Jerry Jeff Walker | Artist

Ronald Clyde Crosby aka Jerry Jeff Walker was an American country music singer-songwriter born 1942 in Oneonta, New York. He was a leading figure in the outlaw country music movement and was best known for writing the 1968 song "Mr. Bojangles". During the late 1950s, Walker was influenced by his grandparents who played for square dances in the Oneonta area and Crosby himself was a member of a local Oneonta teen band called The Tones. After high school, he joined the National Guard went AWOL and 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 friend, the poet, musician and scholar, H.R. Stoneback. He began playing under the stage name Jerry Jeff Walker, and legally changed his name in the late 1960s. Walker spent his early folk music days in Greenwich Village in the mid-1960s, where he co-founded a band with Bob Bruno called Circus Maximus, that put out two albums. Resuming his solo career, he recorded the seminal 1968 album Mr. Bojangles with the help of David Bromberg. He settled in Austin Texas in the 1970s, associating mainly with the outlaw country scene that included artists such as Michael Martin Murphy, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Waylon Jennings and Townes Van Zandt. Walker's extensive recording career includes 25 studio albums, plus live albums and many singles. Standout albums include Driftin' Way of Life (1969), Jerry Jeff Walker (1972), Ridin' High (1975), It's a Good Night for Singin' (1976) and the live album ¡Viva Terlingua! (1973). The song "Mr Bojangles" is about an obscure alcoholic but talented tap-dancing drifter who, when arrested and jailed in New Orleans, insisted on being identified only as "Bojangles". Notable covers of the song include a live version by his bandmate Bromberg on Demon in Disguise and a single by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which appeared on their album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy.

Artist Website: jerryjeff.com/bio

Featured Albums: Jerry Jeff Walker

Related Artists: Circus Maximus, David Bromberg

Video Clips: Mr Bojangles, Desperados, Song For Life