Steve Earle pays homage to influential cowboy troubadour Jerry Jeff Walker on his new album ‘Jerry Jeff’, set for release on 27th May 2022 via New West Records.
Walker passed away on 23rd October 2021 and after performing a concert in Texas celebrating his life, Earle and his band The Dukes went to Electric Lady Studios in New York to record 10 of Walker’s songs.
The album’s opening track “Gettin’ By” has already been unveiled, and Earle has added a few personal twists to the lyrics.
“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.
In the US, fans can see Earle and The Dukes perform some of these songs live during their summer tour, which kicks off on 1st June.
The track listing for ‘Jerry Jeff’ is:
- 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
