| WAYLON JENNINGS BIOGRAPHY 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. He has sold over 40
million records worldwide. 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 protege 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 Gramrhys 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-pickin"" Telecaster guitar style, 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 Kelley, 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. In 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 years 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," "Lunckenbach, Texas," "Wurlitzer Prize," "I've Always Been
Crazy," "Amanda," "Ain't Living Long Like This" and "Just to Satisfy You," among others. 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 Cowboys," with Willie Nelson. His albums were great chart and sales
successes as well, with eight consecutive LP's going gold (there have been 13 gold albums altogether). Ol' Waylon, released in 1977, became the first
country album by a solo artist 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," an 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 1Oth 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 Two, 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 the 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 three dates with Metallica, Soundgarden and Devo, to name a few. However, Waylon's contributions have not been
confined to singing. He has been a commercial spokesman for the Pizza Hut chain. He has starred in a number of film projects, including Stagecoach, a
CBS 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 farmer. 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 lronhead Haynes. WAYLON, the authorized
autobiography, written with writer-musician Lenny Kaye, 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 survivors tale that chronicles Jennings' triumphant victory over
booze and drugs, his comeback from near- bankruptcy in the 80s and his lifesaving 27 year (and still going strong ) 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 handful 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 the business. |
