whatever happened to...?

Subject: whatever happened to.......
From: Bugsy
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 07:33 AM

I was just wondering whatever happended to Derryl Adams. I used to love his voice and his real laidback way of playing banjo. I know he went to Scandanvia somewhere in the 70's. Maybe he's gone to the great folk club in the sky. Can anyone give me any update since then?? Is there someone you wondered "Whatever happened to??"

Bugsy

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Doctor John
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 03:08 PM

I think he's still around but don't know for sure. He and Jack Elliot really brought folk music to the UK in the late 50's, early 60's and made some excellent records too. I think they had a large and lasting influence on the current folk scene. To your last question - yes, lots of those voices you hearing on the Library of Congress recordings. Dr John

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: CarlZen
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 12:37 AM

A CD of Ramblin Jack E and Derroll Adams has just recently been re-released. I remember reading a review recently, and saw it ina shop just last week. I'm sorry, but I don't recall the title or the label.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Bugsy
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 04:15 AM

SAAR Records in Italy have released a Double album and 2 singles ( I think made up of the double) Of Rambling Jack Elliott and Derryl Addams on their budget labels "Gold Sound"(2CD) and Cameo. They are of very good quality and retail in Australia at around US$10.00. Does anyone have any further updates on Derryl?

On another note I remember seeing a great frailing banjo player from the USA in UK during the mid '60 by the name of Rick Norcross. I remember he also played an 18 string guitar. It's the only one I've ever seen before or since. He used to call it a "Down payment on a Harpsichord". Does anyone have any details on him or any recordings available.

Thanks in advance Bugsy

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 04:49 AM

Well, Bugsy, I don't know if he still plays an 18 string guitar(!?) but I did find a site which features him and his band, with an audio sample, playing at First Night festivities in Burlington (VT) in 1998 here which may have more info on him. I didn't have time to go explore too much.

Subject: RE: Derroll Adams
From: Philippa
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 08:53 AM

somebody pointed him out to me in Antwerpen (Flanders, Belgium) sometime in the 1980s but I don't recall hearing Derroll sing or play. And did he have a brief appearance in a Bob Dylan film or was he just mentioned. Donovan had a song called the Banjo Man on much the same theme: whatever happened to Derroll adams, which includes the line "you must go to Bel-gi-um to shake his tatooed hand"

Subject: Epistle to Derroll
From: Philippa
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 09:00 AM

the Donovan song is called Epistle to Derroll
URL:http://www.superior.net/~jimligon/lyrics/60s_and_70s/DONOVAN/Epistle_To_Derroll.txt

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Wolfgang
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 09:10 AM

Ezio once posted another song about him: Derroll in the rain

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Bert
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 09:22 AM

whatever happened to.......Miki & Griff?

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Wolfgang
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 09:41 AM

there is actually a song called 'Banjo man' about Derroll Adams, written however by Allan Taylor. Lyrics and notes are here .

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 12:40 AM

refresh for Bugsy

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Bugsy
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 10:20 PM

Whatever happened to:

Esther Ofarim (Esther & Abbie)? Steve Benbo? Steve Turner?

Bugsy.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 12:47 AM

How about Turley Richards?

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Roger the zimmer
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 06:40 AM

Aaah, the Ofarims. I remember seeing them at B'ham Town Hall in the 1960s, I was dating a Jewish princess at the time (she had a car- unknown in my circle of friends!). As it was my treat we were in the front row (actually the cheap seats as you had to crane your head up at a sharp angle to see). At one stage she (Esther) nearly landed in my lap as she tripped on a mike cable ( or possibly slipped on my drool) but Abi held her up.
The disappointment on my face probably accounted for the end of that relationship!

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Pete Curry
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 07:33 PM

I bet Ramblin' Jack would know. Does anyone know how to reach him? (Does anyone remember Jack's first "RV," a faded green telephone truck?)

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 18 Sep 99 - 03:43 PM

Sorry, missed this thread through going on holiday. However, I saw Derroll Adams two weeks ago. He was at Tonder Festival in Denmark. He looked very frail, being wheeled round the town in a wheelchair by his wife and daughters, and obviously not able to cope with all the people coming up to him to chat and wish him well. However, he was brought on stage for the Sunday night gala concert and spoke briefly to the audience of several thousand, who responded with frenetic applause - for his courage alone, he deserved it.
What always amazes me is the resonance of his beautiful deep voice, even in weakness, and his capacity for self-irony. About five years ago he appeared in the Mill at Tonder during a Singer's afternoon. He mixed up and then forgot the words of Trouble in Mind, had to call first on Allan Taylor, then on compère Iain MacKintosh for help - but oh, that stage presence and authority! Not a minute did he lose his audience but invoked his self-deprecating humour to help him through. In this, he impressed me far more favourably than Pete Seeger who, I felt at the time, was trying to distract from his failing voice by rushing around the stage unnecessarily when he was at Tonder in 1990. Today I think, maybe I was doing him an injustice, not having seen him live before.
Anyway, a year or two after Derroll's appearance at the Mill, he was there again, with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and they both forgot their lines, but had a good laugh about it. (I suspect that in Jack's case drink was partly to blame ...).
Besides the two songs about Derroll mentioned above, Alex Campbell also wrote one called 'The Banjo Man'. In his turn, Alex had a very moving song written about him by fellow Scot Rab Noakes when he was dying of cancer, and a book-with-two-CDs brought out to mark 25 years of Tonder Festival includes a song Hamish Mhor and Alex, written by Brian McNeill and Ron Kavana about Alex Campbell and Hamish Imlach.
Sorry to be rambling on, but some of you may be interested to read it.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: wildlone
Date: 18 Sep 99 - 10:10 PM

Steve Benbow my mother sang with him in the 50s.WL.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Stewie
Date: 18 Sep 99 - 10:42 PM

CarlZen

The recent Ramblin' Jack and Derroll Adams release is called 'Early Sessions' Tradition TCD 1083 (Rkyodisc).

There is an article in Folk Roots about Derroll (in relatively recent times) and a review of an album on a Dutch or German label which reprises some of the tracks on his great 'Feelin' Fine' album on Village Thing - alas, long gone. I will get the references and post them later.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Stewie
Date: 19 Sep 99 - 01:26 AM

I cannot locate the article in Folk Roots (it unfortunately has no index)and it could have been years ago, knowing my sense of time. Anyhow, the details of the album are as follows. It is on a German label and was released in 1998. It is a compilation from 4 different UK and European sessions spanning the 1970s, including cuts from the Village Thing session that I mentioned: Derroll Adams 'Songs of the Banjoman' Wundertute TUT 72.175. The address for Wundertute is: Am Hirtenberg 14, D-37136 Bosinghausen, Germany.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Rockaday Johnny
Date: 19 Sep 99 - 12:09 PM

Bugsy, do you know of any internet source (or otherwise to obtain the Italian 2 cd set? Thanks a lot!

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Wotcha
Date: 19 Sep 99 - 12:13 PM

Here's thread creep: Phillipa, Antwerpen is in Provincie Antwerpen. Ost-Vlanderen and West-Vlanderen are the Flemish provinces of Flanders. 5 trivia points... Cheers, Brian

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 19 Sep 99 - 12:17 PM

I knew Derroll Adams in 1953-55 or so in Los Angeles after he had moved down from Portland Oregon. He was an art student, there, and had been ousted for conducting what the institution called a "communist cell block"...whatever the hell that was. Derroll has a voice and style that is reminiscent of Bascom Lamar Lunsford of Asheville, North Carolina. He wrote the song Portland Town that was covered by Joan Baez about that time. I have a picture of Derroll, Woody Guthrie and me at a party in Los Angeles which I've mislaid and am looking for. I talked to Derroll briefly by phone about a month ago. He was in frail health and could not spend much time on the phone. His wife filled me in. Derroll was a unique performer. In those days in Los Angeles, there wasn't much of an audience for folk music and Derroll was not as well-known as he was when he moved to Europe and performed with Jack Elliott. They met in Los Angeles about that time as well. The funniest story I remember about Derroll is that when he was married to his first wife, Liz, he was meditating in lotus position stark naked and standing on his head. He got stuck there and had to be let down. There are many wonderful stories of this delightful and colorful man. He was the first I ever heard of to apply Zen Buddhist techniques to playing the five-string banjo. BTW, although his singing style was influenced by Bascom Lamar Lunsford, his banjo playing style (a three finger folk style--not Scruggs or bluegrass) was his uniquely. I think that it's close to what Obray Ramsey did.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Stewie
Date: 19 Sep 99 - 07:04 PM

Frank, I agree Derroll was a unique performer. It was listening to recordings of his, and Lunsford and Virgil Anderson, that brought me to a realisation of what a wonderful instrument the banjo can be for solo accompaniment - often delightfully delicate and gentle. To that point, I had associated it more with old-time stringbands and knees-up bluegrass styles. It is a great pity that not much of his work is available. The same applies to Lunsford - the Smithsonian CD is marvellous, but surely much, much more could be issued on CD.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: GeorgeH
Date: 20 Sep 99 - 01:57 PM

Stewie . . Yup, Folk Roots has no index. For as long as I can remember they've been saying from time to time "if anyone would like to compile and index . . ."

G.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Doctor John
Date: 20 Sep 99 - 02:49 PM

Stewie, Rounder have reissued the L of C LP "Assasination Songs" which have several BLL tracks, including the interesting "Mr Garfield". Derroll recorded that but I can get a copy; does anyone know which of his records are available? Dr John

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: GeorgeH
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 05:12 AM

It was really strange hitting this thread immediately after recommending Pete Coe in another discussion. 'Cause last week when we saw Pete he sang Tucker Zimmerman's fine tribute to Derroll, "Oregon Trail" (sometimes just called "Oregon"). Which I probably last heard 10 years ago (and everyone else here seems to have forgotten, too). Well worth checking out - preferrably on the English Country Blues Band recording on which it's beautifully paired with Derroll's own "Portland Town".

G.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 22 Sep 99 - 07:48 PM

Hello George! 'Oregon' can also be found on the double CD recorded at Derroll's 65th birthday bash, sung by the man himself (Derroll, not Zimmermann), IIRC. Unfortunately, I don't know where to get it, but that shouldn't be too big a problem ...

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Bugsy
Date: 15 Oct 99 - 03:25 AM

Rockaway Johnny - Sorry I have been off the net for a few weeks (a brand new Compaq Presario and the bastard thing crashed!). If you want, you can send me a stamped addressed cd mailer and $15.00 and I will obtain a copy of the Double CD for you over here.

JACAJO ENTERPRISES 104 BIRDWOOD STREET INNALOO WESTERN AUSTRALIA 6018.

(p.s) allow a couple of weeks for delivery.

cheers - Bugsy

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Rockaday Johnny
Date: 15 Oct 99 - 11:16 AM

Bugsy -- Thank You ---I'll get it in the mail shortly! MUCH appreciated! RJ

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Bugsy
Date: 15 Oct 99 - 10:47 PM

You are more than welcom RJ

cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Bugsy
Date: 14 Feb 00 - 08:45 PM

During the 60's, Bill Clifton used to tour the Folk Clubs of the UK, and always with a band called The Echo Mountain Boys. They were a group of extremely talented musicians and students from a public school in Sevenoaks in Kent. I believe their average age at the time was about 15yrs.

Does anyone know what happened to them? Did they continue as a bluegrass band or did any of them go on to fame and fortune?

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: bill\sables
Date: 15 Feb 00 - 07:05 PM

In the North East in the 60s there was a Canadian singer called Vera Johnson. Does anyone know if she is still around? Cheers Bill

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Metchosin
Date: 15 Feb 00 - 07:33 PM

Bill check out the "Show us the lenghth" thread of a couple of days ago. Murray on Saltspring is seeing her on the weekend.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Feb 00 - 08:22 PM

Just in case anyone reading this thread missed it - Derroll Adams died recently. Here's a thread about him.

Another good man gone.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to Terry Wadsworth.......
From: Deckman
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 09:48 AM

Terry Wadsworth was a folkie back in the 50's and early 60's in Seattle. Like most of us, he hung around the "U" district, singing at the Pamir House and for anyone that would give us a meal and five bucks. I last saw him in San Francisco in 1962. Does anyone know what happened to him, or where he is now. Thanks, Bob Nelson

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: jaze
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 11:21 AM

I heard of but have never heard an English folk singer named Julie Felix. Anyone know anything about her?

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Terry K
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 12:37 PM

Julie Felix was on BBC radio a month or so ago - strange lady - I'm pretty sure she's not English. I had an album of her in the 60s and was probably madly in love with her.

Cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: okthen
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 01:13 PM

Julie Felix I believe lives in North London (Hampstead?)and used to run a folk club in the cellar of the pub opposite the Royal Free Hospital.She's still singing I believe, some thought her to be the "British Joan Baez"but I think she would be embarrased by that,but it's closer than Donovan being the "British Bob Dylan"

cheers

bill

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 01:49 PM

Terry, Julie Felix was born in Santa Barbara CA and came to Britain in the sisties. I seem to remember that David Frost was also reported as being in love with her at one time

Murray

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: MARINER
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 02:31 PM

Glad to hear that Rick Norcross is still gigging. I remember seeing him in the old Pembrokeshire Folk Club under the Mariners Hotel in Haverfordwest, at the time the home patch of the wonderful Meic Stevens. Norcross was very impressive, he must have been seeing Istill remember his one appearence after all this time. MARINER

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: MARINER
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 02:36 PM

Somewhere over the holidays I saw or read (it was a hectic time)that Derrol Adam's friends buried him in a coffin full of marijuana. Is that true or am I hallucinating? (again). That's what I call going out in style

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.Kirby Greenwood......
From: Deckman
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 04:29 PM

Kirby Greenwood lived in the Seattle area in the early 70's. He was a good singer and performer. I've lost touch with him and would like to find out where/how his is. Any information would be appreciated ... Bob Nelson

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Matt_R
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 04:33 PM

Whatever happened to predictability?
The milkman, the paper boy, evening TV?

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 05:54 PM

Mariner, I have it from someone who was there that they sent a good supply along! Marvellous idea don't you think?

Subject: RE: whatever happened to..Mike Reedy
From: Deckman
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 07:02 PM

Mike Reedy was a medical student at the U. of Washington in the late fifties. He played a wild two finger guitar, sang a version of Charles Guiteau that I still hear in my minds ear. I heard he left patient medicine to go into research. I'd love to hear any hints as to where he is now ... thanks, Bob Nelson

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: MARINER
Date: 27 Dec 00 - 07:09 PM

Susanne, you bet, that was the way to send him off. As regards Rick Norcross, one of his songs has come back to me through the mists of time. It was a parody (wrong thread?)of I Walk the Line which went, "I keep my pants up with a piece of twine" the only other line I can remember is "Because your mine please pull the twine". Anyone remember it?. MARINER.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: Jacob B
Date: 28 Dec 00 - 09:23 AM

I keep my pants up with a piece of twine
I keep my arms wide open all the time
I keep myself quite willing all the time
Because you're mine
Please pull the twine

I've no idea who wrote that, but the New Christy Minstrels recorded it as part of a medley on a live album.

Subject: RE: whatever happened to.......
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:09 PM

Hey Bugsy,
A friend saw your Whatever Happened To post from 1999 mentioning my name and called me about it. Thanks for the kind words about the good old folk club days in UK. I am alive and playing back here in New England. Check out our web site at www.rickandtheramblers.com and listen to the western swing music I am playing these days. John Bailey of London built that 18-string guitar for me in 1965. He also made guitars for John Renborn and Bert Jansch. I had a terrific time playing in the UK for a 10 year period from '65 to '74 and deeply appreciate the friends and musicians I met during those years. Thanks for asking!
Best Wishes!
Rick Norcross, Burlington, Vermont, USA