RIP Jerry Jeff Walker

[RCGuitar]

So, in 2003 I booked a trip to Belize to see jerry Jeff. I didn’t know a whole lot about him but I knew some of what he had done. He put on 3 shows in Belize during his camp Belize week one and 3 shows for camp Belize week 2. So I went down to Belize and I saw Jerry Jeff play. He did an awesome show for the week and I met a lot of people from the Houston Texas area that became my regular friends. Jerry Jeff had a house on the beach in San Pedro Belize and sometimes he was accompanied by his son Django walker and sometimes other musicians would come down with him like Lloyd Maines; cosmic Bob and steady Freddy or Keith Sykes. We met Stoney to one year when he showed up. (He wrote a song about his pal)

I continued going to Belize Every January and sometimes Django would be there and a bunch of us who are players would get up and jam with them. I continue to go on the belize up until this past January 2020 when Jerry Jeff was struggling with throat cancer. in the past years I had met Chris gauge who was his guitar player all of us we all would hang out at Fido’s in San Pedro Belize.

I love Jerry Jeff music and during memorial day weekend for the past many years my friends in Houston Texas would put on a benefit. They had Django walker come and play it with his Austin band that he was with, but we could never get Jerry to attend. This past January I got married down and Belize and Jerry was down there with his son Django and he was putting on three shows during the week. It was hard to listen to him sing with his very gravelly voice from the throat cancer and I felt bad for him but his fans were tried-and-true and they didn’t care a bit that his voice sounded very rough they just loved hearing the stories and hearing him play music with his son.

In 2004 we had listened to Jerry put on a show down the beach at a local Beach bar, and when he got done we went up to a another place and joined in playing with some other local musicians, one was Dennis wolf.. Dennis Wolf Wrote “just another gringo and Belize” that Jerry Jeff picked up and recorded it on his cowboy boots and bathing suits album. We have several friends that have developed a nice relationship with Django walker and Jerry Jeff over the years and they personally have hung out with him down in San Pedro Belize including a few of my friends and myself. He was a good guy and he was a very incredible story teller.

One of the things that he did that in San Pedro Belize where he had his vacation home was that he did benefits for the local animal shelter there on the island SAGA. He also raised money for local families in need there because it’s a very poor island. We had many magical moments down in Belize with Jerry Jeff and some in Texas with his son Django Walker. Lots of my friends would go to his big birthday bash in Austin Texas in March. On one of my trips down to Belize Jerry Jeff came in the bar when I was playing one night with local musician Dennis wolf, and jerry came up to play and he yelled at me to get off the stage because he was there to play. The next year I was doing a similar gig where I was playing with Dennis wolf and Jerry came in the bar. He sat in the back while I played brown eyed girl and people were up dancing and he kept eyeing me up from the back of the bar as he was sipping his whiskey. He came up to me after I finish the song and I thought he was going to yell at me, and he said “hey great song enjoyed your playing and singing good job”. I’ll take that as a compliment from the master. One thing I’ll never forget, Dennis wolf had severely rusty equipment from the salt air. Jerry would say “ if there’s anyone that can make music come out of this rusty ****, it’s Dennis Wolf”, and he was right. Rest in peace Jerry Jeff you had one hell of a ride!

[MCDEMO1]

Interesting stories RC. Seems like you got the chance to see JJW at his worst and at his best. Getting "tossed" off the stage on one hand, but praised by the same guy for your performance on another date. Full circle.

[PHJim]

At the Winnipeg Folk Festival about 32 years ago, I attended a "Country Roots" workshop, hosted by Ian Tyson. It included Lyle Lovette (when he still had the really big hair) Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff. It was billed as a workshop, but was actually more of a guitar pull. That was one of the highlights of that festival for me. I had been a fan of Ian since the early sixties and Guy and Jerry Jeff were two of my musical heroes. I had never heard of Lyle, but I became a fan after that workshop.

Susan Walker, Jerry Jeff, Guy Clark, Susanna Clark