[1][2] Jim Booker was born into a musical family in Camp Nelson in Jessamine County, Kentucky.
Richard Nevins, a 78 rpm record collector and owner of the 78 reissue label, Yazoo Records, has conducted research suggesting that the Booker family were a direct source of repertoire for several later Kentucky fiddle players, including John Masters, Pretzel Broyle, and Clarence Skirvin.
[3] By early 1927, Booker had become acquainted with the white Kentuckian entrepreneur, Dennis W. Taylor, who between 1925 and 1931, acted as a scout, manager and booking agent for around one-hundred old-time musicians, mostly from Kentucky.
[2] While these records are believed to be the first commercial 'integrated' records featuring both black and white musicians playing alongside each other, Booker was excluded from promotional photography: Taylor, who could not play any instrument, posed with a fiddle in Booker's place, alongside the white musicians, Marion Underwood (banjo), and Willie Young (guitar).
Booker also played fiddle on several song recordings which were released with 'Marion Underwood & Sam Harris' and 'Aulton Ray' as the named musical artists.