The Records’ Jamie Rounds Leaves Us

An extremely talented musician who excelled on several musical genres, powerpop fans (and LA pop fans particularly) got to know Jamie Rounds as the guitarist for The Records. While the line-up was to be only temporary, it was a testament to Jamie’s talent that John Wicks and Clem Burke, both powerpop legends and members of this Records line-up, saw Jamie as a peer and tremendous musical asset.

Jon Rounds, Jamie’s brother, sent an obit to Penn Stater Magazine. Here’s an excerpt:

“Jamie had a unique ability to make any group better. He could hear harmony parts and distribute them to the right people. He could establish the rhythm and feel of a piece with his guitar or bass playing. As his lifelong friend, Rod Deck, puts it: “In all settings, whether with high school or college garage bands, a group of friends or relatives sitting around a living room with assorted guitars, or onstage at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Jamie would be the engine that drove the performance.” He infused any group and any session with energy and joy. He made the music come alive. He made everyone better.”

Also from Jon’s obit, I’d like to include this, the final paragraph, as I feel it is particular important that it be said:

“Jamie left an empty place in my heart that I do not know how to fill. I know others felt the same way about him, and with the support of his many friends and my family, I’m finding it a little easier each day to deal with his memory. As you all know, Jamie took his own life, and one of the most troubling and heartbreaking things about this act was that he gave not one of us—even those who were in close contact with him right up until the end—any hint it was coming. In retrospect, we can speculate about issues of his health and his situation that must have contributed to a depression and hopelessness that became overwhelming. And so this next is a very, very difficult thing for me to say publicly, but I feel it must be said in case anyone reading this ever has a notion to do what Jamie did: I cannot respect the decision he made to take his own life and I cannot participate in any gesture that validates or glorifies it. Help is out there in the world and you can ask for it. Love is out there in the world and you can ask for that too. If you don’t, you leave us helpless.”

Jamie’s family and friends are in our prayers.

Here’s Jamie with The Records at The Knitting Factory, LA: