Waylon Jennings was a performing musician since the 1950’s, meeting his mentor, Buddy Holly, in Lubbock, Texas and playing as a member of his band, The Crickets. Waylon was scheduled to be on the plane ride that ended Buddy Holly’s life in 1959, but famously gave up his seat to the Big Bopper, who was suffering from a cold. After Buddy Holly’s death and throughout the 1960’s, Waylon Jennings recorded country music, moving to Nashville and developing his sound.
By the 1970’s, Waylon’s real-country honky-tonk baritone epitomized the American outlaw country movement, including his collaboration with Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, The Highwaymen. Songs like “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,” “Rainy Day Woman,” "Good Hearted Woman," and my favorite, “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way,” not to mention his narration and the theme song for the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard, cemented Waylon Jennings’ standing as a real American country superstar.
Waylon Jennings also collaborated with his wife of more than thirty years, Jessi Colter, many times over the years. Waylon passed in 2002, and Jessi says about him today, “It’s too bad that when you do the right thing, you’re called an outlaw.” Two albums dedicated to Waylon’s legacy, collaborations amongst many musicians recording his music, are called The Music Inside. As Jessi says, “Certain people can see what’s needed and do it.” Waylon Jennings was one of those people.
20 comments:
Marian, you're talkin' 'bout my kind of music, my kind of man!!
Pleased to oblige! Love :)
loved the music....thank you.
Interesting challenge, Marian. I've been thinking a lot about "the day the music died" this week, and Waylon's life and the Big Bopper's death.
I'll see if I can come up with a response to this prompt tomorrow, and I'll think about it in the meantime.
K
i'm glad this one resonates. i know buddy holly was a mentor for waylon, and i can't imagine what it was like for him, or for anyone really, on that day.
friends, i'm going to be away from computers all day but will come back around later tonight to enjoy your responses! (and to write my own.) have a great friday!
aloha and thank you Marian, for a cool prompt to explore. i've linked up.
it's interesting how easily we can sometimes identify with outlawness. maybe that is one of our links to independence. cool on the music.
lots of good music around and sometimes it runs through my skull too. aloha.
oooh, love this idea! My Dad played his music, when I was a kid! I can remember a lot of guitar parties, where his music rocked on. My parents had music parties.
Thanks Marian for reminding me! :D
Oh I so love this prompt! I have my Masters in this always-been-crazy stuff!
I had very little time today... and I have a Shakespeare play "Comedy of Errors" to attend tonight. I will swing by when I can to comment...it might be at the end of the weekend. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Have almost all of Waymore's records(yes, as actual vinyl records) and remember that whole genre of music very vividly--it makes today's country look like the mostly commercialized pop crapola it is--(I stopped listening to C&W back in the nineties, so there may be something out there now, but nothing I pick up on the radio has impressed me lately--maybe occasionally Hank III.) Very cool prompt, Marian--will see if anything comes along for it.
Your talking about my kind of mind! ;-)!
I enjoyed the music, Marian!! I wrote to your prompting of crazy-insanity...fun, thank you for the prompting!! :)
I can't say I'm a great fan (*sorry*) but the lyrics did spark of an idea.
I am a HUGE fan of Waylon Jennings!
I can always count on you for the music and that makes me happy. I listen to Waylen Jennings now and then, rarely enough that I thought it was Wailing Jennings . . . I know that's bad. When I lived in Virginia I bought the hat and my first pair of cowboy boots for a performance art piece I did comparing Elvis Presley and Roy Rogers . . . that may be in a book someday. I had fun with this. Thanks.
Marian, I love the prompt. Waylon is one of my all time favorites and crazy is just my cup of tea.
love the poems and the comments here, too! keep em coming, friends, this is a fun one. i've been trying to mix it up with the music and am never sure what will fly with you all, or somehow inspire.
been a crazy week for me, i guess that's why i'm still sane :)
lovin' the song and the prompt!
My poem is now wired for sound! (Should anyone care for a reading :)
Writing my poem was hard for me: due to its form. I am reading Ted Kooser's fine works and I so want to know his style.
Like Kerry, this is not my kind of music here -- though I enjoyed it. Yet the principle is far deep and shared by us all.
Thank you for the challenge.
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