Celebration of Tim’s Life

Fans honor passing of beloved musician
By Diane Heilenman 

From the Louisville Courier-Journal

Here’s a photo gallery.

The parade to mourn the passing of musician and songwriter Tim Krekel was a joy to see.

The marchers, some wearing Mardi Gras necklaces, carried colorful umbrellas, maracas, tambourines and helium balloons down Frankfort and Story avenues yesterday. They wore flip-flops and cowboy boots, red suede and black patent leather.

There was a trombone, a tuba, a trumpet, a half-dozen saxophones, mouth harps, guitars and one accordion, all riffing to honor one of Louisville’s best-known musicians and songwriters.

Krekel died Wednesday at his home. He was 58.

“He could go to amazing places on the guitar with his songs,” said artist Peggy Middleton, who first heard Krekel in the 1970s at the Snack Shack. “He was really special.”

Krekel got his start in Louisville at 13, playing guitar at Fontaine Ferry Park for 35 cents. He later played with Jimmy Buffett, Bo Diddley, Skeeter Davis and Lonnie Mack, and wrote No. 1 hits for Patty Loveless and Crystal Gayle.

The parade began at a private memorial service at James Lee Presbyterian Church on Frankfort Avenue and ended with a public memorial service at The Vernon Club on Story Avenue.

Krekel’s widow, Debora Cooper, who wore her husband’s wedding suit, was at the head of the procession, along with Krekel’s son, Jason, who played his father’s guitar and sang his father’s gospel-style song, “State of Grace.”

Close to 500 walkers and a few mourners on bicycles made the three-block trip, with perhaps that many again showing up at The Vernon Club, a bowling alley and nightclub.

They brought flowers, dance steps, happy memories and a robust thirst for one more beer and one more round of Krekel’s music.

“The last show he did was here,” said Eric Widmayer, manager of The Vernon. It was May 30, after Krekel was diagnosed with stomach cancer in March.

“He loved the place,” Widmayer said. “He wanted the club to do really well.”

That’s why the family picked The Vernon for the memorial, he said.

The crowd filled the club to capacity, and some people had to wait outside for others to leave before they could enter. The stage was packed with Krekel’s band members and other musical colleagues. They played only Krekel’s songs. 

Paula Watson was there, recalling that Krekel, “played at my wedding.”

Her former husband, Bob Watson, was there too. The former accountant and retired high school business teacher wore a T-shirt that said “Tim Krekel and the Groovebillys.”

“I met Tim in 1969 at the Red Dog Saloon on Washington Street,” Watson said. “He played lead guitar for Jimmy Buffett. He went to Nashville and wrote songs and when he came back to Louisville he lived upstairs in my house. … He didn’t care he wasn’t big, he told me a couple of years ago. He just wanted to make his music and write songs. He was just an amazing musician.”

Cindy Boel, a saddlebred horse trainer in Prospect, said she was a “long, longtime fan.”

“Fan is not quite the word,” she said. “I am at the core of a group that loved him as a person and as a musician. Whether you are a doctor, a lawyer, a biker, you came to see Tim. You were a Krekel fan — a Krekkie.”

Most of the Krekkies are “between 50 and 70,” she said. “That’s an amazing group to go out dancing their asses off on a Saturday night until 2 a.m.”

Working with Buffett, Krekel played on the “Son of a Son of a Sailor” album and appeared with Buffett on Saturday Night Live and in the film, “FM.”

He also worked on his own, and had the bands the Groovebillys, the Kasualties and TKO, as in the Tim Krekel Orchestra.

He won a BMI Country Award in 1997 for “You Can Feel Bad,” a song he co-wrote with Matraca Berg that hit the top of the charts when sung by Loveless. His last personal album was “Soul Season” in 2007.

“He was one of a kind” and won’t be quickly replaced as a musical giant and mentor in Louisville, said John Cage, a Baptist minister and musician.

“He called me every day,” said TKO saxophone player Michael Murphy. “I know Tim had a lot of best friends but he was my best friend. I was there when he died.”

Ear X-tacy Records is handling a fund to offset Krekel’s medical bills. Donations can be made to The KREK fund, c/o ear X-tacy Records, 1534 Bardstown Road, Louisville, KY 40205.

Reporter Diane Heilenman can be reached at (502) 582-4682.