Save Our Springs, R.I.P Jerry Jeff Walker. We love you man.

 

Jerry Jeff Walker, RIP This week Austin mourns the loss of music legend Jerry Jeff Walker.  Jerry Jeff passed away on Friday at the age of 78.   Our hearts and prayers go out to Jerry’s wife Susan, their children Jessie Jane and Django, and their grandchildren.  Jerry Jeff loved Barton Springs, and swam there regularly until his health began to fail.  Jerry Jeff and Susan, who managed their own Tried & True Music company, were avid Save Our Springers from the very beginning.  Susan gave a rousing speech at the all-night Barton Creek uprising at City Hall on June 7th, 1990.  Jerry Jeff played numerous SOS events over the last 30 years, including one at Barton Springs where a light rain inspired a moving rendition of “Hill Country Rain.”  Susan and Jerry hosted countless events for good causes at their home, including an SOS fundraiser featuring Robert Redford.  In 2015 they helped fight off the proposed double deck toll expansion of Mopac over Lady Bird Lake, Zilker Park, Austin High and Barton Creek.  Jerry Jeff and Susan also supported pro-environment candidates for public office from Austin to Washington DC.  SOS sued and won two separate lawsuits against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to force the Barton Springs salamander on to the endangered species list.  While FWS and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt contemplated an appeal to the 5th Circuit, Susan and Jerry Jeff made a call to the White House – countering White House-level lobbying from Austin developers.   Babbitt announced the listing of the salamander, our canary in the Springs, as a protected endangered species on Earth Day 1997.  Jerry Jeff made some of the most memorable music of the last 50 years and inspired many others with his love for life and nature.  Here Jerry Jeff joins a cast of Austin all-stars in this historic 1992 rendition of Bill Oliver’s Barton Springs Eternal.    Jerry Jeff sings eternal.

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