| Waylon Jennings is one of a
handful of towering figures behind the phenomenal success that country music is
enjoying today. At a time when country's audience easily embraces diversity and
when platinum albums are getting to be more and more common, Waylon stands as a
true forerunner. He was among the first to pull north and south, rural and city,
college kids and blue collar workers into a unified movement and was the first,
both as a solo artist and on the collaboration "Wanted: The Outlaws," to go
platinum as a country artist.
Modern Country music owes much of
its broad-based appeal and rugged individualism to Waylon, a man whose career
stretches from the mid-'50s, when he was a protégé of Buddy Holly, through four
decades whose music he has helped shape. He has influenced instrumental and
vocal styles, shaped attitudes and launched major trends, all by staying true to
himself and his vision.
Along the way, he has won
Grammies and CMA awards while connecting with his audience in a way that few
have, becoming one of the industry's true all-time legends in the process.
Born in 1937 in
Littlefield, Texas, he grew up listening to folk songs and the music
of
seminal artists like Jimmie Rodgers and
later, to singers that ranged from Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb and Webb Pierce to
B.B. King and Bobbie "Blue" Bland. He was a disc jockey at 14, and had already
formed his own band at the age of 12, making guest appearances on local station
KDAV's "Sunday Party," where he met Holly in 1955.
"Mainly what I learned from
Buddy," Waylon says, "was an attitude. He loved music, and he taught me that it
shouldn't have any barriers to it." Holly produced Waylon's first
record and used him as a bass player -- it was Waylon who gave up his seat to
the Big Bopper on the plane that would crash, killing Holly and Ritchie Valens
as well. By the early- to mid- '60s, Waylon was headlining a club called JD's in
Phoenix, putting out a sound that combined his "chicken-picken" Telecaster
guitar style, with his rough-edged, soulful vocals and an eclectic repertoire
that often borrowed from rock and rockabilly.
This combination was as
popular as it was groundbreaking
"We got long-haired people, lawyers,
doctors, and all the cowboys," he says. Word got around, and after a short stint
at Herb Alpert's A&M Records, he was signed to RCA by Chet Atkins. By 1968, he had hit the top
five with "Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line" and "Walk On Out Of My Mind," and a
year later he won a Grammy for a version of "MacArthur Park." He also recorded
with the Kimberleys, and recorded several songs for the soundtrack album of "Ned
Kelly," a feature film starring Mick Jagger.
Still, the Nashville
"system," in which producers often stamped their own ideas and formulas onto
artists, was something Waylon was struggling against mightily. "Every business has its system that works for 80 percent of the people who are
in it," he says, "but there's always that other 20 percent who just don't fit
in. That's what happened to me, and it happened to Johnny Cash, and it happened
to Willie Nelson. We just couldn't do it the way it was set up. It wasn't until
I started producing my own records and using my own musicians and working with
people who understood what I was about that I first started having any real
success."
When it came, though, it came
hard and heavy. Albums like 1973's "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" and 1974's "This
Time," which he co-produced with Willie Nelson, caught the attention of critics
outside of country circles and reasserted him as one of the genre's truly
innovative stylists. He also teamed up with Nelson for the first of the Fourth
of July picnics in Texas that solidified the demographic mix that would turn
into country's modern audience.
n 1975, Waylon was named the Country Music Association's Male Vocalist of the
Year, and in 1976, he helped found a movement that would change the face of
country. In that year, Waylon, Willie,
Jessi Colter (who married Waylon in 1969) and Tompall Glaser teamed up for
"Wanted: The Outlaws" that became the first platinum (one million units) album
ever recorded in Nashville. It also helped Waylon and Willie sweep that year's
CMA Awards, winning Best Album, Best Single and Best Vocal Duo (for "Good
Hearted Woman").
This period found Waylon
hitting Billboard's Number One singles spot with song after song, from 1974's
"This Time" through "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way," "Luckenbach, Texas,"
"Wurlitzer Prize," "I've Always Been Crazy," "Amanda," "Ain't Living Long Like
This," and "Just to Satisfy You," among other. In 1978, he won his second Grammy
for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for "Mamas, Don't Let Your
Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboy," with Willie Nelson.
His albums were great chart and
sales successes as well, with eight consecutive LP's going gold (there have been
13 altogether). "Ol' Waylon," released in 1977 became the first country album by
a solo artists to go platinum, and Greatest Hits, two years later, entered
uncharted territory by going quadruple platinum. Waylon continued to cross
barriers and bridge gaps musically. "Never Could Toe the Mark" became the first
country album to premier on Showtime's "Album Flash," and his "audiography," and
autobiographical record and one-man Broadway-style show called "A Man Called
Hoss" were true milestones.
He has released a children's
album, "Cowboys, Sisters, Rascals & Dirt," and has spoken to schoolchildren
about the importance of staying in school. A 10th grade dropout, Waylon
successfully completed studies for his GED in 1989, and has been a spokesperson
for that program. In 1993, RCA Records assembled
a 40-song retrospective boxed set called "Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line: The
RCA Years," celebrating Waylon's 20 years on the label from 1965 to 1985.
Admiring the respect and care, which he was accorded in the collection, Waylon
re-signed with RCA in the fall of 1994 to record "Waymore's Blues (Part II),"
with Don Was producing. In 1996, RCA issued a Twentieth Anniversary edition of
"Wanted: The Outlaws."
Waylon has been highly visible
on other recorded projects as well. He recorded a duet with Neil Diamond on "One
Good Love," which was part of Diamond's "Tennessee Moon" album and recorded a
track with Mark Knopfler for the tribute "Notfadeaway: Remembering Buddy Holly"
for Decca Records. Another example of his enduring diversity was when he joined
the Lollapalooza tour in 1996, performing several dates with Metallica,
Soundgarden, and Rancid to name a few. However, Waylon's contributions
have not been confined to singing. He has been a commercial spokesperson for the
Pizza Hut chain. He starred in a number of film projects, including
"Stagecoach," a CBS-TV movie with the Highwaymen, "Oklahoma City Dolls," an
ABC-TV movie with Eddie Albert and Susan Blakeley, "Follow That Bird," a Sesame
Street movie in which Waylon played a framer. He had a cameo in the "Maverick"
movie, for which he also contributed "You Don't Mess Around With Me" to the
soundtrack. He also had a role on Fox-TV's "Married with Children," playing a
wizened mountain prophet named Ironhead Haynes.
WAYLON, the authorized
autobiography, written with writer-musician Lenny Kaye (of Patty Smith), was
released on Warner Books in September 1996. In it, Waylon recalls with
no-holds-barred honesty and insight, countless music biz stories -- some
hilarious, and some harrowing. It's a survivor's tale that chronicles Jennings'
triumphant victory over drugs, his comeback from near-bankruptcy in the 80's and
his lifesaving 28 year (and still going) marriage to Jessi Colter. The book
received rave reviews and hit the best seller list in numerous markets.
Although he has known success
for three decades and has long since been accorded "legendary" status, Waylon is
still both highly active and highly visible. While some of the handfuls of
performers who share living legend status with him have taken a back seat in
recent years, Waylon continues to make his mark in several areas of show
business.
His contributions to the
country music industry he helped shape continue unabated. The man who has done
so much to define the edge and the attitudes that are part of the parameters of
country music today, remains one of the true GIANTS of this business.
Waylon has been honored by being inducted
into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Source:
Waylon.Com
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