If Gadsden native Jim Connor hadn’t bothered to clean out a guitar case before selling it, his classic song “Grandma’s Feather Bed,” made popular by John Denver, never would have been recorded. Connor who lives on Sand Mountain, said the song began as a letter that was a poem to his grandmother, who operated a boarding house in the Woodlawn area of Birmingham. As a child, Connor would visit there, spending time with his eight cousins. Personally, I’m very thankful for this song. This tune takes me back to my childhood. We sang it in chorus and my aunt would play it every Christmas, the whole family would chime in. The song “Grandma’s Feather Bed” was written by banjoist Jim Connor, who played in the New Kingston Trio, based on a verse he wrote for his grandmother. Denver first heard Connor playing the song in 1968. Connor played on Denver’s recording, and toured with the singer. Jim started out as “Richard and Jim” in the old Lowenbrau Haus (later, just Lowenbrau) It was a nightclub located at 2920½ 18th Street South, in the basement of the present-day Savages Bakery in Homewood. It operated from the 1960s to the early 1980s.
See this video to understand Jim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTuFBwuEiUQ