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Jerry Jeff Walker Songwriter died at 78, throat cancer

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Jerry Jeff Walker, Outlaw Country Architect and ‘Mr. Bojangles’ Songwriter, Dead at 78

“Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother,” about a ne’er-do-well “kickin hippies’ asses and raising hell,” stands as the album’s cult-favorite number. More of a sketch by Ray Wylie Hubbard than a proper song when Walker and his band decided to record it for ¡Viva Terlingua!, it was finished at the 11th hour after a phone call to Hubbard from Walker’s bass player Bob Livingston.

Mr. Bojangles will long live road trips.
 

OldSSSCGuy

Active member
I saw him live a couple of times at Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin back in the 1970's. Back when Jerry Jeff, Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, BW Stephenson and Willis Allen Ramsey were all Texas-only acts.

Sad passing. He was one colorful motherfucker. Kinda like a musical Hunter Thompson.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I saw him live a couple of times at Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin back in the 1970's. Back when Jerry Jeff, Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, BW Stephenson and Willis Allen Ramsey were all Texas-only acts.

Sad passing. He was one colorful motherfucker. Kinda like a musical Hunter Thompson.

That had to be fun!!
 
G

Guest

Another niche legend in the rear-view.

He lived hard, played hard, sometimes disappointed fans at live concerts due to some of his past excesses.

But many a goat was milked to his lyrics and tunes, and pigs were slopped, chickens fed, eggs gathered, & gardens planted, as the barn's Pioneer Super Tuner cranked out some Jerry Jeff... and in particular, this gem...

His testament to country living and back to the land movement way back when.

Bless Jerry Jeff.

L.A. Freeway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtHOUC6UY9s

Hairy Ass Hillbillies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2NTaE_1zSI

Happy trails, Jerry Jeff.... Later on...:ying:
 
G

Guest

Good to see you Moose!! Hope everything is fine as can be.

Thanks ab. Stroking 'til I can't, laughter to tears, and back again, with lots of time in between..

Take care.

It's now a Jerry Jeff afternoon.... Likely calls for some oji OG; not too sedate, and not too uppity, and will allow me to get stuff done, jamming to Jerry Jeff now.

Sorry to read, but thanks for the news.
 
G

Guest

Well, I've already commandeered your JJW thread with the number of posts herein, but after reminiscing and bathing in musical nostalgia, it occurred to me that in my experience, there's a handful of tunes that are truly Jerry Jeff signature songs that defined his spirit.

One of them was LA Freeway; can't recall how many times I raised my thumb on the side of the road in the 1970s and early 1980s while singing that tune and similar.

But one that truly reminds me of good times at an off-grid 100-year old cabin in Norther Michigan on that farm I mentioned is this one;

'Hill Country Rain' Maybe you had to be there. LSD, reefer in the garden, folks making their own path in the woods, kerosene lighting, and this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlqpT_QJ0A4

I'll leave your thread alone for a while now...

Thanks for letting me/us know about his end.
 

yesum

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
He lived really hard, smoking and drinking his days away, then later became a health nut so to speak. The combo of drinking and smoking is really cancer causing, ala Eddie Van Halen, metal pick in the mouth notwithstanding.

Sorry to hear this, I was reading up on him just a month or so ago. He seemed to be a nice guy.
 
G

Guest

He lived really hard, smoking and drinking his days away, then later became a health nut so to speak. The combo of drinking and smoking is really cancer causing, ala Eddie Van Halen, metal pick in the mouth notwithstanding.

Sorry to hear this, I was reading up on him just a month or so ago. He seemed to be a nice guy.

That was Jerry Jeff. Self-destructive without knowing it for a long time, then, like many of us, turning the corner and realizing his mortality was a real thing, developed a different appreciation for the 'slow lane.'

Times he came on-stage so drunk he couldn't sit on his stool, let aloe perform, but his heart and ability were always there, no matter how clouded it got.

Here's a great lead-in story by Todd Snider, live on stage, re. Jerry Jeff and he closing down a bar in Santa Fe, and a street musician in an alley, playing a standard Jerry Jeff tune, unaware that Jerry Jeff was standing there, likely drunk as all hell.

Then the highlight; Jerry Jeff steps onto the stage for what seems an impromptu live rendition of Mr. Bojangles.

Yep, we cried a bit to see this presentation. Jerry's 70 on the video..

Beautiful stuff.

(*And thanks for the tip re. the broccoli sprouts, yesum; they panned out, per research we've done).

Like J. Prine, these folks are so real so much of the time, thee share more than their writing and musical ability with folks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QdWpab_kFg
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Watched a doc on making Austin City Limits, he was shown in numerous clips, along with Willie, Merle. Definitely a great song venue for decades.
 

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