Bossmen: Bill Monroe & Muddy Waters
James Rooney has been involved in music ever since he first appeared on the WCOP "Hayloft Jamboree" as a teenager in Boston in 1954. He has been a musical partner of banjoist Bill Keith for over fifty years and played an important part in the folk revival of the ‘60’s, managing the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge, Mass, and then becoming a Director of and the talent coordinator for the Newport Folk Festival. In 1970 Jim moved to Woodstock, NY, where he managed the Bearsville Sound Studios for Albert Grossman and was a member of The Woodstock Mountains Revue. Since 1976 Jim has worked in Nashville, TN as a musician, songwriter, recording engineer, Grammy-winning record producer and partner in a successful music publishing company, Forerunner Music. Jim is best known for his record production with Nanci Griffith, John Prine, Iris Dement, Hal Ketchum, Tom Paxton, Tom Rush, and Peter Rowan. In 2009 he received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Americana Music Association for his work as an engineer/producer. In addition to Bossmen Jim also co-wrote Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years with Eric Von Schmidt. (Univ. of Massachusetts Press)