Description
Cherry Red has recently celebrated the late Jerry Jeff Walker with a new 5-CD box which was announced before the outlaw country hero’s untimely death from cancer on October 23 at the age of 78. The set is entitled Mr. Bojangles: The Atco/Elektra Years after Walker’s most famous song. The song also gave the title to the singer-songwriter’s 1968 Atco Records debut which opens this collection on which he was joined by folk multi-instrumentalist David Bromberg on lead guitar and additional ‘crack’ players including future jazz legend Ron Carter on acoustic bass. Alongside country-flavored cuts like “I Keep Changin’,” the album also addressed styles including bluegrass and folk-rock.
In 1969, Walker followed Mr. Bojangles with Five Years Gone. Eschewing New York or Memphis, he recorded the LP in Nashville with a “Who’s Who” of session men from the city, some of whom had also backed Bob Dylan on his Tennessee pilgrimage. Elliot Mazer, soon to work with Neil Young in Nashville on Harvest, produced. Despite its country pedigree, Five Years had a lightly psychedelic, contemporary singer-songwriter feel with a strong folk-rock influence.
Bein’ Free, from 1970, wrapped up Walker’s Atco tenure.. Walker continued to hone his individualistic style, employing humor on his socially conscious, observational songs. This time, the sound was a bit more rooted in the blues, but the album wouldn’t have been out of place classified as folk or country, either. It set the stage for his move to Texas and switch to MCA Records, where he remained for more than a decade save a brief sojourn to Elektra in 1978-1979.
1978’s Jerry Jeff surprisingly only featured one original composition: The other tracks were drawn from the songbooks of such writers as Guy Clark, and Rodney Crowell Jerry Jeff seemed to indicate solace and contentment for the artist, and he self-produced its 1979 follow-up Too Old to Change. This time he didn’t contribute any new songs but again tapped Rodney Crowell for the oft-covered “I Ain’t Living Long Like This.” Guy Clark’s wife Susanna penned the twangy “I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose” on which Carole King dropped by as Jerry Jeff’s duet partner. Jerry Jeff even brought his personal stamp to Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster’s timeless “Me and Bobby McGee.” This set is affordable one-stop shopping for one chunk of his considerable catalogue.
