Like a Moth to a Flame: The Jim Reeves Story Review

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(More customer reviews)Far from being a definitive account of the life and career of singer Jim Reeves, "From A Moth To A Flame" dwells on the negative aspects to his personality, which even then are often distorted or exaggerated. For instance, Streissguth describes Reeves as an unrepentant womanizer who abused his wife. To back up this damaging claim, he cites one mere source of questionable motivation, when many other and better sources would have been available to contradict this assertion. The author's bias in favor of writing a scandalous book instead of an accurate one is seen in the fact that, while he quotes extensively from an article the singer's widow wrote in 1966 about her recollections concerning Jim's death, he selectively fails to tell readers that in the same article she also glowingly described their marriage and said Jim was as a husband "perfection personified." How to reconcile such contradictions? A look at the author's sources offers a clue: He did not rely on true intimates -- people who worked with Reeves or socialized with him frequently. Instead, the author turns to people on the periphery of Reeves' life -- such a songwriter that he had a falling out with. There are other factual errors galore. For instance, the author says that Reeves was so frugal he paid his bandmembers poorly and laid them off between gigs. But other published accounts prove that Jim Reeves was a rarity in the music business at the time: He paid his band top dollar, kept them on a yearly retainer, and refused to perform anywhere without them. Time and time again the author fails to give Jim the credit he deserves. For example, Streissguth claims it was RCA's promotional efforts that turned Jim's recordings into hits. But Reeves told many an interviewer that he personally bought 500 to 1000 of his own recordings to send out to radio stations because he was so disgusted with his label's lack of support. The author's infatuation with singer Eddy Arnold surfaces throughout, as when he continually compares Arnold and Reeves. While Streissguth describes Eddy as the "pioneer of the Nashville Sound," this is a strange and unsupportable thesis, given the fact that of 34 recording sessions done by Arnold during the period between 1944 and 1954, only 7 were completed in Nashville (the rest occurring in places like New York). Jim Reeves, by comparison, ONLY recorded in Music City -- doing at least 66 sessions in a six-and-a-half year period there, and relying exclusively on Nashville musicians. Reeves also is the one who came up with the idea of borrowing pop arrangements to showcase his country songs -- while other artists like Arnold were still singing in a hillbilly fashion and dressing accordingly. Jim abandoned the rhinestones and fringed cowboy outfits in favor of tuxedos, dinner jackets and immaculately-tailored suits because, explained his widow Mary, he wanted to be able to go anywhere and be accepted. The author also neglects to show readers the truly international dimensions of Jim's career. His popularity worldwide to this day approaches cult status. There is even an industry record award named after him (won in recent years by Garth Brooks), because Jim Reeves was the FIRST truly international ambassador of country music. While the author describes numerous instances of what he labels as Jim's "ungraciousness", he doesn't tell readers that Jim's tact and diplomacy were such that he was even asked by the U.S. State Department to serve as one of their goodwill representatives on a tour to South Africa. The author takes small incidents, in which any reasonable person would be properly upset, and uses them to depict Jim as hot-tempered and unreasoning. One incident has Jim walking out on an unruly bunch of drunken G.I.s and refusing to peform; but what else was he to do? Another concerned a piano that was so broken down it was unplayable. Yet Jim's contract specified that each venue was to furnish an in-tune piano, as he only had a four piece band and a piano was an integral part of his sound. So whose failing was that? Surely not Jim's! Streissguth says Jim shortchanged an audience in Ireland by walking out after only a few numbers. But he either doesn't know or at least fails to tell his readers the rest of the story -- that an unscrupulous promoter had booked Jim in three venues per night, many miles apart, and so Jim and his band had to rush from one locale to another over very bad rural roads, not finishing some shows until after 4 a.m.! On the same night Streissguth says Jim disappointed fans at one town, Reeves performed for an hour-and-a-half at his next engagement, to glowing reviews. Also completely absent from this book is any recitation of the many, many charitable activities of Jim and his wife. He gave of himself on many occasions -- his time, his talent, his money. After trashing him throughout, the author manages in the final pages to make a fleeting reference to Jim1s goodly nature, but it's almost as an afterthought. Those of us who knew Jim personally know that his good heart was so much a part of his gentlemanly nature. Streissguh is right in saying that Jim Reeves had the finest singing voice ever to emerge from Nashville. But there are so many gaps in this book, as well as outright inaccuracies and unsupportable theories, as to render it a poor caricature -- far from the truth on many points.

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This comprehensive biography is based on interviews with many of the people whom "Gentleman" Jim Reeves knew best, and contains a bonus six-song CD. Illustrated and indexed.

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