Jimmy Lawton "I'm Country" (Killroy Records, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Bobbejaan Schoepen & Jimmy Lawton)
On his first album, Jimmy Lawton mixed country covers with several originals, notably three tunes co-written by Lawton and his patron Bobbejaan Schoepen, two by Lawton, and Schoepen's "Banjo Man," as well as several classics. Lawton is backed by several European country pickers, including gal singer-fiddler Jacqueline Rabitsky and Claude Rabitski on a number of unlikely instruments (trumpet, saxophone, flugelhorn and trombone...) Apparently, the arrangement worked pretty well, though: Jimmy Lawton stayed in Europe and became a successful recording artist.
Jimmy Lawton "Arizona Sunday" (Westwood Recordings, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Gordon Davies, Jack Jackson & Will van der Steen)
Though released both in the Netherlands and on the country-oriented, UK-based Westwood label... Sadly, though, neither version tells us anything about the musicians backing Lawton for this set. Producer Will van der Steen produced a number of albums by European country artists, including several by Jack Jersey, and possibly he had a stable of musicians working for him who are on this album... there's just no way of knowing. There is a wealth of original material on here, though, including four songs credited to Jack Lawton -- "Drivin' Me Out Of My Mind," "Since You've Gone," "Where Is The Love" and "Your Sweet Love," There are also crowd-pleasing classics like "Lonely Weekends," "Streets Of Baltimore" and "Rocky Top," as well as a few more contemporary countrypolitan covers. Groovy shirt, too!
Jimmy Lawton "Oklahoma Square" (Polydor Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Jimmy Lawton & Ad Messeurs)
Jimmy Lawton "Call On Him" (Pilgrim Records, 1983) (LP)
(Produced by John Pac & Ton Messeurs)
An all-gospel set, also released in Holland, with help from co-producer/steel guitarist Ton Messeurs, longtime leader of the band Tumbleweeds. The main band included Stewart Barnes on lead guitar, Benny Bollen (drums), Karel D'Heans (bass), Ton Masseur (steel guitar), Bobby Setter (piano) and Jimmy Lawton singing lead, with a small chorus behind him, including John Gosselaar, Marieke Gosselaar, Arjan Knevel, Efi Knevel, who were in a European gospel group called The Lightbearers, which put out several albums in the '70s and '80s.
Jimmy Lawton "Jimmy Lawton" (Killroy Records, 1985) (LP)
(Produced by Karel De Greef & Tom Masseurs)
Lawton is backed on this album by a short-lived Dutch twangband called Buntline, whose members -- guitarist-producer Karel De Greef, Joost Egmond, Theo Heldoorn and Ger Romunde -- were rock and jazz players who went through a brief country phase in the mid-1980s. Steel player and studio owner Tom Masseurs and Karel De Greef had previously worked together producing the first album by the band West Virginian Railroad, and seem to have recorded this album at the same time as their own debut.
Jimmy Lawton "Flame Of Love" (Sabam Music, 1991) (LP)
American-born country singer and multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Lawton (aka Jimmy Degraw, 1939-2017) was born in Oklahoma and raised in West Texas, moving out to Santa Monica, California in the early 1960s, where he found work playing local clubs as well as some gigs up in the Las Vegas hotels. He found his true calling in Europe -- Belgium, to be precise -- where a 1973 gig at an amusement park run by Belgian impresario Bobbejaan Schoepen (1925-2010) inspired Lawton to emigrate to Europe. There he released the albums below and worked as the country-picker-in-residence at Bobbejaanland throughout the rest of the 'Seventies and 'Eighties. Here's a quick look at Lawton's career...
