From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Jul 16, 2002  7:45 pm
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Peppermint Harris
 
PEPPERMINT HARRIS

Born Harrison D. Nelson, Jr., 17 July 1925, Texarkana, Texas
Died 19 March 1999, Elizabeth, New Jersey

Vocalist / guitarist.
By the time he was in his early 20s, Harrison Nelson was lucky enough
to have found a mentor and friend on the Houston blues front: Lightnin'
Hopkins took an interest in the young man's musical development. When
Harris was deemed ready, Lightnin' accompanied him to Houston's Gold
Star Records. Nothing came of that jaunt, but Harris eventually recorded
his debut 78 for the company in 1948 (as Peppermint Nelson).
Bob Shad's Sittin' in With label was the vehicle that supplied Harris's
early work to the masses - especially his first major hit, "Raining in My
Heart," in 1950 (# 4 R&B). These weren't exactly formal sessions - legend
has it one took place in a Houston bordello! Harris moved over to Eddie
Mesner's Aladdin Records in 1951, cutting far tighter sides for the firm
in Los Angeles (often with the ubiquitous Maxwell Davis serving as
bandleader and saxist). After "I Got Loaded" topped the R&B charts in
1951, Harris indulged in one booze ode after another: "Have Another
Drink and Talk to Me," "Right Back On It," "Three Sheets in the Wind".
But try as they might, the bottle let Harris down as a lyrical launching
pad after that.
He drifted from Money and Cash to RCA's short-lived subsidiary "X" and
Don Robey's Duke logo (where he allegedly penned "As the Years Go
Passing By" for Fenton Robinson) after that, but it wasn't until a long-lasting
association with Stan Lewis's Shreveport-based Jewel Records commenced
in 1965 that Harris landed for longer than a solitary single. The UK label
Westside has recently reissued these Jewel recordings.
Later, Harris worked various day jobs around Houston, including one at a
record pressing plant, before retiring to Sacramento, CA. In 1995 he was
brought back in the studio for a final album, Texas On My Mind, produced
by Roy C. Ames.

CD: I Got Loaded : 30 Blues Classics. Blues City (?) BCCD 815.