Chanteur Folk US né Derroll Lewis Thompson, le 25
novembre 1925 ŕ Portland (Oregon). Derroll Adams est décédé le 6 février 2000 ŕ
Antwerp (Belgique).
Ask the
average folk enthusiast who Derroll Adams is, and chances are you'll get a vague
glimmer of recognition, followed by a shrug of puzzlement. Few figures have
effected as much of an impact on other musicians, while falling by the wayside
before the public. Indeed, the only comparable figure who comes immediately to
mind is England's Davy Graham, who influenced an entire generation of folk and
rock guitarists, and at least one superstar (Paul Simon), but hasn't courted
serious record sales in decades.
Born Derroll Lewis Thompson in Portland, Oregon, he was the son of a vaudeville
juggler and master storyteller. At age 16, just about the time that the Second
World War was breaking out, Adams joined the Army, but was discharged within a
few months when his age was discovered. He later served in the United States
Coast Guard, after which he attended art school — it was during this time that
Adams chanced to see a concert by Josh White, which set him on the road to
becoming a musician. His subsequent hearing of records by
Pete Seeger,
Woody Guthrie, and
Cisco Houston only reinforced his love
of folk music, and in a surprisingly short time, he'd become proficient on the
guitar and a near-virtuoso on the banjo. He played for audiences as part of
former Vice President Henry Wallace's 1948 presidential campaign. During the
1950s, Adams hooked up with the folk singer Odetta in an organization known as
"World Folk Artists," and began building an audience; by the end of the decade,
his banjo playing was being used on some film soundtracks.
In 1957, Adams had his first successful song, "Portland Town," an account of
birth, life, and death that became his magnum opus, covered widely over the
years by other folk singers. Around the same time, he met up with
Ramblin' Jack Elliott, who,
with his wife, invited Adams to come to England with them. Over the next few
years, the three played numerous folk clubs in England, while Adams resided for
a time with songwriter Lionel Bart and also performed on the European continent.
Adams and Elliott also made
recordings together for Topic Records, which was then England's leading folk
label. In 1966, while traveling through Europe, they cut an album together in
Milan, Italy. By this time, Adams was a fixture on the European folk scene, his
rough-hewn voice and distinctive banjo style drawing a serious following,
especially among the new generation of folk performers coming up behind him.
All wasn't well, however, as Adams became increasingly disenchanted with the
widening audience for folk music. Where the clubs in the early '60s had been
attended by serious listeners with an honest interest, by 1966 he found himself
playing more often to rowdy, drunken listeners who cared little for what he was
actually doing. He became known for incidents in which he would smash his guitar
and leave the stage. Finally, he met a woman from Belgium who became his fourth
wife, and he left the music business to help run her decorating business.
His influence lingered, however. In 1967, even as Adams was temporarily retired,
he became the subject of perhaps the best song that Donovan Leitch (aka Donovan)
has ever written, "Epistle to Derroll." Appearing on the Gift From a Flower
to a Garden album, the words and music reflected the debt that Leitch owed
Adams as a musician and songwriter — the entire song, and specifically the line
"bring me word of the banjo man with the tattoo on his hand," may be the most
poignant and haunting in Donovan's entire song output.
Both his wife's business and the accompanying marriage failed, however, and
Adams resumed his performing career in Europe's folk clubs, his name still
widely known on his adopted continent. He proved a fairly controversial figure,
however, for his rejection of authenticity and his purist approach to folk
music; he insisted that old songs could be performed perfectly well in new ways,
and he occasionally got drunk and swore on-stage .
Still, he continued playing, and in 1991, the folk community — including the
members of Pentangle, as well as his former partner
Elliott and veterans like
Happy Traum — turned out for a concert celebrating Adams' 65th birthday, which
was later released on record. Derroll Adams passed away on February 6, 2000 in
Antwerp, Belgium. He remains unjustifiably better known in Europe than in the
country of his birth.
Talents : Singer, Songwriter, Banjo, Harmonica
Style musical : Country-Folk
Années en activité :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 |
DISCOGRAPHIE
Albums
| 1967 | LP 12" ACE OF CLUBS ACL 1227 (UK) |
 |
PORTLAND TOWN - Roll On Babe / Pretty Little Miss / 900 Miles From Home / I Wish I Was A Rock / Ship On The Ocean / Little Birdie / Portland Town / Curtains Of Night / Plain Common Bill / Mule Skinner Blues |
| 1969 | LP 10" TOPIC 12T105 (UK) |
 |
ROLL ON BUDDY - (Derroll ADAMS & Ramblin' Jack ELLIOTT) |
| 1972 | LP 12" VILLAGE THING VTS-17 (UK) |
 |
DERROL ADAMS FEELIN' FINE - Darling Corey / Apprenticied In London / Freight Train Blues / Wildwood Flower / The Sky / Muleskinner Blues / Love Song / Mr Rabbit / Deep Ellum Blues / Blue Ridge Mountains / Chattering Jaw / The Valley |
| 1974 | LP 12" INTERCORD - XENOPHEN INT 161.014 - C-P (D) |
 |
MOVIN' ON - I Ain't Got No Home / Coal Miner's Blues / Alberta / Five Long Years In The Army / 10.000 Years Age / Wagoner's Lad / Aged Woman - Peasant Girl / Paradise / Grand Coulee Dam / Trouble In Mind / 1814 / Movin' On |
| 1977 | LP 12" BEST SELLER INTERNATIONAL / EMI 4C062-23567 (B) |
 |
ALONG THE WAY - Cluck Old Hen / Dixie Darling / Columbus Georgia / 24 Hours A Day / Frozen Logger / Memories / Huclkeberry / Anna Feher / Mountain / Oregon / Skunk / Sioux Indians |
| 19?? | LP 12" SOUNDS SUPERB 4M048-23599 (UK) |
 |
LIVE ! - Muleskinner Blues / Darlin' Cora / Freight Train Blues / Dixie Darlin' / Trouble In Mind / Rich And Ramblin' Boy / Portland Town / Grand Coulee Dam / The Rock / The Valley |
| 1994 | CD ARIOLA EXPRESS 74321 231052 (B) |
 |
LIVE ! - Muleskinner Blues / Darlin' Cora / Freight Train Blues / Dixie Darlin' / Trouble In Mind / Rich And Ramblin' Boy / Portland Town / Grand Coulee Dam / The Rock / The Valley |
| 10/1997 | CD WÜNDERTÜTE MUSIK TÜT 72.175 (D) |
 |
SONGS OF THE BANJO MAN - The Sky / Oregon / Memories / The Skunk / 24 Hours A Day / The Valley / The Mountain / Love Song / Portland Town / The Rock / I'm Sad And Lonely |
| 11/1997 | CD WORLD OF MUSIC 12543 (US) |
 |
AMERICA - (Ramblin' Jack ELLIOTT with Derroll ADAMS) - The Tramp On The Street / Mule Skinner's Blues / Precious Jewel / Ain't It A Shame / East Virginia Blues / Cigarettes & Whiskey / I'm Going Down The Road / Rich And Rambling Boy / I'm Gonna Walk The Street In Glory / Worried Man Blues / Wreck On The Highway / Danville Girl / More Pretty Girls Than One / 900 Miles / Talking Blues / Roll On Buddy / Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms / San Francisco Bay Blues |
| 04/1999 | CD TRADITION 1083 (US) |
 |
EARLY SESSIONS - (Ramblin' Jack ELLIOTT with Derroll ADAMS) - More Pretty Girls Than One / Roll On Buddy / Death Of John Henry / Salty Dog Blues / I'm Gonna Walk The Street In Glory / Cigarettes And Whiskey / Danville Girl / Worried Man Blues / San Francisco Bay Blues / Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms / I'm Going Down The Road |
© Rocky Productions 1/02/2005
