Jerry Jeff Walker, Mr. Bojangles to many, died on Friday 23 October 2020 from complications arising from throat cancer first diagnosed in 2017. In his 50 plus years career, Jerry Jeff Walker was a singer-songwriter, song finder and for many, the Cosmic Cowboy, recording the definitive album of the ’70s Austin, Texas, hippy country music scene, 1973s ‘Viva Terlingua’. While he is often included in the same breath as other ‘70s outlaw Texas country artists and singer-songwriters like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Billy Joe Shaver, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker was in fact born in Oneonta, New York, on March 16th, 1942. Like many artists he was drawn to the freer music scene of early ’70s Austin, and when he arrived there he is reputed to have said he had found his home. Continue reading “The Song Remains: Jerry Jeff Walker 1942 – 2020”
Oklahoma-born but now based in Texas, Ray Wylie Hubbard continues to set the standard for the new boys while continually adding to his already well-stocked legacy of music. His latest album, Tell The Devil I’m Getting There As Fast As I Can (out now on Bordello Records via Thirty Tigers), still clearly ticks all the boxes. Americana-UK’s Maurice Hope chews the fat with the legendary songwriter and gets the lowdown on the new record, his influences, his time growing up as a songwriter and what it’s like to be an independent musician on the Americana scene these days.