Jim McCoy’s Life Story Is Now A Book

Though he never had a chart-topping song, Jim McCoy managed to make a lifelong career in the hard-tumble Country Music business. He performed around the U.S., recorded for a Nashville label, introduced Patsy Cline to the airways in 1947 while still a teenager himself, and was the “Voice of Country Music” on Winchester, Va. radio. He also ran a record company featuring acts from West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
McCoy’s story has now been turned into a book, Joltin’ Jim: Jim McCoy’s Life In Country Music. Later this fall, two new CDs will fill out his tale musically -- The Real McCoy, a disc of McCoy’s songs sung by Matt Hahn, and a “Best of Jim McCoy” collection. 

Joltin’ Jim the book
The book Joltin’ Jim is McCoy’s life as told by John Douglas. McCoy earned the nickname in the 1950s when a friend noticed he was always “joltin’ around” from a day job at Montgomery Wards to radio shows to performing gigs.

Now 78, Jim and his wife Bertha own The Troubadour, a nightclub and restaurant on Highland Ridge near Berkeley Springs, W. Va. Named for McCoy’s inspiration -- Ernest Tubb, “The Texas Troubadour" -- the bar is just a few hundred feet from where McCoy was born in 1929. The Troubadour is also home to the West Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame and McCoy’s personal collection of pictures and memorabilia from his 60+ years in Country Music.

John Douglas, author of Joltin’ Jim, has worked with McCoy on several projects in recent years. Douglas is editor of The Morgan Messenger in Berkeley Springs and previously wrote profiles of McCoy for The Messenger and Goldenseal magazine. Last summer, he accompanied McCoy to Missouri Valley, Iowa, where McCoy was inducted into the National Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame. The story of their trip is included in the book.

Joltin’ Jim is illustrated with scores of pictures of McCoy at different times in his career, often with Country Music stars of the 1950s and 1960s. Dozens of photos show other regional performers, members of Jim’s bands and vintage scenes from Winchester and Berkeley Springs.
Douglas drew on McCoy’s memories and scrapbooks, as well as interviews conducted by John Newbraugh, a Berkeley Springs music collector. For several years, Newbraugh worked with McCoy to organize the session tapes from Winchester, Master and other record labels with which McCoy was associated. McCoy and Newbraugh have released several CDs of historic material as joint projects of McCoy’s Winchester label and Newbraugh’s NBT Records.

Joltin’ Jim includes a first-ever listing of the records that McCoy had a hand in producing. Newbraugh did the pioneering work on the discography of Winchester, Alear and other companies. Area music fans and collectors will find it a treasure trove of names and information.
The introduction to Joltin’ Jim is by Charlie Dick, husband of Patsy Cline. McCoy and Dick have been buddies since the 1960s. Even before that, McCoy knew Dick and Cline during both happy times -- Jim’s band played for their wedding reception -- and sad times -- Jim was one of Cline’s pallbearers.

CDs coming this fall 
As for The Real McCoy recording, it’s been in the works since Dr. Matt Hahn sang a couple McCoy songs at a Morgan County Public Library benefit two years ago. Hahn was lead singer for the Young Caucasians rock band, based in Washington, before becoming a medical doctor and moving to Berkeley Springs. He’s picked his favorites from songs that were written or recorded by McCoy. The album was recorded at Troubadour Studios with McCoy producing and Douglas assisting. 

It’s interesting to watch McCoy play around in his all-digital studio today, especially when you consider that as a farm boy in the Depresssion, he had to save radio battery power so he could listen to the “Grand Ole Opry.” 
Another current McCoy project is finishing up Joltin’ Jim McCoy: 50 Years Of Country Music. The CD collects the best of McCoy’s own recordings, including Nashville sessions from the 1960s, recitations that show off his radio voice and a few numbers that have never been released before. 

How to get the book
Joltin’ Jim: Jim McCoy’s Life In Country Music is available for $15.95, plus $4 shipping and handling, from: Jim McCoy Book Project, P.O. Box 901, Berkeley Springs, WV 25411. West Virginia residents should add 96-cents sales tax, for a total of $20.91.