Barefoot Jerry
Written by wyn on January 13, 2004 – 11:41 amA musical rambling today.
When I lived in Glasgow, Scotland (wonders if there are Glasgows elsewhere …) I helped run a theatre restaurant on the edge of the once infamous area called the Gorbals. On my only day off in the week I often went to the Barrows or the Barras as it is known locally, an open market of the time where you could browse your heart out and buy almost anything.
I used to spend a lot of time looking for used (and cheap) LPs. One day I came across a double LP from an obscure Country Rock Band called Barefoot Jerry and they became one of my favourite groups at the time and I have never ceased listening to them.
Fast forward with me to 6 or 7 years ago when during a trip to London I rediscovered the same record on CD in Virgin Records (A place where I had been known to pass the whole day browsing)! I really thought that I would never find it edited on CD. To cut the story shorter I ended up a few weeks later with three CDs which hold 6 LPs. A full house as unfortunately they only made 6 disks.
To round up my rambling here, the guitarist on the first CD is called Mac Gayden. He is the co-author of “Everlasting Love” a song made famous by the (infamous?) Amen Corner and covered by many artisits including U2.
At the same time l I discovered his website which no longer exists and wrote him an email. Believe it or not I got a reply and we had an exchange of emails over a short period before I let him get back to his normal program. It leaves fond memories and brought Barefoot Jerry and his own records (the last one being Nirvana Blues which was released in 1996) a lot closer to me.
Here is a an interview with Wayne Moss, a Barefoot Jerry mainstay artist, an article with the Barefoot Jerry lineup over the years, a biography and another, longer biography.
Has anyone else heard of Barefoot Jerry or am I still one of the chosen few? If it was legal I would let you download some tunes. Perhaps I could put up some sound bites? Does anyone know anything about this? I wonder what the international legislation concerning this is. If Amazon can do it perhaps I could…
Posted in Music |
January 14th, 2004 at 8:08 am
Technically it’s illegal to post sound clips or make them available for fownload unless you have the permission of the copyright holder… which sadly probably isn’t the musician who wrote it.
Realistically I think its unlikely that anyone is going to worry about posting a few snippets that might if anything help advertise the music…. but it’s a funny world we live in when it comes to music downloads.. a lot of wheels crushing a lot of butterflies.
January 14th, 2004 at 11:40 am
No Graham, I’ve never heard of Barefoot Jerry but that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard any of their music before. Sometimes I cna only recognize by the song playing as opposed to who is playing it. I will have to ask my hubby if he’s ever heard of them.
January 28th, 2004 at 1:57 am
Yes Graham, I know of Barefoot Jerry. I am actually listening to “Watchin’ TV” at this moment. I live in Nashville, Tennessee and saw them several times in the early 70’s. They even did a few free concerts at Centennial Park here in Nashville. I played Rock n’Roll from the mid 60’s thru the mid 80’s. Had some friends that knew John Moss (Wayne’s son) and used to see him on occasion. The members were all basically from Madison and Hendersonville which are just on the outskirts of Nashville. If memory serves Wayne Moss still has Cinderella Studios in Madison. I hate that they never could “break” nationally, but they were an excellent regional band.
January 29th, 2004 at 10:05 am
I’ve heard of them and listened to them for years. There are songs on “Watchin’ TV” that bring tears to my eyes. I was thrilled when I found “Watchin’ TV” on CD along with “You Can’t Get Off with Your Shoes On.” You may not be able to post any of their songs here, but you could add a link to the official Barefoot Jerry website. There you can listen to some song snippets and order their three two-album CDs direct. They also have some other CDs that Wayne Moss has been involved in. Thanks for spreading the word.
March 9th, 2004 at 12:37 pm
Barefoot Jerry? Great band, I (and couple of friends) have had all their LPs for years so Graham you’re not alone! As you probably know they emerged out of Area Code 615, a band unheard of by most people, however surely EVERYBODY over a certain age must recognise their ‘Stone Fox Chase’ which was used as the theme to ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’.
Wayne Moss has been around for years, played on ‘Pretty Woman’ by Roy Orbison and ‘Blonde On Blonde’ by Dylan, amongst many others. By the way if you ever see Mac Gayden’s mid-70s solo albums anywhere snap them up - ‘Skyboat’ in particular is an absolute gem. Barefoot Jerry wrote some very witty lyrics - check out ‘Quit While You’re A Head’ on the first album (which was, after all, recorded in a remote cabin in the aptly named Smoky Mountains…)
May 3rd, 2004 at 1:23 am
I grew up in Madison TN, and my dad Bob Moore was the #1 Nashville A-Team bass player in the 50s-60s. So I knew Wayne since being very young, and when BJ’s first album (the only one with Gayden) came out, all my friends and I loved it like it was The Beatles! 5 Stars indeed. So creative. Wish they had a more extensive web presence…
June 7th, 2004 at 8:00 am
barefoot jerry huh geniussssssssss
one of the best usa bands ever(specially on the first 3 lp’s
theres a yahoo group barefoot_jerry as well just started
e mail me for details of how to join
toddfoot jerry
June 16th, 2004 at 2:42 am
I watched them in townsend,TN during the summer of 1970 at a rental house next to BAREFOOT JERRY’S GROCERY. They were working out the songs that would later be released on their debut album. The grocery store (along with Wilson’s restaurant) have long since disappeared but the music written and played there will live forever.
I was fortunate enough to witness Barefott Jerry himself play his fiddle in public for the last time at the first annual Cades Cove Homecomming in September, 1977.He died shortly after that.
I asked min what his favorite song by his namesake band was. He replied “I got two I like an awful lot,”Smokies” and “cades Cove”.
Thought you might want to here from a lifelong fan that witnessed firsthand the genesis of the musicform we now call “Americana”. I know it was an experience will never forget!
September 18th, 2004 at 5:52 am
Just chiming in as another long-time Wayne Moss fan. I keep a few BJ cuts on the laptop so I can listen wherever. Long live AC615 and Barefoot Jerry!