Jimmy McDonough

Time{{'}}s Richard Corliss declared his first published work The Ghastly One "a masterpiece"{{cite web|url=http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,186531,00.html|title=That Old Feeling: Milligan's Island|first=Richard|last=Corliss|date=30 November 2001|publisher=|accessdate=6 July 2018|via=content.time.com}} and John Waters has repeatedly named it one of his favorite books{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/t-magazine/my-10-favorite-books-john-waters.html|title=My 10 Favorite Books: John Waters|publisher=|accessdate=6 July 2018}} (this was actually McDonough's second effort; the first, Shakey: The Biography of Neil Young, had been held up by a lawsuit over the claim that Young had tried to prevent publication).{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1435286/neil-young-sued-by-bio-author/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831195508/http://www.mtv.com/news/1435286/neil-young-sued-by-bio-author/|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 31, 2016|title=Neil Young Sued By Bio Author|publisher=|accessdate=6 July 2018}} Other reviewers decry the inclusion of his personal experience/reactions often found in his books as a sort of biographical treason.

In 2010, McDonough's biography of Tammy Wynette was published{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/books/04book.html?fta=y |title=Book Review - 'Tammy Wynette - Tragic Country Queen,' by Jimmy McDonough|last=Maslin|first=Janet |authorlink=Janet Maslin |date=March 3, 2010|work=NYT|accessdate=2 March 2014}} and the book was optioned by director David O. Russell, who had also optioned the author's Russ Meyer biography,{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2011/03/fox-searchlight-negotiating-deal-for-david-o-russell-to-direct-russ-meyer-story-114696/|title=Fox Searchlight Negotiating Deal For David O. Russell To Direct Russ Meyer Story|first=Mike Jr.|last=Fleming|date=18 March 2011|publisher=|accessdate=6 July 2018}} but neither movie ever materialized. McDonough assisted musician John Fogerty with his 2015 autobiography Fortunate Son and that same year the director Nicolas Winding Refn published a book of exploitation movie posters largely based on McDonough's collection.{{cite web|url=http://nerdist.com/drive-director-nicolas-winding-refn-on-his-new-exploitation-movie-poster-book-the-act-of-seeing/|title=DRIVE Director Nicolas Winding Refn on His New Exploitation Movie Poster Book THE ACT OF SEEING - Nerdist|date=24 September 2015|publisher=|accessdate=6 July 2018|archive-date=6 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706161725/https://nerdist.com/drive-director-nicolas-winding-refn-on-his-new-exploitation-movie-poster-book-the-act-of-seeing/|url-status=dead}} Soul Survivor, the author's biography of singer Al Green, was published August 29, 2017.{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Survivor-Biography-Al-Green/dp/0306822679|title=Soul Survivor: A Biography of Al Green|first=search|last=results|date=29 August 2017|publisher=Da Capo Press|accessdate=6 July 2018|via=Amazon}} This book appears to be just as contentious as his previous works, with one early reviewer declaring that "McDonough presents himself as someone who, like Green, simply does not give a fuck about what others think."{{cite web|url=http://spectrumculture.com/2017/07/13/soul-survivor-jimmy-mcdonough/|title=Soul Survivor: by Jimmy McDonough |date=13 July 2017|work =Spectrum Culture |accessdate=6 July 2018}}

In 2017, McDonough (along with his cat Buster) became an animated character in the two-part episode on George Jones and Tammy Wynette for Mike Judge's Tales From the Tour Bus. He also edited "Regional Renegades," the first volume for Nicolas Winding Refn's byNWR.com site, which went live in the summer of 2018. In 2019, McDonough appeared as the "Strange Man" in the episode 10 finale of Refn's Too Old to Die Young series. He also provided voice-overs for other episodes. From 2018 to 2022 McDonough was Editor-in-Chief of byNWR.com, where he contributed lengthy profiles on Texas honky-tonk singer Frankie Miller, Wayne Cochran, Gary Stewart, carnival star Georgette Dante, Margaret Doll Rod, Tammy Faye Starlite, and the women in Texas exploitation director Dale Berry's films, as well as hosting a podcast on Mississippi preacher Estus Pirkle and the films he made with Ron Ormond.

In 2023 McDonough published an exhaustive Ormonds biography,The Exotic Ones: That Fabulous Film-Making Family from Music City, U.S.A. – The Ormonds, a book that had been in the works for nearly forty years. He also wrote a long essay for the Blu-ray set released in conjunction with the book, which features all of the Ormond exploitation/religious pictures, From Hollywood to Heaven: The Lost and Saved Films of the Ormond Family. Both Margaret Doll Rod and Tammy Faye Starlite made guest appearances on McDonough's book tour, which was dubbed "The 2023 Jimmy Jimmy Coco Puff World Tour" on social media.

In addition to the aforementioned biographies, McDonough has authored profiles on Jimmy Scott, Gary Stewart,{{cite web|last1=McDonough|first1=Jimmy|title=LITTLE JUNIOR, KING OF THE HONKY-TONKS The life and death of Gary Stewart|url=http://www.furious.com/perfect/garystewart.html|website=Perfect Sound Forever|accessdate=8 September 2015}} Hubert Selby, Jr., the Ormond family{{cite web | url=https://www.filmnashville.org/june/GreatBallsOfFire.pdf |title=Great Balls Of Fire| accessdate=July 6, 2018 |publisher=FilmNashville Foundation | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916053250/https://www.filmnashville.org/june/GreatBallsOfFire.pdf | archivedate=September 16, 2017}} and Link Wray,{{cite web|url=http://www.furious.com/perfect/linkwray.html|title=Perfect Sound Forever: Link Wray tribute|website=www.furious.com|accessdate=6 July 2018}} and over the span of his career he has written for a number of publications including: The Village Voice, Film Comment, and Variety.

Gary Stewart: I Am from the Honky-Tonks, McDonough's long-awaited 500-page-plus biography of the honky-tonk singer, will be published by Wolf + Salmon in the fall of 2025.

McDonough lives in the Pacific Northwest.{{cite web |title=Jimmy McDonough |url=https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/jimmy-mcdonough/ |website=Hachette Book Group |access-date=2 January 2021 |date=27 June 2017}} He is somewhat enigmatic about himself, as revealed in a rare 2011 (internet conducted) interview with Jonathan Penner.{{cite journal|last=Penner|first=Jonathan |authorlink=Jonathan Penner|date=June 24, 2011|title=Ball of Fire: An Interview with Jimmy McDonough|journal=Los Angeles Review of Books|url=http://lareviewofbooks.org/interview/ball-of-fire-an-interview-with-jimmy-mcdonough#}}

;Non-fiction

• The Ghastly One: The Sex-Gore Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan (2001)
• Shakey: Neil Young's Biography (2003)
• Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film (2005)
• Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen (2010)
• Soul Survivor: A Biography of Al Green (2017)
• The Ghastly One: The 42nd Street Netherworld of Director Andy Milligan (2022) (extensively updated version of The Ghastly One)
• The Exotic Ones: That Fabulous Film-Making Family from Music City, USA - The Ormonds (2023)
• The Most Exotic One: Georgette Dante (2023) (only available with limited edition of The Exotic Ones)
• Gary Stewart: I Am from the Honky-Tonks (2025)

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Category:Living people

Category:American male journalists

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)