Writer behind Mr Bojangles dies

While Jerry Jeff Walker failed to make much impact on the charts himself, one of his tracks certainly did.

A chance encounter with a New Orleans street performer in the drunk tank led him to write what would be his best- known song, Mr Bojangles.

Released in 1968, it made minor appearances on the Australian and US charts but caught the imaginations of other musicians.

The track has been covered by Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, Neil Diamond and Sammy Davis Jr.

He was born Ronald Crosby in New York in 1942.

After dabbling in the scene with a teen band in high school, he joined the National Guard before travelling and busking.

It was during a trip to New Orleans in 1965 where he found the inspiration for Mr Bojangles – the name a homeless man had given police in a bid to conceal his identity.

Initially focusing on folk music with his ukulele, he later returned to New York and settled on the guitar.

He co-founded the band Circus Maximus but left after the release of their debut album.

After Walker recorded Mr Bojangles he settled in Austin, Texas, where he found himself a key player in the outlaw countr y music scene.

A response to the “slick” production values of the country music from Nashville at the time, it was a sound adopted by the likes of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash.

Walker played with The L os t G onzo Band and released a number of singles which were wellreceived on the specialist US country charts.

Over the decades which followed he toured and continued to make new music – releasing more than 30 LPs in his career.

His last album It’s About Time in 2018 followed a diagnosis of throat cancer the previous year.

Walker died on October 23 and is survived by his wife Susan, son Django and daughter Jessie Jane.

SWEET MUSIC: Jerry Jeff Walker in concert in 2015.