Jimmie Lee Robinson abandoned his music career and worked as a carpenter, he made a comeback to music and was a member of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition.
In the 1980s, however, Robinson abandoned his music career and worked as a carpenter and later a cab driver for most of the decade. In the late 1980s, members of a local blues band called Ice Cream Men encouraged Robinson to make a comeback. He returned to music and recorded his first studio album in 1994 for Delmark Records, entitled Lonely Traveller, which included old and new tracks by Robinson. He was a member of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition and wrote the group's theme song, "Maxwell Street Teardown Blues". 
