Uncle Jimmy Thompson - Later Career

Later Career

Thompson continued making appearances on Barn Dance (renamed the Grand Ole Opry in 1927) throughout 1926 and 1927, but as the show became more structured, Thompson's role was minimized. Hay grew impatient with Thompson's general unreliability, and the two bickered over such things as Thompson's penchant for drinking a jug of whiskey before each program to "lubricate" his playing arm, and Thompson's tendency to play well over his allotted time. In 1928, Thompson made only two appearances on the program.

In 1926, Thompson went to Atlanta, where he recorded two traditional tunes, "Billy Wilson" and "Karo" for Columbia Records. The latter, "Karo," is probably derived from the folk song "Flop-Eared Mule." Thompson's only other recording session occurred on April 5, 1930 in Knoxville, Tennessee, for Brunswick/Vocalion. This session produced the recording known as "Uncle Jimmy's Favorite Fiddlin' Pieces," a mini-interview conducted by producer Bill Brown in which Thompson plays "Flying Clouds" and "Leather Britches", and discusses whiskey and the violin's superiority over the guitar (the brief guitar solo was probably played by Willie Sievers of the Tennessee Ramblers).

Thompson died of pneumonia at his Laguardo home on February 17, 1931. Music historian Charles Wolfe notes that while Thompson's active career (1925–1931) was relatively short, it was "one of the most potent" in the history and development of country music, and that the photographs of Thompson seated with his fiddle before a WSM microphone are among the Grand Ole Opry's most enduring images. Thompson claimed to have known over a thousand fiddle tunes, and once boasted he could "fiddle the bugs off a tater vine." According to Wolfe, an analysis of Thompson's last recordings show a fiddle player of "great ability."