Jim Reeves: His Untold Story Paperback – December 24, 2018

If you're a huge Jim Reeves fan, as I am, then you have been waiting your entire life for someone to write an in-depth biography about this great artist. As incredible as it may seem, there has never been one...until now. Thanks to Larry Jordan's new book on Jim, which runs close to 700 pages, we can now get to know the man as we have never known him before. This could very well be the greatest biography I've ever read (I can't think of another one that can top it). Not much has ever been revealed about the private life of Jim Reeves, but Larry has put together the most amazingly detailed account of the greatest singer who has ever lived. Almost 12 years in the making, a lot of fans, including myself, wondered if the book would ever surface. Larry took a lot of grief from many fans over the years that were growing more and more impatient as time went by. I was one of those fans...but only because there has NEVER been an in depth bio on Jim before and I knew that Larry would give an honest, no holds barred account of the man's life. As it turned out, I was not dissapointed. I would not have been interested in a biography that puts Jim Reeves on a pedestal and makes him seem like a perfect human being. If a book on someone's life is just going to tell us everything that we already knew, then why bother? Larry has received some criticism from people for revealing a lot about Jim's private life that paints him as less than the gentleman he was known to be. However, after reading this book from cover to cover, it will not leave you thinking any less of Jim Reeves as a human being. If anything, it will leave you knowing and understanding Jim more than you ever have before. In my opinion, that is exactly what any story of a person's life should do for the reader. It does not try to sell us Jim as a perfect person...but then who amongst us is? If you love Jim Reeves and his music, and would like to know what made him tick, then there is no way you should miss out on reading this amazing bio. In this book, Larry also takes us minute by minute through the days when Jim's plane went missing and the discovery of the crash scene. Next to nothing has ever been known about the details leading up to Jim getting his pilot's license, why he did, and the probable cause of his plane going down. Incredible detective work on Larry's part and the same can be said for the rest of the book! The CD that followed shortly after, "Jim Reeves-The New Recordings", is pretty much an audio version of the book, although the book is much more extensive in detail. After all, it would be impossible to fit every detail from the book on 2 CD's. Still, it is an excellent audio bio on Jim and makes a perfect companion to the book itself. There are also some new audio clips from interviews Jim gave that you've probably never heard before, as well as many of Jim's great recordings with new instrumental backings giving them a fresh new sound that I'm sure you will enjoy. If you haven't purchased either the book or CD's yet, then go for the package deal. If you've been waiting to know everything there is to know about the life of Jim Reeves, then you need not wait any longer. Larry Jordan has put a lot of time and work into this project and has given us more than we could have ever hoped for. Don't miss it!

If you care for country music at all, do yourself a favor and read this wonderful book! I read its 600+ pages in less than a week; I simply could not put it down. Larry Jordan put decades of his own life into researching and writing this book, and no one ever has or ever will tell the story of the great Jim Reeves in as detailed and engrossing a fashion. It brings you an education on country music in the 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's, while recounting Reeves' life on an almost day-by-day basis that never gets tiring. Jordan did hours of interviews with ALL the key players in the Reeves life and career -- wife, siblings, band members, managers, fellow artists, business partners, fans, and yes, even lovers. He pored through newspapers, personal letters, diaries, school grades (that's right!), fan club publications, and all relevant research done by others. I thought I knew Jim Reeves as a lifelong country fan and being something of a scholar myself (writing the life of Ernest Tubb); but Larry Jordan told me things I didn't know (and I don't think ANYBODY knew) on almost every page! The detail is outstanding; the writing is brisk and engaging; the photos (MANY never seen in print before) are interspersed throughout the text and are always placed in the perfect spots for full effect. I never read a biography which handled illustrations as deftly as this one. On top of all this, Jordan's ability to EVALUATE the life and career of Jim Reeves -- describing its context and importance while it unfolded, and its lasting legacy since -- is unmatched. Jordan is not shy about passing judgments, and he supports every one he makes.This book is as comprehensive as an encyclopedia while it reads like a novel or detective story. If you love country music, you MUST read this book. It will be well worth your time and money if you enjoy it half as much as I did.

This has to be the most detailed biography I have ever read. Nowhere else have I read details like Reeves' toupees cost $150 each in 1961 or in 1961 he was paying $291 a month for 2 years on a bus or in 1962 he was entitled to $2 worth of merchandise for winning a golf tournament. The book is well researched. The author appears to have spoken with everyone who had some kind of relationship with Reeves. The grueling details of tour dates from 1957 (05/05 in Roanoke, Virginia; 05/07 in Chambersburg, PA, 05/10 in Queens, NY, 05/11 in Newburg, NJ, 05/12 in Newark, NJ, and 5/14 in New Britain, CT) shows how tiring this life can be but I thought this could have been better presented in list in an appendix in the back of the book which could then include the amount Reeves earned as well as who he was on the bill with. At 672 pages, there was a lot of detail in the book that might have been better edited out. Lots of good photos too. My big issue with the author was his excuses for some of Reeves' bad behavior. He had a wife but was also juggling at least 2 other women that appeared to have the idea that he eventually wanted to make a life with them. His philandering on the road is probably no worse than any other performer. However, to excuse the use of 12-year old prostitutes in South Africa by saying that 12 years was the age of consent is inexcusable. A good book if you want to know all the details about Reeves' but I can no longer consider him Gentleman Jim Reeves.

Absolutely the best novel I have ever read.