Jerry Jeff Walker, Bojangles and Me...

This guy, Bojangles, he was a street dancer in New Orleans, and what he'd do, he'd go from bar to bar and... he'd put money in the juke box, or get somebody else to... And then he'd either dance or pantomime the tune. And for that, people would buy him drinks and get him pretty drunk, and then he'd go on to the next bar, and the next one, until it was closing time... After a few nights of this, he'd end up on the corner, and the cops would pick him up and then take him to the drunk tank -- which is where Jerry Jeff met him.
Jerry Jeff wasn't there on a research project -- I mean, the way I got that story, I may have that wrong, but the way I got that is that he propositioned the right woman at the right time in the wrong place -- and her husband, the bartender... called the cops, and they took Jerry to the Parish jail. And he and this guy just talked for three days in the cell...

David Bromberg on the origin of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles"

Well, we play country music. We're just not sure what country it is.

Jerry Jeff Walker

***Walker’s Collectibles (1974) signed by a bleary Jerry Jeff***

Born Ronald Clyde Crosby in Oneonta, NY, Jerry Jeff Walker joined the National Guard after high school, went busking around the Southwest in the early 1960s, before settling in New York's thriving folk music scene in Greenwich Village in the mid 60s. Shortly thereafter, Jerry Jeff wrote "Mr. Bojangles" ,a song which has been covered by everyone from Sammy Davis Jr. to Bob Dylan, Cornell Dupree to Nina Simone. "Mr. Bojangles" is not based on the influential vaudeville hoofer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson who starred in "Stormy Weather" and movies with Shirley Temple in the 1940s. According to Jerry Jeff, it was a composite sketch of drifters he had met along his itinerant ways. And the fellow Jerry Jeff met in that New Orleans jail in 1965 was white, as the New Orleans jails were still segregated. Jerry Jeff relocated to Austin, Texas in the early 1970s and released several brilliant country rock albums with stellar musicians including David Bromberg, Gary P. Nunn, and Lloyd Maines (father of lead Dixie Chick Natalie Maines).

I saw Jerry Jeff many times over the years, and he was a great performer.… when he showed up. One night, Jerry Jeff was (not) playing the Worcester (Massachusetts ) Auditorium in the late 1970s. Jonathan Edwards opened and played a set which closed with his 70s stoner staple, "Shanty", replete with the sing along chorus "Gonna sit around the shanty, mama, and put a good buzz on." Jerry Jeff 's band, The Lost Gonzos, came out and played for about 45 minutes. No Jerry Jeff. The announcer said that Jerry Jeff's bus was delayed and he wouldn't be appearing. So Jonathan Edwards sat in with the band for the rest of the show. The encore was "Shanty." No one needs to hear that song in the same concert twice. Ever. So Jerry Jeff's whole band got there safely, but not Jerry Jeff? They took different buses? I think Jerry Jeff hung around the shanty and put too good a buzz on, probably not the first nor only time!

Many years later in November 1994, I saw Jerry Jeff play a Thanksgiving concert in Luckenbach, Texas, a town with a population of four, made famous by a stunning Jerry Jeff album recorded there in 1973, Viva Terlingua, and a Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings song released in 1977, "Luckenbach, Texas (Back To The Basics Of Love)". The town consists of a dance hall, a defunct post office (now a general store), a parking lot. and some great and glorious music.

***Viva Terlingua!*** (1973) signed by Jerry Jeff, “$1 per person”

In Luckenbach, I ran into Jerry Jeff in the General Store and he signed a bunch of albums. Jerry Jeff laughed when he saw his first album, Mr. Bojangles (1968). On the back cover, there was a picture of his long time friend and accompanist, David Bromberg with special thanks noted for David's "photogenicism." It was as unflattering a photo of Bromberg as you could imagine. I showed Jerry Jeff the album cover of It’s A Good Night For Singin’ in which Jerry Jeff leads a boisterous crowd in song in a late night cantina. I recognized Guy Clark and Waylon Jennings in the crowd. Who are some of the others? Jerry Jeff said, "That's Jim Stafford with his back to us. That's Charlie Louvin (of the fabled Louvin Brothers). That's Susan (his wife)." What about this guy? as I pointed to a Weird Al Yankovic lookalike. Is that who I think it is? Jerry laughed, "Yes, let's just not say for sure who that is." I understood perfectly. Why mar a great photo with terrific musicians with the taint of Weird Al Yankovic?

***It’s A Good Night For Singin ‘*** (1976) signed by Jerry Jeff

The show in Luckenbach was revelatory. Jerry Jeff had a talented band and he played songs from his extensive catalog. It was rowdy, raucous and everything you would expect in a Texas roadhouse. There was a lot of drinkin', dancin' and carryin' on but there was a deep reverence for Jerry Jeff and his music. I was amazed to see a group of young college students who knew all his song lyrics. Many of these songs had been written before they were born, and much of Jerry Jeff's discography had been out of print due to a protracted squabble with MCA, his litigious record label. It just proves that all good music finds a way into your soul, regardless of age.

There was something so pure and perfect about seeing Jerry Jeff Walker in Luckenbach, Texas. I imagine it was akin to seeing Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club in the 1920s, Miles Davis at the Village Vanguard in the 1950s, or the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore in the late 1960s.

Jerry Jeff embodies the American dream. If Ronald Crosby from upstate New York can reinvent himself into an Austin cosmic cowboy and country rock legend, and write one of the most beloved and recorded songs in the Great American Songbook, then possibilities are endless...

***Ridin’ High*** (1975) signed by Jerry Jeff

Jerry Jeff, Erin And Me… Luckenbach, Texas November 1995

Mom and Dad celebrate with Jerry Jeff In Luckenbach

***Nolan Ryan (He’s A Hero To Us All) (1990 45”) signed by Jerry Jeff***

***Tennessee Inaugural Ball 1993 back signed by Jerry Jeff, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris***