0541. Waylon Jennings
Honky Tonk Heroes
Okay, this is more of a "dude, you gotta hear this albums
back-story before you die" than an actual album you must
hear, but first thing's first:
This is bordering outlaw country (the genre, not an actual
physical space) and it's also Waylon Jennings' ticket into
that genre as he'd been doing more of a Nashville-sound
due to record company demands, but now had more creative
control.
Ten songs under half an hours playing time makes for stripped down, no frills country with a whiskey in one hand and a brawl in the other.
Now: on to a bit of the back-story! [a huge fact check]
Meeting songwriter Billy Joe Shaver on Willie Nelson's
first annual 4th of July festival, Waylon got so impressed
by the track Willie The Wandering Gypsy And Me that he
invited Billy Joe to record an album. Then Jennings promptly
forgot all about it until Shaver showed up in the studio,
pissed after trying to get hold of Waylon for a while, and
promising a beatdown if he didn't at least listen to the
songs. Brave words from a lone man in front of a couple of
biker body guards.
But Waylon did listen, and record the songs they did.