| Name | Waylon Jennings | |
|---|
| Background | solo_singer | |
|---|
| Birth name | Waylon Arnold Jennings | |
|---|
| Alias | Waymore, Hoss |
|---|
| Born | June 15, 1937Littlefield, Texas, US || |
|---|
| Died | February 13, 2002 Chandler, Arizona, US || |
|---|
| Instrument | Vocals, guitar, bass, piano| |
|---|
| Genre | Country, outlaw country, country rock| |
|---|
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter, musician | |
|---|
| Years active | 1949 – 2002 | |
|---|
| Label | RCA Victor, MCA, Epic | |
|---|
| Associated acts | Jessi Colter | |
|---|
| Url | www.waylon.com | |
|---|
| Notable instruments | Fender Telecaster |
|---|
Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937-February 13, 2002) was an
American country music singer,
songwriter, and
musician. He rose to prominence as a
bassist for
Buddy Holly following the break-up of
The Crickets. Jennings escaped death in the February 3, 1959,
plane crash that took the lives of
Buddy Holly,
Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "
The Big Bopper" Richardson, when he gave up his seat to Richardson who had been sick with the flu. Urban legend and Hollywood folklore have it that Jennings and The Big Bopper flipped a coin for the last seat on the plane, with Jennings losing. It was, in fact,
Tommy Allsup who flipped the coin for the fated plane trip, losing his seat to Valens.
By the 1970s, Jennings had become associated with so-called "outlaws," an informal group of musicians who worked outside of the Nashville corporate scene. A series of duet albums with Willie Nelson in the late '70s culminated in the 1978 crossover hit, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." In 1979, he recorded the theme song for the hit television show The Dukes of Hazzard, and also served as the narrator ("The Balladeer") for all seven seasons of the show.
He continued to be active in the recording industry, forming the group The Highwaymen with Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. Jennings released his last solo studio album in 1998. In 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Biography
Early life and career
,
Texas]]
,
Texas]]
Jennings was born in Littlefield, Texas, the seat of Lamb County, the son of Lorene Beatrice (née Shipley) and William Alvin Jennings. When Waylon was eight, his father taught him how to play guitar and Waylon formed his first band two years later. During his time working as a DJ, he befriended Buddy Holly. The two were inspired by the music of the Mayfield Brothers of West Texas, Smokey Mayfield, Herbert Mayfield, and Edd Mayfield. When he was twenty-one, Jennings was tapped by Holly to play bass in Holly's new band on a tour through the Midwest in early 1959. Holly also hired guitarist Tommy Allsup and drummer Carl "Goose" Bunch for the "Winter Dance Party" tour.
During the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, the charter airplane that carried Holly, Valens, and Richardson crashed outside Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all aboard. In his 1996 autobiography, Jennings admitted that, in the years afterward, he felt severe guilt and responsibility for the crash. After Jennings gave up his seat, Holly had jokingly told Jennings, "I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings shot back facetiously, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!" It was a statement that would haunt Jennings for decades.
Phoenix
After several years of inactivity, during which time he moved from
Texas to
Arizona and continued working in
radio, Jennings began performing and recording again, this time in
Phoenix,
Arizona. He performed at a newly opened nightspot called
JD's. He signed a contract with
Herb Alpert's newly-formed
A&M; Records, and he had a few hit singles on local radio in Phoenix, including "
Four Strong Winds" (written by
Ian Tyson) and "Just To Satisfy You" (co-written with Don Bowman). He also recorded an album on the BAT label, called simply JD's. 500 copies were pressed and sold at the nightclub and, after they sold out, another 500 copies were pressed by the Sounds label. He also played lead guitar for
Patsy Montana on a record album that she recorded in Arizona in 1964.
Duane Eddy and
Bobby Bare recommended Jennings to
producer Chet Atkins, who signed Waylon to
RCA Victor.
Bobby Bare did his own
cover of "Four Strong Winds" after he heard Jenning's version. Still under contract to A&M;, Alpert released him which allowed him to sign with
RCA Records. Jennings packed up and moved to
Nashville,
Tennessee in 1965.
The Nashville Sound
Jennings was accustomed to performing and recording with his own band, The Waylors; this was a practice that was not encouraged by Nashville producers who controlled nearly every aspect of recording. Over time, however, Jennings felt limited by the
Nashville Sound and the lack of artistic freedom that came with it, in the 1960s country music industry.
His second marriage was to Lynn Jones. He got married for a third time to Barbara Rood. He married for the fourth and final time to Jessi Colter in 1969. Colter (then known as Miriam Eddy) had been married to guitar legend Duane Eddy. With help of Jennings, Colter became a country singer in her own right for a brief period of time during the 1970s and was best-known for her 1975 country-pop smash, "I'm Not Lisa".
Jennings had grown more frustrated with the Nashville recording scene and a 1972 bout with hepatitis almost killed him. With his recording contract nearing an end, RCA had already lost another creative force that year: Jennings had met Willie Nelson, who had likewise felt frustrated by the lack of freedom in the studio and by the entire Nashville ethos, which led him to relocate his base to Texas, two years earlier. Jennings seriously considered leaving Nashville and returning to a broadcasting career in Phoenix that year.
Outlaw
Two things came along to turn Jennings' hard times around. The first was a business manager from
New York City, named Neil Reshen, and the second was his old friend
Willie Nelson. Reshen approached Jennings, who was still recovering from hepatitis, and offered to re-negotiate his recording and touring contracts. Jennings agreed and the contract re-negotiation began in earnest. At a 1972 meeting in a Nashville airport, Jennings introduced Reshen to Nelson. By the end of the meeting, Reshen was manager to both
singers. By that time, Jennings was aware of the fact that rock bands had almost unprecedented creative freedom to record what they wanted to record, with or without a producer and even to design their album covers. He wanted similar freedom for himself—an unprecedented move in 1972 Nashville. Also in 1972, RCA issued
Ladies Love Outlaws, an album that Jennings never wanted released.
, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings at Willie's 4th of July Picnic 1972.]]
Reshen drove a hard bargain but RCA finally agreed to his terms: a $75,000 advance and near-complete artistic control. Re-negotiations of his touring contracts yielded similar positive results and he began turning a profit from his touring (almost unheard-of in Nashville at that time). Waylon finally had a rock star recording contract and he looked the part; Reshen had advised him to keep the beard that he had grown in the hospital, in order to cultivate a more rock and roll image.
By 1973, Nelson had returned to the music industry under the auspices of
Atlantic Records, and was on his way to music superstardom.
Now based in Austin, Texas, Nelson had made inroads into the rock and roll press by attracting a diverse fan base that included the young rock music audience. Atlantic Records had signed Nelson when the time was right and they looked to sign Jennings as well. Nelson's rise to popularity made RCA nervous about losing another hot artist, which gave the leverage that Jennings needed in his contract re-negotiations.
He followed with Lonesome, On'ry and Mean and Honky Tonk Heroes in 1973, the first albums recorded and released under his own creative control. The albums were huge commercial and critical successes. More hit albums followed, with The Ramblin' Man and This Time, in 1974, and Dreaming My Dreams, in 1975. But it was the 1976 release of "Are You Ready for the Country?" that propelled him to superstar status. The pace of recording and performing was lucrative but grueling.
In 1976, Jennings came up and helped an old friend of his, who performed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The friend's guitarist was out sick and Jennings "had a week free in Nashville," so he came to help. The friend consented on the condition that they sing together. The friend was his former roommate Johnny Cash.
In 1976, Jennings began his career-defining collaborations with Nelson on the compilation album , country's first platinum record. The following year, RCA issued Ol' Waylon, an album that produced a huge hit country/pop duet single with Nelson, "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)." The album Waylon and Willie followed in 1978, producing their biggest hit single yet, another country/pop crossover smash, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." Jennings released I've Always Been Crazy, also in 1978, followed by a "greatest hits" album the following year. A son was born to Waylon and Jessi in May 1979. Waylon Albright Jennings, better known as "Shooter," played the role of his father in Walk the Line in 2005.
By the early 1980s, Jennings was completely addicted to cocaine. His personal finances had again unraveled and left him bankrupt, though he insisted on repaying every penny and did additional tours to satisfy the debt. His work became less focused and his tours had progressed into full rock and roll-type excesses. In a widely publicized case, he was arrested in 1977 for cocaine possession by federal agents, though due to almost comedic errors by the DEA, the charges were later dropped. The episode was recounted in Jennings' song "This Outlaw S&*%"
Addiction and recovery
Jennings decided that it was finally time to clean up, at least for a little while. He underwent the
detox process, with the intent to start using cocaine again in a more controlled fashion afterward. By Jennings' own admission in interviews, his son,
Shooter Jennings, was the main inspiration to stay off of cocaine permanently. In 1984, he went "
cold turkey" to end his cocaine addiction for good, which he later memorialized in the song "Working Without A Net", from the album "Will The Wolf Survive" (1985).
His later life was plagued with health problems, including a heart attack, bypass surgery,
and diabetes that developed after he beat his cocaine habit. Despite these problems, Jennings remained free from cocaine and continued recording and touring, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and into the new millennium. Jennings performed his final concert in late fall of 2001. According to the sleeve notes on the album, "The Crickets and their Buddies," Jennings' final recording session was his contribution to that album, where he provided the lead vocal for the Buddy Holly classic "Well All Right."
Later years
Outside the music industry, Jennings was also known as the primary voice of the narrator/balladeer on the
television series "
The Dukes of Hazzard" and its predecessor, the 1975 film, "
Moonrunners". Jennings was replaced for part of one season by "The Gentle Giant," Don Williams, during the season when the show's stars were enbattled in a contract dispute, and were replaced. The theme song, "Good Ol' Boys", an original Jennings composition, is one of the most well-known television theme songs in American television history. He also made an appearance on "
Married... with Children" and had a role in the 1985 film,
Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, as a truck driver. Jennings sang "Ain't No Road Too Long" in the movie with
Big Bird and the other "
Sesame Street" characters. Jennings was also a member of
USA for Africa for the recording of "
We Are the World" but, temperamental as ever, reportedly left the studio due to a dispute over the song's lyrics. In the early 70's, after Cash's guitar player fell ill while on tour in Canada, Waylon flew up from Nashville, where he had a free week, and filled in. Afterwards, after several solos and duets, Jennings refused to take payment for it.
In the mid-1980s, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Nelson and Jennings formed a successful group called The Highwaymen. Aside from his work with The Highwaymen, highlights from his own career include WWII with Willie Nelson, in 1982, Will the Wolf Survive in 1985, The Eagle in 1990 and Too Dumb for New York City, Too Ugly for L.A. in 1992.
In 1993, in collaboration with Rincom Children's Entertainment, Jennings recorded an album of children's songs, "Cowboys, Sisters, Rascals and Dirt", which included "Shooter's Theme", a tribute to his own son (14 years old at the time), with the theme of "a friend of mine". During the early 1990s, Jennings became good friends with the members of the group Metallica. He had also become very close to Metallica frontman James Hetfield, and influenced some material for their 1996 album Load. In 2003, James Hetfield was featured on the tribute album I've Always Been Crazy: A Tribute to Waylon Jennings, and covered Jennings' "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand?"
In 1998, Jennings teamed up with Bobby Bare, Jerry Reed and Mel Tillis to form The Old Dogs. The group recorded a double album of songs penned entirely by Shel Silverstein. In July, 1998, the Old Dogs, Volumes 1 and 2 were released on the Atlantic Records label. A companion video, as well as a Greatest Hits album (composed of previously released material by each individual artist), were also available.
In mid 1999, Jennings assembled what he referred to as his "hand-picked dream team" - and formed Waylon & The Waymore Blues Band. Consisting primarily of former Waylors, the thirteen-member group performed a limited number of concerts at select venues, from 1999 to 2001. The highlight of this period was the January 2000 recording, at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium, of what would become Jennings' final album, . An abbreviated album, composed of 14 tracks, was released in October 2000. A special edition box set, including all twenty-two tracks on two audio CDs, as well as a DVD with the complete concert and bonus features, was released on July 24, 2007 from Legacy Recordings. That concert showed Waylon Jennings still as a fighter and an outlaw. he performed with the same fire that had back in the 1970s even though he wasn't in good health.
In 2000, he provided the voice of Judge Thatchet in the animated adaptation of Tom Sawyer.
In an episode of The Angry Beavers entitled The Legend of Kid Friendly that aired in April 1999, Jennings provided the voice for the narrator/singer.
Some time during 2001, Jennings provided his voice in an episode of Family Guy during a Dukes of Hazzard parody (which would end up being his last televised appearance). The episode was entitled "To Love and Die in Dixie". The episode originally aired in November of that year. He also narrated a watch fight in an earlier episode, "Chitty Chitty Death Bang".
In October 2001, Jennings was finally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In one final act of defiance, he did not show up to accept the award and opted instead to send his son Buddy Dean Jennings in his place.
Death
Jennings suffered from worsening
diabetes that had ended most of his touring. On December 19, 2001, his left foot was amputated in a
Phoenix,
Arizona, hospital due to infection arising from his diabetes. Then, on February 13, 2002, Jennings died in his sleep of diabetic complications in
Chandler,
Arizona. He is interred in the Mesa City Cemetery,
Mesa,
Arizona.
Posthumous
In the 2005
Johnny Cash biopic
Walk the Line, Waylon was portrayed by his son,
Shooter, as a tribute to him, though the younger man's shoulder-length hair and beard made him look little like his father appeared at the time (circa 1966) when Cash and Jennings shared an apartment outside Nashville. Shooter also plays his father in a scene set several years previously; for this scene he did cut his hair and shave, heightening the resemblance to Waylon.
On March 22, 2006, Jennings' mother Lorene Beatrice (née Shipley) Jennings died in Littlefield, Texas, at the age of 84.
On July 6, 2006, Jennings was inducted to Hollywood's Rock Wall in Hollywood, California, along with former bandmate Kris Kristofferson.
In 2006, Jennings received a tribute from John Schneider, Tom Wopat, and Catherine Bach (Bo, Luke, and Daisy Duke). Waylon composed Theme from "The Dukes of Hazzard" (Good Ol' Boys) and was also The Balladeer, or narrator, on the show. Schneider, Wopat, and Bach reworked the theme song, added to it and re-recorded it. They also made a video for the song, which is on the seventh-season Dukes of Hazzard DVD set. The song ends with Daisy (Catherine Bach) saying, "We love you, Waylon," in the music outro. This project was done with the blessing of Waylon's widow, Jessi Colter.
On June 20, 2007, Jennings was posthumously awarded the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award by the Academy of Country Music. Son Shooter Jennings accepted the award on his father's behalf posthumously.
Discography
Awards
See also
Outlaw country
Academy of Country Music
List of country musicians
Country Music Association
List of best-selling music artists
Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame
Further reading
Denisoff, R. Serge. Waylon: A Biography (1983). Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 0-87049-387-6.
Smith, John L. (compiled by) The Waylon Jennings Discography (1995). Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29745-2.
Jennings, Waylon, and Kaye, Lenny. Waylon: An Autobiography (1996). Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-60512-3.
Flippo, Chet. (1998). "Waylon Jennings." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 263–4.
References
Waylon Jennings was a regular at Window Rock Civic center capital of Navajo Nation.
External links
Official Website
Waylon Jennings : February 15, 2002 - Fresh Air from WHYY (RealAudio)
at the Country Music Hall of Fame
at Hollywood's RockWall
USA Today Obituary
Waylon Jennings' Gravesite
Discography at Luma Electronic
Youtube Video with Waylon Jennings' Music: "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys"
Category:1937 births
Category:2002 deaths
Category:American country guitarists
Category:American country singers
Category:American country singer-songwriters
Category:American male singers
Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Deaths from diabetes
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:People from Texas
Category:People from the Texas South Plains
Category:Musicians from Texas
Category:RCA Victor artists
Category:American amputees
Category:The Highwaymen (country supergroup) members
