Waylon Live [The Expanded Edition]

Performer: Waylon Jennings
Engineer: Al Pachucki
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); Billy Ray Reynolds (guitar); Larry Whitmore (12-string guitar); Ralph Mooney (steel guitar); Roger Crabtree (harmnica); Richie Albright (drums). Producers: Waylon Jennings, Ray Pennington. Reissue producer: Mike Ragogna. Recorded at The Western Place, Dallas, Texas on September 25, 1974 and The Opry House, Austin, Texas on September 26, 1974. Originally released on RCA. Includes liner notes by Rich Kienzle. All tracks have been digitally remastered. WAYLON LIVE is part of Buddha Records' Original Masters series. Personnel: Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); Billy Ray Reynolds (guitar, background vocals); Larry Whitmore (12-string guitar); Ralph Mooney (steel guitar); Roger Crabtree (harmonica); Duke Goff (bass); Richie Albright (drums). Recorded live at The Western Place, Dallas, Texas on September 25, 1974 and at The Opry House, Austin, Texas, February 26, 1974. Includes liner notes by Rich Kienzle. Personnel: Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar); Billy Ray Reynolds (guitar); Larry Whitmore (12-string guitar); Roger Crabtree (harmonica); Ritchie Albright (drums). Audio Mixers: Dennis Ferrante; Vic Anesini. Liner Note Author: Rich Kienzle. Recording information: The Opry House, Austin, TX (09/25/1974-09/27/1974); The Western Place, Dallas, TX (09/25/1974-09/27/1974). Photographers: Charlyn Zlotnik; Scott Newton. Arranger: Waylon Jennings. WAYLON LIVE was originally conceived as a double album, containing tracks from two 1974 performances. However, it was initially released (in 1976) as a single LP. This 1999 reissue (Buddha also did Waylon's discography proud with the re-release of the seminal HONKY TONK HEROES and others) finally sees WAYLON LIVE presented in all its 20-track glory. Waylon in his mid-'70s prime is a joy to hear, accompanied by the famed version of his band that includes steel wizard Ralph Mooney and drummer/right-hand man Richie Albright. Coming off the genre-defining success of 1973's HONKY TONK HEROES, Waylon is at his roughest and rowdiest here. He comes charging out of the gate with a jolting, electrified version of Jimmie Rodgers' "T For Texas" and celebrates his infamy on the Willie Nelson-penned "Me and Paul." Preceding cowpunk by over a decade, he injects rock-influenced energy and rhythm into the country equation. Even such nods to western swing as "Bob Wills is Still the King" and "Big Ball in Cowtown" are full of the grit and fire synonymous with this golden period in Waylon's career. Waylon Jennings' 1976 album Waylon Live is generally considered as one of the great live albums in country music -- and, when pressed, it's easy to make an argument that it's among the finest of the decade -- and Buddha's 1999 reissue seemed to be the final word on the record, since it restored the record to its scrapped original double-album running length, taking it from 11 to 20 songs. Just four years later, however, BMG Heritage issued Waylon Live: The Expanded Edition, which more than doubled its length to 42 songs over two discs. Most concerts don't last that long and it is true that this expanded Waylon Live isn't taken from just one gig; it was taken from three concerts in late September 1974: one show at the Western Place in Dallas on the 25th and two dates at the Opry House in Austin on the 26th and 27th. Simply put, Jennings was on fire these three days, at the peak of his powers as a performer, turning out music that was rebelliously rowdy and sweetly poignant. These shows were also at a crucial time, just as he was reaching the summit of his creativity, and this new expanded track listing has him looking back ten years while living thoroughly in the moment. There's a little bit of everything here: hits and album tracks, covers of classic country and current rock hits, newly written songs and tunes he's never sung before, songs recorded for RCA in the '60s, and songs yet to be released. It covers a hell of a lot of ground, but there's not a bad choice or performance here, and its freewheeling, all-encompassing scope makes as strong a case for Jennings' deep, far-ranging gifts as the classic studio albums Honky Tonk Heroes and Dreaming My Dreams. In its own way, it's as good as an introduction to Jennings as either of the double-disc greatest-hits collections Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line and RCA Country Legends; while those contain original hit versions recordings which illustrate how consistent and adventurous he was in the studio, this is similarly eclectic and contains plenty of heart, guts, soul, and fire. These performances are as good as Jennings ever got, which means it's tremendous and one of the rare cases where the album truly deserves such an expanded treatment. Absolutely essential. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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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