Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, producer, and songwriter, who plays

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

History

Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in

Ashland, Kentucky Ashland is a home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The largest city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon a southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio and near West Virginia. The population was 21,6 ...

, grew up in

Fairborn, Ohio Fairborn is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 34,620 at the 2020 census. Fairborn is a suburb of Dayton, and part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the only city in the world named Fairborn, a ...

and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the popular bluegrass group, The Sloas Brothers. His older brother, David, served as

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta ...

's lead guitarist from the early 1980s until her death. In 1982, Sloas co-founded, with singer-songwriter

Robert White Johnson Robert White Johnson is an American songwriter and musician, based on Nashville, best known for co-writing "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", which was a major hit for Celine Dion.Rick MooreNashville Songwriter Series: Robert White Johnson ''America ...

, the

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orien ...

band RPM. The band released two albums between 1982 and 1984, with the albums produced by Brent Maher and

Gary Langan Gary Michael Langan (born 19 April 1956) is an English engineer, record producer, mixer and musician. Biography His career started at age 18 when he worked as an assistant engineer at Sarm East Studios, learning the craft from Gary Lyons and M ...

, respectively. From 1986 to 1990, Sloas was a member of the

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

vocal band

The Imperials The Imperials are an American Christian music group that has been active for over 55 years. Originating as a southern gospel quartet, the innovative group would become pioneers of contemporary Christian music in the 1960s. There have been many ...

(as lead singer and sometimes bass player). He holds several session musician and production credits, primarily in

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

& contemporary Christian music with artists such as

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single " Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bil ...

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an Australian-American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Award ...

Carman In Celtic mythology, Carman or Carmun was a warrior and sorceress from Athens who tried to invade Ireland in the days of the Tuatha Dé Danann, along with her three sons, Dub ("black"), Dother ("evil") and Dian ("violence"). She used her magica ...

LeAnn Rimes Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at age 13 with 1996's "Blue". She has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Chri ...

Kellie Pickler Kellie Dawn Pickler (born June 28, 1986) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television personality. Pickler gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of ''American Idol'' and finished in sixth place. In 2006, she signed ...

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed " the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 single ...

, PFR,

Switchfoot Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboards, ...

, and

Jessica Simpson Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10, 1980) is an American singer, actress, entrepreneur and philanthropist. After performing in church choirs as a child, Simpson signed with Columbia Records in 1997, aged seventeen. Her debut studio album, ''Swee ...

. In 1996, he co-founded the group Dogs of Peace with former Whiteheart guitarist Gordon Kennedy. Sloas also recorded with the heavy metal band

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...

on their album '' The System Has Failed''. He was nominated for Top Bass Player of the Year in the 2006, 2008, and 2009

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country musi ...

awards. Sloas is co-producer, with

Bob Ezrin Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin's car ...

, of the artist

Christian Kane Christian Kane (born Christopher Michael Short) is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He is known for his roles in the television shows ''Angel'', '' Leverage'', '' The Librarians'', and '' Into the West'', and the movies '' Just Married'', ...

for Bigger Picture Group, at Anarchy Studios in Nashville.

References

American country bass guitarists American heavy metal bass guitarists Living people People from Fairborn, Ohio Year of birth missing (living people) American male bass guitarists Guitarists from Ohio Country musicians from Ohio {{US-bass-guitarist-stub