Krekel, Tim (1950-24th June 2009)

He was a guitarist and singer-songwriter born in Louisville, Kentucky, where his first chosen instrument was the drums. When he was around 10 years old he started to have guitar lessons and decided that this was what he wanted to concentrate on and by the time he was twelve he was performing at gigs.

He became a member of The Octaves and then towards the latter half of the 1960s he joined the locally popular group Dusty who got a recording contract and moved to New York. He returned to Louisville after just six months as he wanted to concentrate more on the songwriting side of his career.

He began to perform gigs in Nashville and it wasn’t long before he found himself touring with Billy Swan and then after he returned to Nashville and was performing one night he was spotted by Jimmy Buffett’s manager and Chet Atkins. They both recommended him to Jimmy Buffett and this led to him working for several years with him as lead guitarist in the recording studio, on tour and in the movie FM.

At the end of the 1970s he decided to branch out on his own and recorded his first solo album, Crazy Me. Continuing to perform and tour nationally for several years, 1986 saw him releasing his second album Over the Fence with The Sluggers. A further five years came and went before his Out of the Corner was released in 1991 and it was soon after that he returned to Louisville and started the band The Groovebillys.

Appearing with several artists through the course of his career including Skeeter Davis, Bo Diddley, Steve Forbert, Mark Germino, Delbert McClinton, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Pam Tillis he appeared on albums that include his other solo albums such as Happy Town, World Keeps Turnin’ and Soul Season and also Son of a Son of a Sailor by Jimmy Buffett, New Fingerprints by Greg “Fingers” Taylor, Old Rock ‘n’ Roller by Greg Taylor, Dream Goes On by Lee Clayton, Love Slave and Mellowlicious by Marshall Chapman and Four by Billy Swan.

As a songwriter he wrote his first when he was still at high school and since then has written alone, and co-written with Matraca Berg, several successful hit songs such as “Turning Away” by Crystal Gayle, “Cry on the Shoulder of Love” by Martina McBride and “You Can Feel Bad” by Patty Loveless, which also won him a 1997 BMI Country Award. Other songs include his co-written “Come Around” sung by Kim Richey and featured in the movie For Love of the Game and his work has been performed and recorded by artists that include Canned Heat, Dr. Feelgood, Rick Nelson, Jerry Reed, Shakin’ Stevens, B.J. Thomas and many more.

Suffering from cancer he passed away in June 2009 at the age of 58.

Jimmy Buffett recordings
Cheeseburger in Paradise (Jimmy Buffett)

Sources:

Krekel, Tim (1950-24th June 2009)

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