Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020)[3][4] was an American country and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He was best known for having written the 1968 song "Mr. Bojangles".[5]
Jerry Jeff Walker
Ronald Clyde Crosby
Gypsy Songman
March 16, 1942
Oneonta, New York, U.S.
October 23, 2020 (aged 78)
Austin, Texas, U.S.
Singer-songwriter
Vocals, guitar, harmonica
1967–2018
Tried & True Music
Early life[edit]
Walker was born Ronald Clyde Crosby in Oneonta, New York, on March 16, 1942. His father, Mel, worked as a sports referee and bartender; his mother, Alma (Conrow), was a housewife.[6] His maternal grandparents played for square dances in the Oneonta area[6] – his grandmother, Jessie Conrow, playing piano, while his grandfather played fiddle. During the late 1950s, Crosby was a member of a local Oneonta teen band called The Tones.[7]
After high school, Crosby joined the National Guard, but his thirst for adventure led him to go AWOL and he was eventually discharged.[6][8] He went on to roam the country busking for a living in New Orleans and throughout Texas, Florida, and New York, often accompanied by H. R. Stoneback (a friendship referenced in 1970's "Stoney").[9] He first played under the stage name of Jerry Ferris, then Jeff Walker, before amalgamating them into Jerry Jeff Walker and legally changing his name to that in the late 1960s.[8]
Later years and death[edit]
Walker had an annual birthday celebration in Austin at the Paramount Theatre and at Gruene Hall in Gruene, Texas.[4] The party brought some of the biggest names in country music out for a night of picking and swapping stories.[30]
He died from throat cancer on October 23, 2020, at a hospital in Austin, Texas at the age of 78.[6][31][32]