James Mark Manheim was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Martha and Michael Manheim. From age three, he grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where his father taught at the University of Toledo and his mother, later, at Siena Heights College, in Adrian, Michigan. He graduated from Ottawa Hills High School, where in addition to his academic excellence, he was captain of the chess team and lighting manager for theatrical performances.
Jim graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College, majoring in music. His senior thesis was about “The Point of Counterpoint in Late Mozart Piano Sonatas.” By then, however, he had already begun to develop his life-long passion for American music, especially the country music traditions of the south.
Jim moved to Chicago, then, a few years later, to the University of California at Berkeley, where he received an MA in musicology in 1987. Finding no doctoral sponsor who shared his interests, he moved to Nashville, to study his subject up close.
He came to Ann Arbor in 1988 when he heard a professor was advising dissertations in country music. This period of academic training yielded an article on the “Tennessee Waltz,” published in Musical Quarterly (1992) and a review of a University Press of New England book about heavy metal, published in American Music (1995). But while he enjoyed teaching and research, he chose not to pursue an academic career.
Most of Jim’s life from his early 30s onward was spent in Ann Arbor. He started his freelance writing career submitting entries on contemporary musicians to The Encyclopedia of World Biography, published by Thomas Gale. He also contributed to Gale’s Encyclopedia of Contemporary Black Biography, including the first reference book article ever written about Barack Obama.
He also made substantial contributions to Artists, Writers, and Musicians: An Encyclopedia of People who Changed the World (2001) and to The Great War to the Stock Market Crash: American History Through Biography and Primary Documents (2002). Jim did primary source research of a kind that is quickly vanishing. His articles for Gale took him to places like Essence Magazine and to local newspapers, and he not infrequently encountered his discoveries (and prose) in other online publications.
Jim worked as Publications Coordinator for the University of Michigan Museum (1996-99) and Assistant Editor for allmusic.com’s All Media Guide (1999-2005). For three decades, he contributed chatty, deeply informed arts reviews to the Ann Arbor Observer while cheerfully stepping into many other roles as needed, including Guides Editor, Deputy Editor, and Editor of the a2view enewsletter.
Other freelance work included many reviews of classical music albums to allmusic.com and marketing copy for The Ark, Ann Arbor’s excellent music venue. He was the principal contributor to an English Idioms Threads page that boasts some 2,000,000 followers, and his voice is recognized by the hundreds of thousands of followers of a YouTube English language learning channel seated in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. As “Tex” Manheim, his voice is likewise familiar to listeners to WCBN-FM shows such as The Down Home Show, Bill Monroe for Breakfast, and the Drive Time Polka Party. He interviewed such figures as Kris Kristofferson, and he offered insightful explanations of obscure musical treasures, playing music from old LPs he found at Goodwill shops and used record shops. He once characterized his work as rescuing music from the “scrap heaps” of history.
Jim loved such discoveries; but at the same time, every career choice was calculated to provide personal freedom. Whether for a weekend in the Upper Peninsula, a road trip through the deep South looking for forgotten blues and country artists, or a hitched ride down to Mexico to fortify his Spanish skills, he always looked for something new. Mention any town or city and he’d recommend an off-beat attraction “worth the side trip.” His judgment was spot on – more dependable and more eclectic than any Michelin guide. One friend put it well in an online tribute, thanking him for his “insights into the most overlooked yet interesting corners of life.”
Jim moved to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in late Fall 2024, where he continued his online writing commitments. Jim died of complications from pneumonia. He is survived by his brother, Daniel Manheim, of Lexington, KY, and his nephew, Marc Manheim, of Indianapolis. An online memorial service will be announced on Dan Manheim’s Facebook page in January.
As a newly hired City Guide researcher, I met Jim as my new ‘boss’ in May of 1995. 30 years later I’m still grateful for the friendship that began that day. As each of us move thru life many personalities leave their mark. Most are insignificant. Some leave scars! But in a few special cases our lives are permanently enriched. That’s where Jim Manheim fits: Kind, intelligent, and simply a pleasure to be around. His presence on this earth was a gift to all he encountered and now we will accept that it’s our job to continue giving to others what we received from him. Rest peacefully in the arms of your Maker, friend.