Jerry O Update

[Funky 4 Corners]

As a few of you may recall I wrote a short book about Jerry O, aka Jerry Murray a couple of years ago. Unsure of the level of interest I only had 150 copies published and they sold out within a couple of weeks. As with most non- fiction books, especially those dealing with previously unpublished / little known topics, as soon as the first copies went out, previously unknown information began to emerge. Originally I was not sure exactly where Jerry was born or died other than Bernie Hayes thinking he was from Mississippi and knew he died there in a car accident around '74, on a visit t his family. My first incoming contact was from Shawn Payton, son of Larry Payton who was very influential in Jerry's entry into the recording business and I'm sure I gave a summary of this a year or so ago. The next contact was from one of Jerry's nieces from Arcola, Mississippi where Jerry was born and lived with his grandmother before moving north to Detroit. Arcola is a very small town, population 361 and sits on the crossroads of Highways 61 and 438, about 18 miles southeast of Greenville. The good folk of Arcola are familiar with Jerry's career and indeed in 2017 dedicated the annual town festival to him and I was fortunate enough to link up with a couple of other family relatives and also the Lady Mayor, Cora Shorter Burnside. They were impressed with the level of interest in Jerry, specially in the UK and I sent a copy of the book to Cora to put in the town's library. Cora messaged me yesterday to say that the book had been well received and they plan to hold a Jerry O festival annually from now on. This year's festival was held on August 7th.

[Premium Stuff]

Really appreciate the update Keith

Thanks for posting

Cheers

Richard

[Roburt]

1965 & he was DJing in person & doing spots on the radio ..

has his home town run a celebration festival yet ?

Edited February 28, 2023 by Roburt