While living in Southern California, (Jimmy and his family were  living in Encinitas, CA, near my home in Del Mar, CA) I asked Jimmy to be best man at my wedding.  As you can see from the picture of Jimmy and I together taken after the wedding, he wore a short leather jacket and tucked his tie into his belt which I think is an old Scottish way of keeping Your tie from blowing in your face. 

   The night before the wedding, Jimmy took our wedding party out to dinner at a place like a Bennhihana in San Diego.  He tried to get me drunk as is the usual Scottish tradition to do for the groom before the wedding.
     I remember we had quite a drive home that night, and it was lucky that  we were not pulled over or we both would not have made it to the wedding.

     I first met Jimmy through extraordinary circumstances: I had just moved to England from the Haight-Ashbury
Christmas of 1979, having met Robin with Procol in San Francisco in 1968. After 5 months living with friends in
Portobello Road (muso's alley) I found a flat in Barnes, just over Hammersmith Bridge. 
    Shortly after I moved there, I waltzed around the corner on a Sunday morning to get the paper from the newsagent's and some eggs from the dairy (that was when Sundays were Sundays....EVERYTHING was closed...only the dairy and the newsagents were open, and then only from 8 to 10 am).
A car screeched to a halt behind me amidst mad honking of horns on this quiet, idyllic Sunday morning. I turned around to see who was causing all this racket and there was Robin and his manager at the time, Ronnie Lyons, beaming huge smiles.
    Robin was mixing his first album, Twice Removed from Yesterday, and it was decided then and there I would do the cover. I was introduced to Jimmy (I already knew Reggie, the drummer...he used to rehearse in the basement of the house in Portobello Road with a band called Quiver) in the control room and sat and listened to his incredible vocals. I reckon there have been three great, classic rock voices from England: Paul Rogers, Gary Brooker, and Jimmy Dewar ....with Robert Plant and Roger Daltry close behind. But Jimmy's definitely one of the three kings.
    I was blown away with his voice....Robin scored a bulls eye when he found Jimmy.
   In the course of doing covers for Robin in England, and dropping in on recording sessions, I got to know Jimmy a little better...but I really got to know him when I went on a tour of the midwest with Robin (doing a light show) and we were all thrown together. Jimmy was a delightful character....slightly built, but made of Scottish titanium and hard as nails if anyone ever crossed him or his friends.
    We were staying at a fancy hotel in Chicago just off the lake and went into the bar after the gig. There were two huge guys who looked like football linemen sitting at a small table and some contretemps or other developed between them and little Jimmy. I remember Jimmy leaned over to these two brutes and pretty much told them where they could shove the proverbial "it" and if they didn't like it, Jimmy would sort it out with them then and there. His fists were balled up and he meant business....and these guys knew it. The bartender broke it up before Jimmy wasted these two behemoths (and he would have done) and we were asked politely to leave to avoid further trouble.
   I was agape at this little fireball who was totally fearless ....the embodiment of the tough guys Joe Pesci is so good at portraying. Jimmy was not to be trifled with. A real tough cookie.
  I loved spending time with him because he had a very witty sense of humour and was always a delight to be with. Just before going on stage, he would wink and smile and say, "Right, let's go knock 'em dead!" and bound up on the stage ready to let fly. He threw everything into his singing and was riveting to watch. Robin smiled a lot when Jimmy was singing his heart out and Robin was tearing up the fretboard...I'm sure it's the happiest Robin has ever been on stage. Bill Lordan complemented the band perfectly and they were a real powerhouse. Jimmy had such a bluesey delivery that came from deep within the harsh, rough and ready environs of Glasgow. It was all there in Jimmy's voice and he belted it out with authority.
     Matthew Fisher took me over to Jimmy's house once (they lived near each other outside London) and I remember a huge three storey pile filled with kids....I think he had 37 of them, plus a stunning wife in charge of it all.
     He was quite the family man and loved his kids.
   Here's to you, Jimmy!
   Love, Funky Paul

My memories of him are sketchy. He was 10 years younger than my Dad and the two of them, although almost identical in facial features etc., could not be more different sort of people.
  My Dad was a teacher. I remember being taken by my Dad along with my Mum and sister to see Robin Trower at the Glasgow Apollo in 1975, John Miles was the support. My Dad, although obviously very proud of his kid bother, just could not handle the noise and more especially Robin's facial expressions! (laughs)
   As a kid, Jim was always great with me and great fun to be around. I remember being at a boy scout camp in London in 1979 and going to visit Jim in Croydon and meeting Bill Lordan. Happy days.

  Our tour bus pulled up to the concert hall and people were standing lined up around the building waiting to get in. Next to the hall was a hardware store where Jimmy and I went to get something he needed. When we passed through the crowd to get into the hardware store, no one recognized us and
Jimmy said "You see Big Yin.  When you're on the stage you're a big rock star, but when you're on the street , you're  just another creep in the crowd". 
 When the bus had pulled up and the people saw us through the windows, they all cheered. But when Jimmy and I got off the bus and were walking down the street, the same people who were cheering were quiet as we walked by. ( An insight to Jimmy Dewar's way of thinking and his observation). 

   My Mother died when I was only six, and I was brought up, or as they say in America, "raised", by an uncle.  I only tell you this because it is important to the story.  When I was nineteen years old, I started hanging around this bar in Glasgow called "Burn's Cottage", which is where I first met Jimmy.  The guitar player in the band that Jimmy played in was named Bill Simpson.  Bill, who was also a lovely guy, had this really cool Gibson 335.  Now I absolutely fell in love with the idea of owning one myself, so I had Jimmy talk to Bill, and the three of us set off to my house to try to talk my dear Uncle into buying me one.  Jimmy, God bless him, was trying so hard to sweet talk my Uncle (who was having enough trouble just putting food on the table) into buying this guitar for  me, extolling my talents, to telling him how fast I would improve with a good guitar etc. etc.  My dear old Uncle Hugh, who wouldn't have known the difference  between a Gibson 335 and a tennis racket, listened very patiently, never said a word until Jimmy and Bill left my house. Then he burst out laughing so hard, there were tears running down his face. Needless to say, I never got my guitar, but I never forgot Jimmy for giving it his best shot!!
 

Although I've racked my brains about this, I've not been able to come up with anything.  There are no particular incidents I remember about Jimmy.  He has a lovely droll, understated sense of humour and often said things I thought were incredibly funny, but I can't remember any of them word for
word.
   I seem to remember one of the roadies (Kenny?) recounting a story of a particularly aerobatic flight they were on (during which Reg Isadore turned various shades of green) which took place over Texas.  Apparently Jimmy made some remark
about expecting to see the pilot come out of the cockpit wearing a ten-gallon hat and spurs...

Matthew.

          While Jimmy was living in Encinitas, he was experiencing a period of personal spiritual growth.  He met a Christian friend of mine,  named Big John, who Jimmy especially took a liking to.  Big John  shared with Jimmy the Bible and invited him to a home Bible study at  his house.  Big John lived right down the street from Jimmy and his family.  As a result of the teaching and the study at Big John's,  Jimmy had a spiritual awakening and decided that the next step to take was to be baptized.  John decided to do the baptism in Jimmy's backyard pool.  We all gathered together around the pool as Big John took Jimmy in the pool and prayed with him before Jimmy was dipped into the water for the baptism. It was a happy and joyous occasion and his wife and kids were very happy for him and Jimmy was aglow.  This marked a period in Jimmy's life which signified clarity  and enthusiasm for his new found Christianity. 
 

   I used to go and see a band in my hometown of Glasgow Scotland...Big George and the Business.  They played, and still do, blues based rock. George, the guitar player , was very much the classic rocker on and offstage...influenced by the likes of Hendrix, Rory Gallagher and Robin Trower.
  I was talking to a few pals at one of the gigs one night (must have been around 1983) about Robin Trower and that I was more into Jimmy's singing than Robin's guitar playing.   They mentioned that Jimmy had been known to sit in with George on occasion and that in fact he had just walked in the door of the pub.... imagine my surprise!  He was the most non rock star  looking guy you could imagine....don’t think I'd ever seen a photo of him at that point....he just looked like your average Glasgow pub dweller.  It only became apparent when he got up to sing....
  Next thing I know, I'm on the road with the band doing small gigs around Scotland, working along with Jim Dewar junior.  After a while, the band was re-jigged to become a short lived outfit called ”Adults Only”  adding a keyboard player and playing a mixture of Jimmy and George's tunes and  blues and soul standards and the odd Trower tune..."Bridge of Sighs" and "Long Misty Days" were the ones I remember. I took a cassette machine to some of the gigs but these recordings are long since lost...in fact, I remember the machine 
being stolen with a freshly recorded gig still on the tape inside.  I was 
more upset about the tape than the machine.
  The set up didn't last long and George went back to being Big George and The Business and Jimmy began working with another guitar player called Alan Wheeler , but not a lot seemed to come of it as far as I remember.  Jimmy did come and play with George on a few more occasions after that...one night he brought a vintage 57 Strat with him and entrusted its safety to me “If  there's any bother in here tonight," he said “Never mind about us...make sure you get that guitar out of here”.  I also remember vividly carrying his huge by fifteen bass speaker cabinet (only one of the  four that he used to use on stage, still had RTB stencilled on the side) up and down various pub and club staircases.
    Alas, the only memento I have of the whole thing is a four track recording of a Judy Collins song called “My Father” which Jimmy and George recorded on a small cassette recorder in a flat in a high rise block in Glasgow. 
   I always remember him as a truly nice  guy.  He gave me my first ever rock’n’roll wage and made sure that I had got the right amount.
   Young Jim was just as good a singer as his Father, but he tragically died a few years back aged about 34...just a couple of years older than me I think.
   I was so sad to hear about his illness when George told me. He's been to visit him on a few occasions since and he says that although he seems to be totally withdrawn a lot of the time...the old Jimmy's wicked sense of humour still gets through.
   I must have a word with George and see if he has any memories, as he was great pals with Jimmy and I know Jimmy really rated him as a guitar player and songwriter.
  Hope this is all of interest to you...I really think Trower sites on the web  should give Jimmy a lot more credit for his contribution, both in writing and performance terms to the Robin Trower sound over all those years . 
Cheers
Richard Devlin
Glasgow

        The band was booked to play the Oakland Coliseum for Bill  Graham, The First Day on the Green.  Jimmy and I had suites on the top  floor of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco.  The limousines came to pick us up in the afternoon to take us to the stadium.  Jimmy and I  drove together to the stadium and he was in good spirits for the daytime concert.  When we arrived, we went to our private dressing rooms behind the stage that had our personalized nameplates on the doors.
     The bands that were on before us were; Gary Wright, FleetWood Mac, Dave Mason and Peter Frampton.  Jimmy and I went up to the stage to survey  the 60,000-plus crowd that was there.  Jimmy turned to me and made the  comment, "For fxxx sake.  Look at all the punters".  Jimmy used the  word "punters", because in England,  fans are referred to as "punters".
      Then he said to me, "Are you ready for this Big Yin?"  ("Big Yin" is  the nickname that Jimmy gave to me which is a Scottish way of saying `big one'), I said to Jimmy, "Nay bothah to the Big Yin."  It was my way of saying to Jimmy, "No problem, I can handle it."  Then we went  back to the dressing room and put on our stage clothes.
      As Jimmy and I came out over the stage, we walked across the  drawbridge with the British Guard standing there, as the British  Anthem played through the P.A. system.  Jimmy was in great voice that  day and played solid bass and when Robin introduced us to the crowd in the middle of the set, Jimmy turned to me as I took my bow and said, "Good one, Big Yin."
    When our set was over, I gave Jimmy a pat on the  back as we were going off stage.  Later that night we had a great  party with all the band members and friends at the Mark Hopkins Hotel and it was a wonderful way to end the Day On The Green.

   James Dewar is the best white rock and roll singer I have ever heard in my life! He turned me on to a lot of great music in the early days.
  There was this little bar in Glasgow called "Burns  Cottage", and I was just starting out playing  there five nights a week with a bar band playing  cover songs, top forty kind of thing. On a Saturday afternoon though, they had a band that  was drawing every good musician in town, bit of a jam session. This is where I met Jimmy, (this  would be around 1965 or so) who was playing  bass and doing some of the singing. Frankie
Miller was there, Maggie Bell was there, the late Leslie Harvey (both of whom later worked with Jimmy in a band called "Stone the Crows").
  We would all go to Jimmy's house after the gig and we would listen to all this great music, Solomon Burke, Brooke Benton, Bobby Bland. The guitars would always come out and we would  be singing away, man we had so much fun.
   Everybody was broke, but I tell you, I look back  at those days as some of the best of my life. I will always be grateful to Jimmy for all the help he offered me. 

Unfortunately, I only had the pleasure and honour of working with Jimmy Dewar on the Back It Up sessions. My  recollections are simply that he was a very humble and nice guy, and that when he opened his mouth to sing, pure
heaven came out. What a voice! And you are correct, he has never been given the recognition he deserves.