It is fairly simple to find a famous Oklahoman, however, it proves difficult to find somebody as accomplished as Jimmy Velvit. Having written so many songs, even he noted that even he has trouble counting them.
“I can’t possibly tell you how many songs I have written,” he said.
With his amazing backstory, that his story can easily turn into a manuscript real quick.
Born James Mullins on January 11, 1941, in Coalgate, Okla., he later changed his name to the Velvit moniker.
Even though he moved around, he said he still considers Coalgate home and in fact he lives in his “grandma’s house”, as he called it.
“Daddy moved us to Oklahoma City for a while then to Dallas, Texas, but my home has always been right here in Coalgate Okla.,” he said.
Velvit told many stories about his journey and spoke of some good friends and people he got to play music with along the way. Many of thenameshementionedrang amemorybellsomeincluded, Little Jimmy Dickens, Slim Whitman, Eddie Cochran, JohnnyRodriguez,RayPrice, Sammy Smith, Clint Black, Bill Anderson, Sam Cook, Willie Nelson, George Strait, Chubby Checker, The Spinners, The Coasters, and an eternal list of others.
He told of a story when iconic musician Chuck Berry needed assistance and he jumped in to help.
“We were playing in Norman, Oklahoma on The Grand Ole Opry Road Show when someone said, ‘Jimmy, Chuck Berry needs two thousand dollars’,” Velvit said. “
“When I got outside,” he continued, “there Chuck was in a cab, he had taken the cab from St. Louis and needed to pay the driver.”
He also reminisced about knowing the legendary George Jones.
“I was good friends with him, and you know he was really a nice guy,” Velvit said of Jones. “One time, a man came backstage to the window of the tall wire cage wall and said to George Jones, ‘I love your music, my wife and I have traveled a long way to hear it’, George got up off of the couch, grabbed his guitar and sand the man a song.”
With a glint in his eye, he recalled another time he basically saved the day.
“The tour bus had broken down and was carrying the groups The Spinners, The Coasters” and The Drifters, along with some others,” he said.
After his set, he went to theservicestationtoseewhat the problem was when the mechanic said he didn’t have the part needed to fix the bus and he had no clue where to get the part. That was when Velvit jumped into action.
“I just wrapped that chain around the bumper of my brand-new Pontiac convertible - back then, the cars were big and had big motors - I pulled that bus all the way to Lubbock Texas,” he said. “Mytransmissionburnedout as soon as we got there but we made the next show, the car was brand new, I mean that was the first time I drove it, they put a new transmission in for me right there in Lubbock, Texas”.
Velvit went on to go into grave detail about the truth of the music industry at that time.
“It was true when you heard the song George Strait and Alan Jackson, Murder on Music Row, it really was like that,” he said grimly. “Nashville could do whatever they wanted and how could you possibly know how well your song went or much less how much they made off of it, you just took what they gave you and went on, back then you know.”
“The difference with me was that I produced and recorded so I retained the rights all along, he continued. “Now, oversees was a different deal, I found out my music was being played all over and there was not a thing I could do to collect any payment for them using my music.”
Velvit was a true-blue American rock and roll artist and was instrumental in combining music genres blending rock n roll, rhythm and blues, and real country. This is evident in many of his songs. The first, “He aint Country” came purely from his heart and the way many real country artists.
He said it was easy to merge genres.
“Itcamenaturalandreally it all started when I was living with my uncle,” he said. “He was a Migrant worker, an Okie, and a man named George lived and worked with us. George sang songs while we were picking cotton, peaches, and other things.”
“George was always singing, and he took me to a lot of those joints that were playing music,” he continued.
George told Velvit that he knewhewasgoingtogrowup to be a musician and songwriter. Velvit said playfully that old George was right, he’s just not sure if it was a blessing or a curse.
Velvit said he has no plans on stopping anytime soon.
“I am not finished by any means.”
Velvit is currently healing up from a health issue and said as soon as he is feeling better, he will be right back at it.