Biography
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Born
27 November 1925
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Born In
Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, United States
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Died
6 February 2000 (aged 74)
Derroll Adams (born 27 November 1925 in Portland, Oregon; died 6 February 2000 in Antwerp, Belgium) was an American folk musician. Derroll was a noted exponent of the banjo. Although not well known in the mainstream, he inspired a host of other artists.
During the 1950s, Adams was busking around the West Coast music scene when he met Ramblin' Jack Elliott in the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles. The two traveled around and recorded albums, among them 'Cowboys' and 'The Rambling Boys'. Elliott was a close friend over Adams' lifetime and they toured together. Although born in America, Adams spent much of his time in Europe.
Adams' recording career was somewhat uneven, and like Elliott, he was better known for whom he influenced - Donovan, among others - than for his own art. With Elliott, Adams had gone to England to perform and record. Elliott returned to the US, while Adams stayed in Europe. He took Donovan, who had been playing around the UK with Gypsy Dave, under his wing as a sort of protégé; as a result, the influence of American traditional music can be distinctly heard in Donovan's earlier work, including the song 'Epistle To Derroll'.
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