Jimmy LaFave

While living in Stillwater, LaFave and a loose collection of songwriters at a local venue known as "the farm" began developing a sound that would later become known as "red dirt music".[4] During that time, LaFave met Bob Childers and produced his first record.[4] Mixing blues, jazz, and country influences he began writing songs inspired by[3] J. J. Cale, Chet Baker, Bob Dylan and Leon Russell.[5][6] Sometime after Childers' death in 2008, a one-day singer-songwriter festival called Bob Childers' Gypsy Café became an annual event in Stillwater. The festival is a fundraiser for the non-profit Red Dirt Relief Fund. On April 26, 2017, during the festival, LaFave was the inaugural recipient of the Restless Spirit Award – an award whose name comes from a Childers' song.[7]

After traveling to several other cities, LaFave relocated to Austin, Texas.[8]

In 1992 La Fave signed with Colorado-based Bohemia Beat Records and recorded his debut album, Austin Skyline, which included four Bob Dylan songs[3] and consisted of live performances and recordings from four Austin, Texas live music venues including La Zona Rosa and Chicago House. That 4th album was followed by Highway Trance in 1994 and Buffalo Return to the Plains in 1995. Between 1997 and 2001, LaFave released three more albums on the label including the 1999 double CD Trail, which was a 15-year retrospective of live performances and studio outtakes.[9] In December 1995, LaFave won the Songwriter of the Year Award at the Kerrville Folk Festival and in March 1996 received the same honor at the Austin Music Awards sponsored by The Austin Chronicle.[10] LaFave gained nationwide exposure in 1996 through his appearance on the PBS music show Austin City Limits when he was paired with Lisa Loeb for an evening of "acoustic ballads and electrified folk-rock numbers".[11] In 1996, LaFave made an appearance at a tribute to Woody Guthrie held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the invitation of Guthrie's daughter.[12][13]

In 1998, LaFave began attending the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festivals held in Guthrie's hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma and in 2007 became a member of the Woody Guthrie Coalition that organizes the festival.[14][15] LaFave says Woody Guthrie is his musical hero[16] and pays homage to him in the song "Woody Guthrie" on the Texoma album.[17] Album reviewers described it as "reminiscent of the Dust Bowl heritage of Woody Guthrie, the early rock of Chuck Berry, the quiet folk reflections of Bob Dylan, and the rock anthems of Bruce Springsteen"[18] and "honest, thoughtful and sincere" music.[15] LaFave's "red dirt music" sound has been described as a mix of rock, folk, rockabilly, and country, grounded in the landscape of Texas and Oklahoma and can be heard on this album.[9]

Jimmy LaFave and friends at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma, July 2005

In 2003, LaFave produced a Woody Guthrie tribute show called Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway. The ensemble show toured around the country and included a rotating cast of singer-songwriters individually performing Guthrie's songs. Interspersed between songs were Guthrie's philosophical writings read by a narrator. In addition to LaFave, members of the rotating cast included Ellis Paul, Slaid Cleaves, Eliza Gilkyson, Joel Rafael, husband-wife duo Sarah Lee Guthrie (Woody Guthrie's granddaughter) and Johnny Irion, Michael Fracasso, and The Burns Sisters. The Godfather of Red Dirt Music Bob Childers, also known as "the Dylan of the Dust,"[19] served as narrator.[20] When word spread about the tour, performers began contacting LaFave, whose only prerequisite was to have an inspirational connection to Guthrie. Each artist chose the Guthrie songs that he or she would perform as part of the tribute. One of the songs Gilkyson chose was "Pastures of Plenty", while Cleaves chose "This Morning I Am Born Again" – a song he wrote using Guthrie's lyrics. One of the songs Paul chose was a song he wrote using Guthrie's lyrics – "God's Promise".[21] LaFave said, "It works because all the performers are Guthrie enthusiasts in some form".[22] The Ribbon of Highway tour kicked off on February 5, 2003, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The abbreviated show was a featured segment of "Nashville Sings Woody," yet another tribute concert to commemorate the music of Woody Guthrie held during the Folk Alliance Conference. The cast of "Nashville Sings Woody," a benefit for the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives, also included Arlo Guthrie, Marty Stuart, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Janis Ian, and others.[23] Also in 2007 at Nora Guthrie's invitation, LaFave spoke and performed at Woody Guthrie's induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.[1]

LaFave left Bohemia Beat for Red House Records and released his 2005 album Blue Nightfall which one reviewer called his "best work yet" and "a great introduction to an important artist".[24] LaFave's second release for Red House Records was the 2007 album Cimarron Manifesto[25] which went to No. 1 on the Americana Music Association chart.[26] In his review of LaFave's Cimarron Manifesto (2007) for the FolkWax E-Zine, Arthur Wood calls LaFave "one of the finest Dylan interpreters ever.[27] In the same period he collaborated with Zucchero Fornaciari, who covered LaFave's "Never Is A Moment" on his album La Sesión Cubana. Two years later LaFave was one of the guests of the Americana Tour with the Italian bluesman.

LaFave's 14th release, Depending on the Distance, was released on September 18, 2012. Backing musicians include Austin's Eliza Gilkyson and John Inmon.[28] The 13-track release includes three Dylan covers, including a version of "Red River Shore" that runs more than nine minutes. In her review for The Oklahoman, Brandy McDonnell said: "Jimmy LaFave’s first studio album in five years, lives up to the intriguing promise of its title, finding the Oklahoma-Texas troubadour in a contemplative mood whether he is crooning his new original songs, covering an ’80s pop smash or reinterpreting anthems penned by Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen."[29]

In 2015, LaFave released The Night Tribe. A review of the release in No Depression stated that LaFave "delivers 11 exquisitely crafted self-penned songs and re-interprets two Americana masterpieces; barely making them recognizable as they become Jimmy LaFave songs."[30]