Sammy Walker (born July 7, 1952 near
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
) is an American singer-songwriter. Influenced by the folk and country sounds of
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...
and
Hank Williams
Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...
, Walker emerged in the mid-1970s with two albums for the
Folkways label and two albums for
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
. While appearing on
Bob Fass's radio show in 1975, he caught the ear of
Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...
, who was impressed by the young songwriter and agreed to produce his first album with Folkways. Walker recorded two albums for Warner Brothers under the tutelage of producer
Nick Venet
Nick Venet (born Nikolas Kostantinos Venetoulis, 3 December 1936 – 2 January 1998) was an American record producer, who began his career at age 19 with World Pacific Jazz. He is best known for signing The Beach Boys to Capitol Records and p ...
, and toured Europe in 1978 and again in 1986. After recording an album of Woody Guthrie songs in 1979, he did not record again until 1989.
Walker, who at least once downplayed his own success by claiming he has "only 50 fans, one in each state", performed an opening set for Ochs at Gerde's Folk City on October 19, 1975, when Ochs drunkenly staged what Ochs billed as the final Phil Ochs concert, and the first John Train performance. Midnight was when Ochs was supposedly changing his stage name to Train, but his inebriated behavior incurred the wrath of the Gerde's staff to the point where the waitress was no longer serving Ochs, amid the soon-to-be-suicidal folksinger's rambling tirades against, among other musings, "Johnny Cash, BEFORE amphetamines". Having finished his set including his signature tune "Closing Time", Walker watched Ochs with apparent embarrassment from the wings.
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As a ...
was also on the bill for this concert. An uncirculated monochrome videotape and an audience tape converted to a double CDR exist of the event.
''Misfit Scarecrow'' - the first album released by Sammy Walker in over twelve years - was released on July 22, 2008.
''Brown Eyed Georgia Darlin' '' - released in 2016 on Ramseur Records, features early demos from his 1976 release.
The studio version of ''Days I Left Behind'' (written by Walker in 1972 and first released on the ''Sammy Walker'' album in 1976) featured in the BAFTA and Oscar winning short film ''An Irish Goodbye'' (2022), co-written and directed by Tom Berkeley and Ross White.
Discography
* ''Broadside Ballads, Vol. 8: Song for Patty'' (Smithsonian Folkways, 1975)
* ''Sammy Walker'' (Warner Bros. Records, 1976)
* ''Blue Ridge Mountain Skyline'' (Warner Bros. Records, 1977)
* ''Songs from Woody's Pen'' (Smithsonian Folkways, 1979)
* ''Fast Folk Musical Magazine (Vol. 1, No. 2)'' (Smithsonian Folkways, 1984)
* ''Sammy Walker in Concert'' (Brambus Records, 1990)
* ''Old Time Southern Dream'' (Brambus, 1994)
* ''The Best of Broadside 1962-1988: Anthems of the American Underground from the Pages of Broadside Magazine'' (Smithsonian Folkways, 2000)
* ''Misfit scarecrow'' (Ramseur Records, 2008)
* ''Brown Eyed Georgia Darlin' '' (Ramseur, 2016)
References
External links
Sammy Walker at Ramseur RecordsSammy Walker at Brambus RecordsSammy Walker at Smithsonian Folkways*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Sammy
1952 births
Living people
American male singer-songwriters
Fast Folk artists
Folkways Records artists
Brambus Records artists