Biography
Folger earned his chief renown through a songwriting partnership with Mickey Newbury that produced the widely interpreted “Weeping Annaleah.” He also achieved modest recognition as a performer, above all with the blue-eyed soul ballad “The Way of the Crowd,” which later acquired cult status among collectors on Britain’s Northern soul scene. Born April 11, 1943, in San Rafael, CA, he passed most of his teenage years in Midland, TX. Even as a small child he picked up piano melodies by ear, and during adolescence he formed friendships with local vocalists Roy Orbison and Joe Melson, both of whom rehearsed regularly inside the Folger home. Once Orbison achieved national prominence with the 1961 pop classic “Only the Lonely,” Orbison and Melson persuaded Folger to relocate to Nashville and arranged an audition for him at the storied Acuff-Rose publishing company. The meeting yielded a staff position at Acuff-Rose as well as a recording contract with Hickory Records, the same imprint that housed Melson. Folger’s first single for the label, “There Came a Tear,” appeared in 1962; “Girl in the Night” followed the next year. Although neither disc attracted buyers, Folger quickly gained favor as a composer, frequently working alongside Melson and fellow Acuff-Rose writer Newbury, who stood at the leading edge of Nashville’s emerging singer-songwriter movement. Newbury was the first to cut their composition “Weeping Annaleah,” which gained lasting currency through subsequent versions by artists ranging from Tom Jones to the Box Tops to Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Folger never created the decisive hit that might have elevated his profile, and his own recording career likewise stalled; two further Hickory releases, 1965’s “Tell Her for Me” and 1966’s “Go on Back,” disappeared without notice. A shift to the Elf label brought the 1967 single “The Way of the Crowd,” an exemplary effort that nevertheless fared no better commercially. Folger eventually departed Nashville and spent time performing with the Gators, a rock & roll group that sustained itself by playing military bases along the Eastern Seaboard. In later decades he withdrew from public view, appearing only with a succession of little-known Christian rock ensembles. He is said to have kept composing, yet none of this later material has been published or recorded. After a prolonged battle with alcoholism, Folger died on May 23, 2006, in Bentonville, AR, at the age of 63.