On JERRY JEFF – set for May 27 release via New West Records – Steve Earle pays tribute to influential cowboy troubadour Jerry Jeff Walker who passed away on October 23, 2021. After performing in Texas at a concert celebrating Walker’s life, Earle took his band, The Dukes, to Electric Lady Studios in New York, where they recorded 10 of Walker’s songs.
Earle has already shared a freewheeling rendition of “Gettin’ By,” which is the album’s opening track. Adding a few personal twists to the lyrics, he admits to his greatest boyhood ambition: to be Jerry Jeff Walker.
“This record completes the set, the work of my first-hand teachers,” Earle writes in the liner notes, referencing 2009’s TOWNES and 2019’s GUY, which he made after the deaths of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark.
“The records were recorded and released in the order in which they left this world. But make no mistake – it was Jerry Jeff Walker who came first,” says Earle.
Earle was 14 when he first heard Walker. His high school drama teacher gave him a copy of “Mr. Bojangles,” Walker’s classic ballad about an unforgettable character he met in a New Orleans jail. After Earle moved to Nashville in the 1970s, he had the opportunity to get to know Walker, who enlisted him as his designated driver. “There’s a tendency to think of Jerry Jeff around a relationship to one song,” Earle says, referring to “Mr. Bojangles,” which was covered by everyone from Bob Dylan to Sammy Davis Jr. “He was also such a great interpreter of other people’s songs. But my main purpose in recording this album was to remind people that he wrote a lot of fucking great songs.”
Earle delivers “Mr. Bojangles” on JERRY JEFF, but also covers some of Walker’s lesser-known classics – ballads like 1969’s “Old Road” and 1973’s “Wheel.” Other highlights include joyful takes of “Charlie Dunn,” Walker’s endearing tribute to the bootmaker, and “Gypsy Songman,” a stomping busking anthem. (See below for track listing).
Fans can see Earle and The Dukes perform some of these songs live during their summer tour, which kicks off on June 1. Earle will also be performing at two special events: To Willie: A Birthday Celebration on May 1 at Willie Nelson’s Luck Ranch in Texas and the WFUV High Line Bash 2022 at City Winery at Pier 57 in New York City on May 13.
JERRY JEFF is Earle’s 22nd album. The three-time GRAMMY winner has released nearly an album a year since the mid-1990s, LPs ranging from bluegrass to blues to folk to country. His 2021 album, J.T., features the songs of his son Justin Townes Earle, a two-time Americana Music Awards winner who died in 2020 at age 38.
Steve Earle – JERRY JEFF Track Listing:
- Gettin’ By
- Gypsy Songman
- Little Bird
- I Make Money (Money Don’t Make Me)
- Mr. Bojangles
- Hill Country Rain
- Charlie Dunn
- My Old Man
- Wheel
- Old Road