Jerry Rivers
| Jerry Rivers | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 25, 1928 Miami, Florida, United States |
| Died | October 4, 1996 (aged 68) |
| Occupation(s) | Fiddler |
| Years active | 1940s-1990s |
| Associated acts | Drifting Cowboys |
Jerry Rivers (August 25, 1928 – October 4, 1996) was an American fiddle player.
Jerry Rivers was born in Miami, Florida. He played fiddle with the Drifting Cowboys, a band who will be forever associated with their "frontman", the legendary Hank Williams.
Raised in Nashville, in a house that would later serve as an office for Atlantic Records, Jerry Rivers took up the fiddle as a teenager and was, by the mid-1940s, playing it semi- professionally whilst working during the day as a salesman for an electronic components company. He turned professional, briefly toured with the Short Brothers and then found himself back in Nashville working with Big Jeff Bess, husband of Hattie Louise "Tootsie" Bess, owner of the famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Music City's Lower Broadway.
It was whilst working with Bess that Rivers was first approached by Williams. Although Hank had performed with groups from the mid-1930s on, it was only following his successful early appearances on the Grand Ole Opry in 1949 that he began to see the merits of a permanent backing band.
Despite Williams' status as a rising star, Rivers was not impressed with the financial terms on offer and initially declined. Later, encouraged by his friend, Opry guitarist Jack Boles, he had second thoughts and headed for the radio station WSM where he found his future boss at the shoe-shine stand.
They briefly talked before Williams grabbed Rivers' instrument and began playing the fiddle standard "Sally Goodin". When he had finished he challenged the younger man to follow suit whilst he accompanied on guitar. As Rivers later remembered: "We must have played it for five minutes, then he set down his guitar and I set down the fiddle, and he said, `Well, anyone (who) can play "Sally Goodin" better 'n me is a darn good fiddle player. You're hired.' "
Rivers cut his first discs with Williams on 9 January 1950, in a session that produced classics like "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me?", and "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy". Nicknamed "Burrhead" because of his haircuts, he performed on every major Williams session that followed. Fast becoming one of his best hunting and fishing buddies, Rivers and Williams struck up a friendship, Williams even naming Rivers his personal manager while in the state of Texas.
At the suggestion of Williams' mentor, the producer and publisher Fred Rose, he adopted a characteristic double-stop style of bowing: playing the melody and harmony simultaneously on two strings. It was a style that Hank dismissed as "garden seed" fiddle, but one which served Rivers well on many of Williams' greatest recordings, among them: "Moanin' The Blues" (1950), "Cold, Cold Heart" (1950), "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)" (1951), "Hey Good Lookin'" (1951) and "Jambalaya" (1952).
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