HIS great-grandad Ernest played in the FA Cup winning Huddersfield Town side of 1922.

Inside-forward Ernie contributed to the club gaining promotion from the Second Division in 1919–20, played in the 1920 FA Cup Final and again in 1922, this time on the winning side. He was the club’s leading League scorer in 1921–22 and during his Town career netted 52 goals in 172 appearances.

But while Jimmy is a dedicated Terriers fan himself, it’s music that fires the spirit of the rising folk star.

The former Shelley High School pupil plays aggressive but heartfelt music which he describes as ‘influenced by the post-industrial towns of his homeland.’

The 30-year-old has played in a number of punk DIY bands, including with Hot Water Music frontman Chuck Ragan.

And his links with the American have now sparked a new solo career after he was invited to perform on Ragan’s revival tour last year.

“I’ve been friends with Chuck for a long time,” said Jimmy.

“I actually met him when he offered me a drink in a bar in Gainesville, Florida. I said ‘no’ because I was wearing a wrist band saying I was under 21.

“Chuck took a knife from his sock – he was a joiner at the time – and cut my wristband off.

“That happened around 2001 and we’ve remained friends. Since then I have arranged a lot of concerts over here for him or his band Hot Water Music.

“Chuck has been very supportive of me and suggested we do a record together which was amazing news for me and has really kick-started my solo career.

“One day after staying at my house whilst he was on tour with Frank Turner, Chuck left me a microphone with a note saying ‘record some stuff and send it to me.’

“I did and we have since made a record together.

“I went to his Manchester gig just to say ‘hi’, and he said ‘come tomorrow night you can play’, which was pretty amazing as there were some high profile people on the tour from well known bands like Bryan Fallon from The Gaslight Anthem.

“I turned up in Nottingham and at first I thought he’d forgotten because he was quite drunk at the Manchester gig, but then he said to get sound checking with The Gaslight Anthem guy.

“It was quite nerve wracking. I played to 2,000 people at that gig (Rock City) and then he invited me down to the London one too.

“It was really kind of him and I really enjoyed it.”

In between those two ‘mega-gigs’ Jimmy had another enjoyable experience at the more humble surroundings of Huddersfield’s own Little Buddah Bar.

He said: “It was quite surprising as at that gig there were some people who’d been to the Nottingham gig who had Chuck’s record.

“I wasn’t expecting it but they knew the three songs from the record and they sang along. I couldn’t believe it.”

Having been in a band for so long Jimmy said he was looking forward to the new chapter in his musical career.

“I’ve only been performing on my own for about a year simply because the other members of the band I was with, The Magnificent, couldn’t tour as much as I could.

“So I just started doing the gigs on my own and it just grew from that.

“I ended up doing 90% of the live stuff and after hooking up with Chuck and doing his revival tour gigs last year I thought more people would come and see me on my own.

“I’m hopeful it will go well.

“I went from playing a year ago to no-one or a handful of people, to my last gig of the year which was supporting Chuck at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in front of 3,000 people.

“It was rapid progress and now I’m starting off the year with a pretty long tour.

“I’ve done a record with Chuck recently so I’m going to be promoting that and hopefully I’ll do an album and get someone quite decent to put it out.”

Jimmy is now set to embark on a two-week UK and European tour with German artist Digger Barnes and he has plans to tour America later this year.

Jimmy’s four-way split album with Chuck Ragan, Sam Russo and Helen Chambers is available on Specialist Subject Records.

The tour arrives at Leeds pub The Fox and Newt on January 27 and Manchester’s The Garratt on January 28.