Jerry Jeff Walker

Early life

Walker was born Ronald Clyde Crosby in Oneonta, New York, on March 16, 1942. His father, Mel, worked as a sports referee and bartender; his mother, Alma (Conrow), was a housewife. His maternal grandparents played for square dances in the Oneonta area – his grandmother, Jessie Conrow, playing piano, while his grandfather played fiddle. During the late 1950s, Crosby was a member of a local Oneonta teen band called The Tones.

After high school, Crosby joined the National Guard, but his thirst for adventure led him to go AWOL and he was eventually discharged. He went on to roam the country busking for a living in New Orleans and throughout Texas, Florida, and New York, often accompanied by H. R. Stoneback (a friendship referenced in 1970's "Stoney"). He first played under the stage name of Jerry Ferris, then Jeff Walker, before amalgamating them into Jerry Jeff Walker and legally changing his name to that in the late 1960s.

Career

Walker spent his early folk music days in Greenwich Village in the mid-1960s. He co-founded a band with Bob Bruno in the late 1960s called Circus Maximus that put out two albums, one with the popular FM radio hit "Wind", but Bruno's interest in jazz apparently diverged from Walker's interest in folk music. Walker thus resumed his solo career and recorded the seminal 1968 album Mr. Bojangles with the help of David Bromberg and other influential Atlantic recording artists. He settled in Austin, Texas, in the 1970s, associating mainly with the outlaw country scene that included artists such as Michael Martin Murphey, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Waylon Jennings, and Townes Van Zandt. "Jerry Jeff's train songs" (such as Desperados Waiting for a Train) were cited in the lyrics of Jennings and Nelson's 1977 hit song "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)". On September 28, 1974, Walker appeared with Doug Sahm at the Main Hall of Carnegie Hall.

A string of records for MCA and Elektra followed Walker's move to Austin, Texas, before he gave up on the mainstream music business and formed his own independent record label. Tried & True Music was founded in 1986, with his wife Susan as president and manager. Susan also founded Goodknight Music as his management company and Tried & True Artists for his bookings. In 2004, Walker released his first DVD of songs from his past performed in an intimate setting in Austin.

Walker married Susan Streit in 1974 in Travis County, Texas. He also made a guest appearance on Ramblin' Jack Elliott's 1998 album of duets Friends of Mine, singing "He Was a Friend of Mine" and Woody Guthrie's "Hard Travelin'".

Walker recorded songs written by others such as "L.A. Freeway" (Guy Clark), "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother" (Ray Wylie Hubbard), "(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night" (Tom Waits), and "London Homesick Blues" (Gary P. Nunn). He also interpreted the songs of others such as Rodney Crowell, Townes Van Zandt, Paul Siebel, Bob Dylan, Todd Snider, Dave Roberts, and even a rodeo clown named Billy Jim Baker. Walker was given the moniker of "the Jimmy Buffett of Texas". It was Walker who first drove Jimmy Buffett to Key West (from Coconut Grove, Florida in a Packard). The two musicians also co-wrote the song "Railroad Lady" while riding the last run of the Panama Limited.

"Mr. Bojangles"

Walker's "Mr. Bojangles" (1968) is perhaps his best-known and most-often performed song. It is about an obscure but talented alcoholic tap-dancing drifter who Walker had met who, when arrested and jailed in New Orleans, insisted on being identified only as "Bojangles".

Notable recordings of the song include a live version by his bandmate Bromberg on his album Demon in Disguise, a single by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band that charted at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971 (also released on their album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy). and its inclusion in medley on the 1974 debut self-titled album by Jim Stafford.

Later years and death

Walker had an annual birthday celebration in Austin at the Paramount Theatre and at Gruene Hall in Gruene, Texas.

He died from throat cancer on October 23, 2020, at a hospital in Austin, Texas, at the age of 78.

Discography

Albums

Source: AllMusic

Singles

Source: AllMusic, unless otherwise stated.

Notes

References

References

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6. Dansby, Andrew. (October 24, 2020). "Texas music icon Jerry Jeff Walker dies". Houston Chronicle.
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8. La Chapelle, Peter. (September 9, 2019). "I'd Fight the World: A Political History of Old-Time, Hillbilly, and Country Music". University of Chicago Press.
9. (1997). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Virgin Books]].
10. Weinberg, Bob. (March 8, 2017). "David Bromberg: The return of a rock 'n' roll Zelig". Sun Sentinel.
11. Gage, Jeff. (October 24, 2020). "Jerry Jeff Walker's 'Viva Terlingua': Inside the Fringe Country Album".
12. Davis, John T.. (October 24, 2020). "Jerry Jeff Walker, a Trailblazer of the Cosmic Cowboy Sound, Passes Away at 78".
13. Loewenthal, Robyn. (October 26, 2020). "Texas Legend Bringing Hard Luck Songs This Way – Jerry Jeff Walker, known for such hits as 'Mr. Bojangles,' will perform at the Ventura Theatre". Los Angeles Times.
14. Miller, Ken. (October 24, 2020). "Jerry Jeff Walker, Texas singer and songwriter, dies at 78". Associated Press.
15. (October 13, 1999). "UT freshmen to hear from women leaders in the Texas music scene". University of Texas at Austin.
16. Schwartz, Matthew S.. (October 24, 2020). "Jerry Jeff Walker, Who Wrote 'Mr. Bojangles,' Dies At 78". NPR.
17. Walker, Jerry Jeff. (1999). "Gypsy Songman". Woodford Press.
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19. Brass, Kevin. (September 7, 2007). "Viva Belize! Jerry Jeff Walker's island getaway". The Austin Chronicle.
20. "Ramblin' Jack Elliott: Friends of Mine – Credits". [[AllMusic]].
21. Reineke, Hank. (December 30, 2009). "Ramblin' Jack Elliott: The Never-Ending Highway". Scarecrow Press.
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23. Jacobs, Jay S.. (November 16, 2010). "Wild Years: The Music and Myth of Tom Waits". ECW Press.
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40. (August 19, 1968). "Top Singles – Volume 9, No. 23–24". Government of Canada.