bigger aspirations. Hinds went on to record and perform with the likes of Roberta Flack, Natalie Cole, Christopher Cross, Amy Grant and Gino Vanelli, to name a few.<\/p>\n One of Jimmy\u2019s own brushes with musical fame happened while playing a late night gig in Atlanta. He recalls, \u201cWe were playing at the Tin Roof and this guy came up on stage. He was shoulder to shoulder with me and he was playing this killer guitar stuff. He wouldn\u2019t sing, he wouldn\u2019t say a word. He would just kind of smile. Suddenly I realized, \u2018Man, that\u2019s John Mayer!\u2019 He was playing this Hendrix-type, killer stuff. I told him he needed to play that on his albums! This was just as he was starting to come on to the scene. From there, he later went on to win a Grammy.\u201d Laughing, Jimmy says, \u201cI\u2019m never gonna wash that shoulder again.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to playing the guitar and singing, Jimmy also plays the bass and keyboards in a couple of local bands, including Jimi and The Firedogs. He also plays for his church and writes contemporary Christian music. He\u2019s in the process of working on material for an album.<\/p>\n Jimmy and his wife have 4 children and live in Montgomery.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner gap=”35″ iron_bg_video=””][vc_column_inner][vc_single_image image=”498″ img_size=”full” img_fullwidth=”0″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row iron_row_type=”full_width” iron_remove_padding_medium=”” iron_remove_padding_small=”” iron_overlay_pattern=”” iron_parallax=”” iron_bg_video=”” css=”.vc_custom_1712733567586{margin-bottom: 150px !important;background-image: url(https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/jb_80s_2.jpg?id=691) !important;background-position: 0 0 !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner gap=”35″ iron_bg_video=”” css=”.vc_custom_1456788182214{margin-top: 250px !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”Where the words leave off, the music begins.” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:left|color:%23b51639″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” fit_bg_text=”0″][vc_separator color=”custom” align=”align_left” accent_color=”#b51639″][vc_custom_heading text=”MY STORY” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left|color:%23b51639″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” fit_bg_text=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1456846770841{margin-top: 30px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner gap=”35″ iron_bg_video=”” css=”.vc_custom_1456788103810{margin-top: 125px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text] One of Jimmy Baker\u2019s earliest music memories is squeezing into a rocking chair with his father, listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio, and a particular song he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7778,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7778"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":692,"href":"https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions\/692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmybakermusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cWe spent the night on Christmas Eve at some friends\u2019 house, and they had a guitar there. I picked it up and saw the chord charts. The guy who owned the guitar came in and showed me where you put your fingers. I kept playing with the guitar that night and I think that was where the fire started. At some point later, I kind of passed him and got into bar chords and other things pretty quickly. \u201d<\/p>\n