Jerry Merrick
Jerry Merrick was an American singer-songwriter. His songs have been recorded by Richie Havens, B.J. Thomas, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Susan Tedeschi. Merrick is best known for writing "Follow," which appeared on the 1967 Richie Havens LP "Mixed Bag" (MCA Verve/Folkways), which "Rolling Stone" called a "Sixties folk epic." Havens also performed the song in concert appearances at the Newport Folk Festival and Carnegie Hall. It has since appeared on the soundtracks of several films. Merrick also wrote "From the Prison," which Richie Havens recorded for his second studio LP, "Something Else Again", released in January  1968 Something Else Again. Havens opened his set at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair ("Woodstock") with "From the Prison" . Havens was the opening act at Woodstock, so Merrick's song thus has the distinction of being the first song sung at Woodstock. Subsequently, Merrick went on to record an album of original compositions for Mercury Records, released in 1969. Following this he moved his family away from New York City 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. He later  decided to focus on his growing family, eventually leading him to withdraw from the music industry Meanwhile, his song "Guess I'll Pack My Things" was recorded by Tom Ghent on his self-titled debut for Bill Cosby's Tetragrammaton Records. This led B.J. Thomas to include the song on his 1970 Scepter album, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head." Jerry Jeff Walker later recorded Merrick's "The Stranger (He Was the Kind)" on his double album "A Man Must Carry On." Walker also included "Follow" on his Electra release, "Jerry Jeff." In 1999 Merrick located temporarily in Nashville, Tennessee . During this time he recorded "Suddenly I'll Know You," produced by Tom Ghent on his Sutherland Records label. Jerry Merrick died peacefully on January 2, 2019, from throat cancer.