Jerry Merrick is best known for writing "Follow" which appears on the classic 1967 Richie Havens release "Mixed Bag" (MCA Verve/Folkways). Subsequently, Jerry went on the record an album of original compositions for Mercury Records released in 1969. Following this he moved his family away from NYC and teamed up briefly with fellow Mercury artist Kenny Rankin to appear on "The Tonight Show," and open for Flip Wilson in various venues throughout the US. However, a decision to focus on his growing family eventually led him to withdraw from the music business altogether. Meanwhile, his song "Guess I'll Pack My Things," had been recorded by Tom Ghent on his self-titled debut for Bill Cosby's Tetragrammaton Records. Apparantly, this led to the song (and arrangement) being included by B.J. Thomas on his wildly poplular 1970 Scepter release "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."
Other credits:
"The Stranger" "A Man Must Carry On" - Jerry Jeff Walker (1977) MCA
"Follow" "Jerry Jeff" - Jerry Jeff Walker (1978) Electra
"Follow" "Hope and Desire" - Susan Tedeschi (2005) Verve Forecast
about Follow:
"I had a real fondness for 'Follow,' a Jerry Merrick song he wrote when we all lived in the Village." - Jerry Jeff Walker in his book"Gypsy Song Man"
". . . it became one of the biggest songs I've ever done." - Richie Havens on liner notes of "Resume: The Best of Richie Havens" (Rhino 1993)
". . . a "Sixties folk epic." - Barry Walters, "Hope and Desire:Review", Rolling Stone, November 17, 2005
Movies and TV ("Follow"):
"Coming Home" (1978) with Jane Fonda and Jon Voight (3 Oscars)
"Flying Blind" (1992 TV movie) with Corey Parker, Téa Leoni, Robert Bauer
"The War" (1994) with Elijah Wood, Kevin Costner, Mare Winningham
"The Pallbearer" (1996) with David Schwimmer, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Rapaport
"Hideous Kinky" (1998) with Kate Winslet, , Saïd Taghmaoui, Bella Riza
"A Walk on the Moon" (1999) with Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber
"Steal This Movie" (2000) with Vincent D'Onofrio, Janeane Garofalo, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Kevin Pollak
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