Jimmy Pritchard

Jimmy Pritchard started playing bass professionally in 1980 with the band "Masque" featuring guitar wiz Vinnie Moore. He then moved to Florida in 1986 and took up with "Easy Excess" for two years on non-stop gigging.

Wanting to pursue Blues as his main music, he returned to the Tri-State area in 1989 and picked up a gig with Lisa Jack & The Reputations and this led to many years of work backing up regional acts such as Sister Blue, Jim McCarthy, The Homewreckers and  Roni & The Eldorado’s.

In 1996, he hit the road with Blues Great Sonny Rhodes touring Europe, Canada & the U.S. It was on this tour that he met and played with many great bluesmen including the Legendary Frankie Lee, and would go on to back up the singer on some East Coast dates.

In 1997, he recorded with Randy Lippincott & began backing up Randy as well as Georgie Bonds & The Blueskeepers and Arkansas’s own Lonnie Shields. In 2003 he hit the road with Big Jack Johnson touring the U.S. & Canada.  Since 2003, he has played & recorded with harmonica ace Mikey Jr. He recorded his original record titled “Shopping for the Blues.” It was well received and nominated by the North Jersey Blues & Jazz Society for The Blues Foundation C.D competition in 2007.  In 2009 he toured the South with Mikey Jr & had a chance to back up the great Eddie Kirkland a real special man with very deep ties to the music.

In 2010 his second record “Goin’ Down 9″ was released & featured many of the area's finest musicians, the album was nominated by the Diamond State Blues Society & made the first cut in the 2011 IBC CD competition. That same year at the IBCS he backed Mikey Jr, went to the semi-finals & in 2012 to the IBCS finals. Also in 2010, Jimmy started fronting his three-piece band which sometimes features a double sax threat.

2011 brought a producing credit for Blue Cat Blues debut CD “Whiskey Feet.” He played bass and contributed an original song on "The St.Georges Sessions".

He was part of the rhythm section at the Little Walter Birthday Bash in 2012 with an old friend & musical comrade Chris Sherlock, “we spent a many a day together servin’ up the groove,” which featured nine of the area’s top harmonicists.

(Jimmy Pritchard at Wilmington's Riverfront Blues Festival 2014)