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Minnesota Music Legend

Marsha James

   James Samuel Harris Sr. loves to play the blues. Born in Chicago in
   1927, Harris moved to St. Paul, Minnesota as a teenager and lived with
   his grandparents who introduced him to music.

   "My grandparents decided I should have some culture and music was the
   culture they thought I should have," he says.

   Harris says country western music was an early influence - Hank
   Williams Sr. and Gene Autry were among his favorites. Harris says
   Catholic nuns first taught him to play the piano.

   "If you hit the wrong note, the nuns would hit you with a ruler. I
   said, 'Oh, no, I don't need that,' so I started skipping lessons. I
   started then playing by listening to music, and I gradually learned how
   to read a little music and then I taught myself how to blend the two
   things in order to get a song to go out of me."

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