RCA Country Legends

Performer: Waylon Jennings
Artist: Willie Nelson; Jessi Colter; Charlie McCoy; The Jordanaires; Randy Scruggs; Jerry Reed
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Personnel includes: Waylon Jennings (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin); Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter (vocals); Gordon Payne (acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); Bobby Dyson, Jerry Bridges (electric guitar, bass); Jerry Reed, Fred Carter (electric guitar); Charlie McCoy (guitar, harmonica, vibraphone); Rance Wasson (guitar, background vocals); Randy Scruggs, Ray Edenton (guitar); Pete Drake, Ralph Mooney (steel guitar); Martin Katahan (violin); Buddy Spicher (fiddle); Marvin Chantry (viola); Martha McCrory (cello); Don Brooks (harmonica); Jim Gordon (saxophone); Ray Stevens (trumpet, vibraphone); Maurice Spears (trombone); Dee Moeller (piano, organ); Duke Goff (bass); Richie Albright (drums, percussion); The Jordanaires (background vocals). Producers include: Chet Atkins, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Ronny Light, Danny Davis. Compilation producer: Rob Santos. Recorded between March 18, 1965 and January 24, 1985. Includes liner notes by Rich Kienzle. Digitally remastered by Elliott Federman (SAJE Sound, New York, New York). This generous two-disc compilation effectively replaces the deleted ONLY DADDY THAT'LL WALK THE LINE double-disc that was initially packaged as a box set (ah, nostalgia). As such, it carries the listener through the various phases of the late country pioneer's groundbreaking career. We get '60s cuts such as Gordon Lightfoot's "That's What You Get For Lovin' Me" and Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," which show an early eclectic streak seemingly at odds with Waylon's early, more polite "Nashville" material like "Stop the World (And Let Me Off)." Perhaps most importantly, we get the mid-'70s selections that defined the term "outlaw country." "Dreaming my Dreams," "Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way," and the like are gloriously fiesty examples of a hardcore country singer mixing rock flavoring and attitude with his badass cowboy image, to earth-shaking effect. Jennings's later, mega-successful collaborations with pal/fellow outlaw Willie Nelson (most famously "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys") and the not-half-bad-when-you-think-about it theme from DUKES OF HAZZARD represent his most accessible side, but most of RCA COUNTRY LEGENDS bears out the fact that Waylon was a true country rebel.

Texan country singer Waylon Jennings was always a bit of a rocker. Early on, he played bass with Buddy Holly, and his first solo records included Beatles covers, highly unusual for a country artist at the time. Jennings was one of the key figures of the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, rejecting the lush countrypolitan sound in favor of a raw, electrified approach that owed more to the Rolling Stones than to Billy Sherrill. With a small band and simple arrangements, Jennings introduced contemporary rock-oriented grooves into his hard-hitting country sound, adding some funky grit to common-man poetics on tunes about the tougher side of life. He inspired a subsequent generation of country iconoclasts, and spurred on contemporaries like Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser.

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