Jimmy Hall, former lead vocalist and harmonica player for
Wet Willie, has a long and varied background as a performer, working with Capricorn Records from its early days in the 1970s. Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Hall cofounded
Wet Willie in 1970; over the next ten years, Hall and the group toured with
Aerosmith,
the Allman Brothers Band,
Grand Funk Railroad and
the Grateful Dead. Hall was later nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocalist for Jeff Beck's 1985
Flash album. After
Wet Willie's breakup, Hall moved to Nashville to work on a solo project for Epic Records, and he's been based there ever since, finding a healthy blues scene in a city known for country music. On his 1996 effort Rendezvous With The Blues, Hall is backed by people like
Clayton Ivey on piano, former Capricorn session drummer
Bill Stewart, and
Dr. Dan Matrazzo on Hammond B-3 organ; the record also features
Johnny Sandlin, the same producer who sat behind the console on
Wet Willie's 1973 live album Drippin' Wet. In recent years, Hall joined Hank Williams Jr's touring band playing sax and harmonica. ~ Richard Skelly