Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs, and Salvation of Cornbread Harris

Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs, and Salvation of Cornbread Harris

Andrea Swensson

Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2024

200 pages; cloth/jacket, 50 b&w illustrations, $22.95

 

Andrea Swensson’s Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs, and Salvation of Cornbread Harris is a biography of James Samuel Harris II (Cornbread Harris) and his nearly eighty-year presence in the Twin Cities’ music scene. The new book covers the musician’s long life—punctuated by his songs—and emphasizes his dramatic reconciliation with his son, James Harris III (Jimmy Jam), after a fifty-year estrangement.

Swensson weaves together three segments: biographical information, a memoir of her 100+ interviews with the musician, and Harris’s noteworthy contributions to the development and evolution of the legendary Minneapolis Sound—a distinctive subgenre of music built upon the mid-twentieth-century creativity of early Black Minnesota musicians that eventually skyrocketed Prince and André Cymone to fame in the late 1970s, along with many other diverse musicians and bands into the ’80s.[1]

Harris was born in Chicago, orphaned at three, bounced around foster homes, eventually adopted by grandparents at eleven, and educated in St. Paul. He attended St. Bernard’s grade school and Washington, Mechanic Arts, and Cretin high schools. He notes his schooling taught him about “religion, music and racial discrimination.”[2]

Harris lived in St. Paul’s Como neighborhood in a house his grandfather purchased, despite racial covenants forbidding sale to African Americans. As an adult, he worked at American Hoist & Derrick, the South St. Paul stockyards, and at other businesses to earn a living for his family. But his true work—his true love—was music.

Harris began playing piano for others in a World War II army dayroom (recreation center). Soon, he was performing with other Twin City musicians—blues, jazz, swing, rock and roll, and polka. He was even in the Augie Garcia band that recorded what is considered to be Minnesota’s first rock and roll hit: “Hi Yo Silver,” a modification of an earlier song Harris had written. The bluesy, jazzy but musically eclectic piano and keyboard artist and songwriter performed mostly in and around Minneapolis—but often at the expense of his family life. Harris is now ninety-seven and has slowed down a bit, although you’ll still see him at Palmer’s Bar on Minneapolis’s West Bank as he happily takes requests from the audience.[3]

Perhaps, the book could be titled, “Tuesdays with Cornbread,” as it is also the story of Swensson’s meticulous work documenting Harris’s life story. She researched and met weekly with the musician over multiple years. Swensson burrowed into archives, uncovering old photos and articles to share with Harris, helping him recall memories, lessons, and reflections. Through this process, Harris and Swensson developed a close, trusting relationship which segued into an easy, friendly flow of almost 200 pages of anecdotes, adding warmth and familiarity to dates and facts.

Swensson also played a role in bringing the Harris father and son back together—an intense highlight of this life story. It seems like “Salvation” in the book’s title refers more to this emotional reconciliation than to the strong religious commitment Harris developed later in life.

It’s important to note here that Swensson previously authored the award-winning book, Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound (2017). In her new book, she documents how Harris’s musical career influenced other local artists—especially Jimmy Jam—as they developed that sound together. The author also points out that while Harris was a critical early influence in the development of the Minneapolis Sound, this musical movement coincidentally and unfortunately tended to sideline some older Black musicians.

Swensson’s book should appeal to folks with an interest in local history and local music. It is an opportunity to “meet” through words on a page a warm and engaging musician who deserves the attention. As a bonus, on Thursday, September 12, 2024, Ramsey County Historical Society and Jazz88 will present a conversation and book signing with Swennson—with an appearance by Harris at Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul from 7 to 8:30 pm. To learn more and order tickets, click here.

Thomas J. Eggum is a lifelong St. Paul resident and a former St. Paul public works director/city engineer. He was board chair of Public Art Saint Paul and Eureka Recycling and is a past state president and past national director for the American Society of Civil Engineers. Eggum has a deep appreciation for music, although he himself is not a musician. Personally, he can play three chords—clumsily—on the guitar.

 NOTES

[1] The Minneapolis Sound, documentary Twin Cities PBS, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW1tmB0aU9k; “Rise of the Minneapolis Sound,” KARE 11 interview with Andrea Swensson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLxzIdoR1S0; Tony Kiene, “André Cymone to rekindle timeless funk in new music,” Spokesman Recorder, June 27, 2024, https://spokesman-recorder.com/2024/06/27/andre-cymone-resurrection-funk/.

[2] Andrea Swensson, Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs, and Salvation of Cornbread Harris (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press), 2024, 22.

[3] “Cornbread Harris,” July/August 2024 calendar, Palmer’s Bar website, https://palmers-bar.com/?view=calendar&month=07-2024.