Jim Reeves - Distant Drums

I first listened to Jim Reeves in 1980.

I was studying in Penang then. As my house was in Sungai Petani, I had to stay in my granduncle's house in Air Itam during the weekdays.

My granduncle was very kind to me. He treated me like a grown-up and imposed no restrictions to me at all. So I could watch TV or listen to cassette tapes whenever I liked. My uncle had a good collection of cassette tapes. I particularly liked a tape which contained a song "He'll have to go" sung by Jim Reeves followed by another song "He'll have to stay" sung by Skeeter Davis.

Wikipedia describes that "Jim Reeves is a crooner because of his warm, velvety voice. His songs were remarkable for their simple elegance highlighted by his rich right baritone". What an apt description.

When I started to collect LPs, I also started to look for Jim Reeves' album. "Distant Drums" is the first Jim Reeves album collected by me. I bought it in July 2006.

At the height of his singing career, Jim Reeves was killed in a small aircraft crash in July 31, 1964. Cindy Walker, the author of "Distant Drums" wrote this at the back of the album cover:

"The words sound almost mystically prophetic as sung by the late Jim Reeves-

'I hear the sound of distant drums

Far away, far away.

And if they call for me to come,

then I must go and you must stay'"