Track Listing

1. Gypsy Songman
2. Mr. Bojangles
3. Jaded Lover
4. LA Freeway
5. Hairy Ass Hillbillies
6. Gettin' By
7. Desperadoes Waiting For A Train
8. Sangria Wine
9. Up Against The Wall Redneck
10. Pot Can't Call The Kettle Black
11. Like A Coat From The Cold
12. Mississippi You're On My Mind
13. Pissin' In The Wind
14. It's A Good Night For Singing
15. Old Five And Dimers Like Me
16. Leavin' Texas
17. Railroad Lady
18. Tryin' To Hold The Wind Up With A Sail
19. Lone Wolf
20. I Ain't Livin' Long Like This

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3344 in Music
• Released on: 2001-08-28
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Just like the lead character in his classic composition "Mr. Bojangles," Jerry Jeff Walker steps to a different tune. He gave himself the perfect title when he wrote his autobiography Gypsy Songman. Some consider "gypsy" a euphemism for irresponsible, some consider it eccentricity, and some call it artistic license, but whatever you want to label it, it was the fuel that provided the fire in Walker to write the songs he wrote. Walker writes from his own experience. He can take a microcosm of a thought and elaborate enough for its poetry to shine through. Gypsy indeed - this is a man who even chose his own name.

Born Ronald Clyde Crosby in 1942, the youngster grew up in Oneonta, New York, surrounded by music. His grandmother played piano, his parents loved to dance and he spent hours listening to their Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong records. It was his grandmother who bought him his first guitar at Christmas when he was 12 and he learned a few chords from the man who owned the local pizza parlor.

The "Jerry" part of his name came from a false I.D. he got when he was 19, since the drinking age was 21. For several years, he went by the name on that card--Jerry Ferris. After going AWOL from the National Guard in the early '60s, and settling in New Orleans (officially moving to Texas in 1971), he chose a new name. He liked the name Jeff and then partly as a tribute to a black jazz pianist he had befriended, Kirby Walker, he chose the surname of Walker. The friends who knew him as "Jerry" couldn't make the switch as easily, so Ronald Crosby, aka Jerry Ferris, became Jerry Jeff Walker.

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Customer Reviews

Popular Appeal
Ultimate Collection is the most comprehensive anthology yet assembled for Jerry Jeff Walker, with tracks spanning the late '60s through the late '70s. "Mr. Bojangles" is here with other crowd pleasers like "Pissin' in the Wind," and "Up Against the Wall Redneck." There's the problem. Ultimate Collection focuses on his rambunctious songs and skips some of his early poetry. In addition, even though all but one of his hits from the '70s is included, none of his '80s hits are. Ultimate Collection is an imperfect survey of Jerry Jeff Walker's music, but it still will have plenty popular appeal.

GREAT BUY
This is a very nice music collection. Amazon provided great service. Prompt delivery and good packaging.

Christine

Greetings from Luckenbach, Buckaroo!
The upstate New York-bred gypsy poet who brought the world "Mr. Bojangles" plays the self-made drunken Texas cowboy better than anyone I know. Fine tunes! However, Walker is probably best experienced in his more integrally flavored original albums such as Viva Terlingua and Ridin' High.