The country’s famous captain Jerry Jeff Walker set the backstage at a country concert in 2009. Walker, best known for his hit “Mr. Bojangles”, died Friday after complications of throat cancer. He was 78.
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The country’s famous captain Jerry Jeff Walker set the backstage at a country concert in 2009. Walker, best known for his hit “Mr. Bojangles”, died Friday after complications of throat cancer. He was 78.
Fraser Harrison / Getty Images
Country music singer Jerry Jeff Walker, the man behind “Mr. Bojangles”, died Friday after a battle with throat cancer. He was 78.
“He was at home an hour before he passed,” said his wife, Susan Walker, 46. Told in Stein American-Statesman. “He left very peacefully, for which we are very grateful.”
Born Ronald Clyde Crosby in New York in 1942, Walker cut his teeth in the Greenwich Village folk music scene in the 60’s. After spending a night in a New Orleans drunken tank in the mid-60s, Walker wrote “Mr. Bojangles,” which became a hit, covering many other famous artists, including Bob Dylan, Harry Bellafonte and Sammy Davis Jr. Will attract. .
After moving to Stein in 1971, Walker made a major impact on the country’s music scene, helping to create a genre known as “Outlaw Country” – a kind of mix between rock and people – called Willy. Nelson and others also made it famous. At the same time.
“Apart from Willie, Jerry Jeff is the most important musician to happen in Austin, Texas, I have to say,” said Ray Benson of the nation’s Aspel at Wheels. Tennessee. “He really brought that folk / lyricist form to Texas. And for him, he will live forever because today it’s all children who write songs in that genre.”
Jimmy Buffett’s fans may have to thank him for his relationship with Key West. In Buffett’s 1998 biography, he credits Walker with introducing him to “all the fun bars and watering holes” from Miami to Key West.
During his 51-year recording career, Walker released 36 albums. With the exception of what he considered a lifeless recording studio, Walker recorded many of his albums at home or in various dance halls.
In the mid-’80s, Walker and his wife created their own Trude and True Music, which they ran out of their Austin home. The HomeGround label handles all of Walker’s bookings, tour promotions, business and publicity.
In a 2018 interview with StatesmanWalker noted that he and his wife performed well for two people who didn’t know much about the music business.
“We take it out of the air,” Walker said, comparing his labels to those with more labels. “These people really have no other idea what it’s like than us.”
