Dean Poling
VALDOSTA — Many Valdostans remember the essence of J.J. Jennings’ stage presence from his later years at The Tavern and other area venues.
Fronting his J.J. Jennings Band with his bass guitar, Jennings was a tall man, a big man, an older man, white-haired with thick, white sideburns and a mustache. He often wore a cowboy hat and cowboy boots on stage, along with a white shirt. He wore sunglasses even in the darkest of nightclubs.
Yet, some Valdostans remember a younger J.J. Jennings as pure energy on stage, a man who not only knew almost any song the audience requested but usually remembered the names of as many audience members he’d previously met.
“In his younger days, when he had the energy, and we’re talking about when he was in his 40s then, James would put out as much energy as a tennis champ,” said Sam Greneker, a Valdosta attorney and musician who once regularly performed in the J.J. Jennings Band.
This past Saturday, J.J. Jennings died at the age of 71 at his residence. Funeral services were held Tuesday in the chapel of the Carson McLane Funeral Home.
“In his day, James was a great influence on a lot of young musicians around town,” said Jerry Newman, a Valdosta musician with the one-time band Montana, who played with Jennings on occasion through the years. Though known as J.J., many musicians referred to him as James.
“He was a fabulous entertainer,” Newman said. “If you walked in and said, ‘Hey, James, can you play this song,’ he would probably know it. If he didn’t know all of it, he at least would play some of it.”
“He was the best of the best as an entertainer,” said Randall McClellan, a long-time Valdosta musician who had performed with Jennings in the past. “He was like a show in himself. He knew all the songs. He was easy to play along with. ... He was a fan of Elvis Presley, but he could go back and perform songs from the ’30s and ’40s, or whatever was currently the hit songs. He was very versatile.”
Jennings was an early Elvis impersonator. Shortly after Presley’s death, Jennings created a memorial show. Jennings wore an Elvis jumpsuit and a pompadour Presley wig then he sang like Presley.
Greneker joined Jennings as a musician first in the South Georgia Elvis tribute shows. Greneker had met the local singer years earlier through Jennings’ other passion: coaching sports.
Jennings coached Greneker’s little league team. Jennings also coached at the Naylor School and Lowndes Junior High School. He and his father, F.T. “Pappy” Jennings, started the Valdosta Boys Club athletics program. Jennings reportedly played high school football. A knee injury reportedly ended J.J. Jennings’ football career, Greneker said.
The knee injury didn’t slow him on stage.
“He’d put on a heck of a show,” Greneker said. “He’d sell places out all over the Midwest. He’d have people screaming and clapping all the time.”
In addition to the Elvis band, Greneker and his guitar joined Jennings for a stint in Nashville, Tenn., writing songs and performing, as well as two years in Danville, Ill.
Together, Jennings and Greneker wrote some of the lyrics to a novelty song called “Pardon Me, Ray” based on Tennessee Gov. Ray Blanton and a scheme to sell pardons. The song was a regional hit in Tennessee, selling about 100,000 copies, Greneker said.
“He was loyal like a brother,” Greneker said Monday of Jennings. “He could have picked a much better guitar player than I was at the time, but he kept me working.”
Had Jennings gone to Nashville 15 years earlier, in his late 20s rather than his early 40s, Greneker believes J.J. Jennings would have been a major star.
Jennings had a supporting role in the Jaime Lee Curtis film “As Summers Die.” He played a guard in the movie filmed in Valdosta.
“He was just larger than life,” Greneker said, “larger than his own life.”
Jennings returned to South Georgia and played area venues. Health concerns curtailed his performances, and he quit regularly playing in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, a radio station mistakenly reported that Jennings had died.
The rumor stuck and this newspaper mistakenly referred to him as the late J.J. Jennings a few years ago. Jennings reportedly found the exaggerated rumors of his death amusing.
Last month, several people saw J.J. Jennings listening to the music and socializing at the Brown Bag concerts on the Lowndes County Courthouse square. In the early 1990s, he once regularly played the Brown Bag concerts.
“There was a time when he had played with about everybody, everywhere, around here,” McClellan said.
