Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker ( born March 16, 1942 in Oneonta, New York Ronald Clyde Crosby ) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His most famous song is Mr. Bojangles.
Life
Ronald Clyde Crosby aka Jerry Jeff Walker grew up in New York State. His grandparents played at square dance events, what Walker inspired than boys. As a teenager, he played in a local band called "The Tones". This group even traveled to Philadelphia to audition on the TV show American Bandstand, the young musicians but were rejected. After all, they got a recommendation for an audition in New York, where the band was finally taken from Baton Records. However, some of the members were replaced by the producers by studio musicians - including Ronald Crosby.
After high school, Crosby reported in the National Guard, but he just haute and moved as street musicians around the country. Finally Over New Orleans, Texas and Florida, he landed back in New York. He mostly played ukulele until he found the guitar in 1963. In 1966 he invented for himself a stage name " Jerry Jeff Walker ". Under the new name, he entered the mid-1960s on in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village. With Bob Bruno, he founded the band Circus Maximus (not to be confused with the Norwegian band Circus Maximus ), which released two LPs and even wind could land a small hit. But Bruno was interested now more for jazz - which did not match the ever more folk and country - orientation of his partner. So Walker began a solo career and took, among other things with support from David Bromberg, the groundbreaking album on Mr. Bojangles. The title song came into the American charts at number 77, but was one of the great classics of pop, jazz, folk and country music that was recorded in countless versions. Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, John Denver, Harry Nilsson, Neil Diamond, Tom T. Hall, Robbie Williams, Nina Simone - they all sang the song. Even German versions are available, so Katja Ebstein and Wolfgang Niedecken.
In the 1970s, Walker moved to Austin, Texas, where he came up with the Outlaw scene in contact and got it to do with artists such as Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Waylon Jennings and Townes Van Zandt. In the next time Walker released some records for MCA and Electra, before finally with his wife Susan in 1986 founded his own independent label, Tried & True Music. His wife was also his manager with the company Good Knight Music. The result was a series of publications that were more personal and autobiographical without any pressure of big record companies. His autobiography Gypsy Songman appeared there. Walker was able to develop independence in this his own style, which he calls Cowjazz. Published in 2004, Jerry Jeff Walker his first DVD with old songs that he recorded in a very intimate setting in Austin.
Jerry Jeff Walker took on not only their own material, but interpreted, inter alia, Works by Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Keith Sykes, Paul Siebel, Bob Dylan. Because of its independence and its great influence on the next generation of the outlaw movement, he is referred to as Jimmy Buffett of Texas. Fittingly, Walker Buffett first brought to Key West, where he is an institution long ago. In addition, both the song Railroad Lady wrote together. Celebrating his birthday Jerry Jeff Walker in 2004 with the Texas Bash: The Paramount Theatre in Austin and in the Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall of the State in Gruene, Texas. On two consecutive days, Jerry Jeff Walker plays with numerous guests and tells stories. The crowd is very great year after year.
Jerry Jeff Walker is married since 1974, the couple has two children - son, Django Walker, himself active as a musician, and daughter Jessie Jane. The family lives in Austin and in Belize.