Jim Reeves

AKA:

Gentleman Jim

Birth Name:

James Travis Reed

Birth Date:

August 20, 1923

Birth Place:

Galloway, Texas

Death Date:

July 31, 1964

Place of Death:

400 yards east of Franklin Road, Brentwood, Tennessee

Age:

Cause of Death:

Plane crash

Cemetery Name:

Jim Reeves Memorial

Claim to Fame:

Music

Jim Reeves was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter with records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s. He became well known as a practitioner of the traditional Nashville Sound. Reeves' last two recording sessions for RCA Victor were held July 2, 1964; they produced the songs "Make the World Go Away", "Missing You", and "Is It Really Over?" When the session ended with some time remaining on the schedule, Reeves suggested that he should record one more song. He taped "I Can't Stop Loving You", in what was to be his final RCA recording. Known as "Gentleman Jim", his songs continued to chart for years after his death in a plane crash. He is a member of both the Country Music and Texas Country Music Halls of Fame.

Not-So-Fun Facts

To be blunt, Jim Reeves had absolutely no business flying solo much less with a passenger. Jim had been taking flying lessons but had not received his pilots license. When he returned from overseas in 1963, he paid $200 to a Nashville flight instructor to grant him his license. But what sealed his fate on that fateful day was that he was flying a more advanced Beechcraft rather than his slower Cessna that he trained on. So without the 200 additional flight hours needed to competently fly the Beechcraft he was completely unprepared as a pilot. But it gets worse – during the flight he ignored the control towers instructions to veer right to avoid the storm cell and he decided to turn left going further and deeper into the storm. When lightning flashed he pulled too hard on the yoke and the plane nose-dived into the ground. It was all over in a matter of seconds.

Jim Reeves was terrified of lightning as his brother was killed by a lightning strike.

Gentleman Jim was huge in Norway. His first success in Norway, “He’ll Have to Go”, scored number one in the top 10 and scored the chart for 29 weeks. “I Love You Because” was his greatest success in Norway, scoring number one during 1964 and on the list for 39 weeks. His albums spent 696 weeks in the Norwegian top-20 chart, making him one of the most popular music artists in the history of Norway.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Jim Reeves Memorial

1000 East Highway 79

Carthage, Texas, 75633

USA

North America

Grave Location:

Jim Reeves Memorial

Grave Location Description

From downtown Carthage, Texas drive 3.0 miles east on Highway 79, looking for the small sign on your right that indicates you have arrived. Jim is buried below the large statue and his trusty dog Cheyenne is buried directly behind the legendary Nashville country artist.