Rooney was a pioneer in the genre that would come to be labeled as Americana.[2] He began his career in the Boston area during the early 1960s and served as director and talent coordinator for the Newport Folk Festival.[1] He moved to Woodstock, N.Y., in the early 1970s to manage Albert Grossman's Bearsville Sound Studio. After moving to Nashville, Rooney released a series of solo albums and produced projects by Townes Van Zandt, Hal Ketchum, Bonnie Raitt and others.[1]
Says Griffith, "Jim Rooney is the number one reason I have a career. He gave me confidence in my writing, inspiration to write, and handed me the want ads to look for an apartment in Nashville."[3]
Rooney graduated from Amherst College in 1960 and later obtained a master's degree in classical literature from Harvard University.[2] He and his wife, Carol Langstaff, divide their time between Nashville, Vermont, and County Galway, Ireland.[2]
Rooney is the author of Bossmen: Bill Monroe and Muddy Waters (1971; reissued 2012), and an autobiography, In It for the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey (2014). He is also the coauthor, with Eric von Schmidt, of Baby Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated History of the Cambridge Folk Years (1979; reissued 1994).
