Jeremy Watkins Is the Father of Kylie Rae Harris’ Daughter

Jeremy Watkins

Facebook/Jeremy Watkins Jeremy Watkins pictured on Facebook in November 2016.

Jeremy Watkins is the Oklahoma-based fiddle player who is the father of Kylie Rae Harris’ child, Corbie. Harris was killed on September 5 in a car crash at age 30. Also killed in the crash was 16-year-old Maria Cruz.

In a press release, the Taos County Sheriff’s Department said that, “At this time I will say with most certainty Miss Cruz was an innocent victim of this senseless crash caused by Ms. Harris.” The press release added that alcohol has not been ruled as being involved in the crash. In October 2017, Harris was convicted of drunk driving and as a result was forced to use a breathalyzer in order to operate her car.

Watkins was identified publicly as Corbie Watkins’ father in a 2014 Buddy Magazine feature on Kylie Rae Harris. In the article, Watkins said of her daughter, “She is awesome and happy and laughs and smiles. I think part of that is coming from musical and happy parents. She has made my life so meaningful and purposeful. She’s the best thing ever. She rarely cries, is just funny and hilarious.”

Harris announced the birth of the couple’s daughter in 2013 with a Facebook post that read, “Thank you all so much for the well wishes!! Corbie Rae Watkins was born Monday afternoon, weighing 6lb14oz and measuring 19in!! She is absolutely PERFECT and we’re doing great!!”

A GoFundMe page that has been set up in the wake of Harris’ death for his daughter’s college fund has raised close to $39,000 of a $50,000 goal. According to the page, Watkins has raised $575 from six donations for the page.

A GoFundMe page has also been set up for Maria Cruz. That page has raised close to $4,000 of a $2,000 goal to help pay for her funeral.

Watkins regularly performs fiddle duties with Texas-based country music act Stoney LaRue. LaRue told Tulsa World in 2005 that putting Watkins in the band made everybody say, “Oh!” One report on Stoney LaRue says that the act plays nearly 300 shows per year.

When asked to score a group of fiddle players out of ten, legendary fiddle player Doug Moreland gave Watkins a score of seven out of ten saying the Oklahoma musician “plays a lot of notes.”

In May 2019, Watkins performed with Grammy-award winning singer/songwriter Bonnie Bishop at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While Watkins was previously a member of Red Dirt band, Jason Boland & The Stragglers. While in October 2018, Watkins was selected as part of the house band for a fundraising concert for Native American activist Leonard Peltier.

Harris dedicated the song, “20 Years From Now,” to her daughter. The song included the lyrics, via Billboard, “You deserve nothing less than happiness/ And so do I/ Twenty years from now/ My prayer is that somehow/ You’ll forgive all my mistakes and be proud of the choice I made/ God I hope I’m still around/ Twenty years from now.”

Harris went on to say that the song was penned after she’d had a difficult visit involving her daughter’s father. She referred to it as a “pretty emotionally brutal writing/therapy session.”

Kylie harris maria cruz

Facebook/Kylie Harris Facebook/Maria Cruz

Harris told Taste of Country in January 2019 about the source of inspiration for her then-upcoming EP, saying, “I have a type. My step-dad says my type doesn’t work. He’s not wrong… Fall for the bad boy, no surprise it doesn’t work out, but I continue to do it again. And again. And again. Some fools never learn.”

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