James Gilreath

Career

James William Gilreath (commonly written as James or Jimmy Gilreath) was born in Una Community, Clay County, near Prairie, Mississippi, and began his musical career in the early 1960s as a member of a local area band named 'The Nite-Liters', who recorded an instrumental record entitled "Nervous" in 1962 on the Vee Eight label in Nashville, Tennessee. It was later released by Verve Records headquartered in Los Angeles, California. This recording, composed by Jerry Hood, a band member, featured the trumpet player and co-founder of the band, John Mihelic.

As a musician, Gilreath played both guitar and piano. His first single, in 1962 by Vee Eight Records, contained "I Need It" and "Time Hasn't Helped," but it was not successful. In early 1963, however, "Little Band of Gold" was released, by Statue Records of Tupelo, Mississippi. Gilreath's singing on the record was accompanied by Mihelic and other instrumentalists. The B-side was "I'll Walk With You." Statue Records soon sold the rights to "Little Band of Gold" to Joy Records (New York) of New York City, and by the end of April it had become a hit for that label, reaching #21 on the U.S. pop chart and #19 on the R&B chart. The track reached #29 in the UK Singles Chart.

Three other singles were released by Joy. The first was "Lollipops, Lace, and Lipstick" b/w "Mean Ole River", and the second "Keep Her Out of Sight" b/w "Blue is My Color." In 1965 "Your Day is Coming" b/w "Pearls, Gold, and Silver" was released but was again commercially unsuccessful. The same year the record label had ceased operations, and Gilreath chose to concentrate on songwriting rather than recording records. In 1967, Jimmy Hughes released a single written by Gilreath entitled, "Why Not Tonight," which peaked at #5 R&B.

Beginning in 1963 with Bill Anderson's version, a number of singers covered Gilreath's "Little Band of Gold" hit. In 1966, Vince Hill included it on his album You're My World. In 1969, it was included on an album of instrumentals recorded by Boots Randolph. Also in that year, The Hep Stars released a single featuring the song. In 1977, The Tennessee Guitars included it on an instrumental album, 20 Pieces of Country Gold, and in 1978 it was sung Paul Martin. In 1975, Sonny James recorded "Little Band of Gold," and had a #5 hit on the country music chart.

In 1972 Gilreath married Kay Long, and they lived on a farm at Saltillo, Mississippi, where Gilreath died in a tractor accident on September 7, 2003. He is buried in Lee Memorial Park near Tupelo. He and Kay had no children.