James Edgar Spruill (June 9, 1934 – February 3, 1996),[1][2] also known as Wild Jimmy Spruill, was an American New York based sessionguitarist, whose guitar solos featured on many rhythm and blues and pophits of the 1950s and 1960s.
Spruill was a showman, known for playing guitar with his teeth.[3] His sound was unconventional, notable for its hard attack and sense of freedom, unexpectedly going from assertive lead parts to rhythmically dynamic, scratching rhythms. Among his most interesting solo records is "Hard Grind" (Fire 1006), which was originally issued as the B-side to "Kansas City March". Other solo sides include "Cut and Dried", "Scratchin' Twist", and "Slow Draggin".
Later life and death
Spruill formed an East Coast nightclub trio in the mid-1960s, with singer Tommy Knight and drummer Popsy Dixon (now with The Holmes Brothers).[4] In the 1970s and 1980s, he worked as an interior decorator in New York City, working occasional music gigs when the opportunity arose, and made, at least, one European tour with guitarist/singer Larry Dale and pianist/singer Bob Gaddy; whose older records he had played on. He died in February 1996 from a heart attack while traveling on a bus from Florida, where he had been visiting his family and saxophonist Noble "Thin Man" Watts, back to his home in The Bronx. He was 61 years old.[2][6]