The Essential

Performer: Waylon Jennings
Producer: Willie Nelson; Chet Atkins; Waylon Jennings; Jimmy Bowen; Danny Davis; Ray Pennington; Tompall Glaser; Gary Scruggs; Chips Moman; Richie Albright; Ron Haffkine; Jack Clement; Ken Mansfield; Jerry Bridges; James Musil; Ronny Light; Shooter Jennings (Compilation); Rob Santos (Compilation)
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Waylon Jennings (guitar); Dolores Edgin, June Page, Temple Riser, Dorothy Dillard, E. Duane West, Priscilla Hubbard, Ernest West, Bob Tebow, Vangie Carmichael, Raymond Walker, Kay Klinger, Laverna Moore, Ronald Drake, Hugh Stoker, Gary Paxton, Gene Merlino, Ginger Holladay, Anita Kerr, Sharon Vaughn, Stan Farber, William Brown, William Wright, Becky Williams, Neal Matthews, Carter Robertson, Louis Dean Nunley, Hoyt Hawkins, Lea Jane Berinati (vocals); Chip Young, Chips Moman, James Colvard, Billy Joe Walker, Jr., David Carroll Kirby, Larry Whitmore, Carl Gay, John 'Bucky' Wilkin, Fred Carter, Gary Scruggs, Gordon Payne, Jerry Gropp, Jerry Reed, Jimmy Capps, John Hug, Johnny Gimble, Larry Byrom, Randy Scruggs, Ray Edenton, Reggie Young , Sonny Curtis, Wayne Moss, Fred Newell, Billy Ray Reynolds, Rance Wasson, Dale Sellers, Fletcher Watson, Bobby Thompson (guitar); Pete Drake, Ralph Mooney (steel guitar); Sheldon Kurland, Lennie Haight, Lawrence Herzberg, Steven Smith, George Binkley III, Brenton Banks, Stephanie Woolf (violin); Tommy Jackson, Tommy Williams , Buddy Spicher (fiddle); Marvin Chantry, Gary VanOsdale (viola); David Vanderkooi, Byron Bach (cello); Don Brooks, Roger Crabtree (harmonica); Jim Gordon (saxophone); Don Sheffield, Kyle Lehning, William Joor, Mack Johnson, George Tidwell (trumpet); Maurice Spears (trombone); David Briggs , Bunky Keels, Floyd Cramer, Glen D. Hardin, John Jarvis, Hargus "Pig" Robbins, Charles Cochran (piano); Dee Moeller, Larry Butler , Andy McMahon, Ray Stevens (organ); Jim Haber, Barny Robertson (keyboards); Richard Morris (marimba); Jerry Bridges, Henry Strezelecki, Don Smith , Duke Goff, Joe Allen, Lee Miller, Leon Rhodes, Norbert Putnam, Paul Foster, Roy Huskey, Bee Spears, Sherman Hayes, Joe Osborne, Bob Moore , Charlie McCoy , Bobby Dyson (bass guitar); Dan Mustoe, D.J. Fontana, John Guerin, Kenneth A. Buttrey, Larrie Londin, Matt Betton, Ritchie Albright, Jerry Carrigan, Willie Ackerman, Buddy Harman (drums). Additional personnel: Jessi Colter, Willie Nelson (vocals). The pride of Littlefield, Texas, Waylon Jennings was a member of Buddy Holly and the Crickets during the fateful 1959 tour that ended with Holly's death in a plane crash. But by the early 1970s, the ferociously talented and mercurial singer-songwriter had completely erased his early status as a rock-&-roll footnote. Almost singlehandedly inventing the entire genre of outlaw country alongside his friend Willie Nelson, Jennings's '70s and '80s material sounds as fresh on THE ESSENTIAL WAYLON JENNINGS as it did at the time of its release. Country rockers like "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" and gentler ballads like his duet with wife Jessi Colter, "Storms Never Last," showcase both sides of Jennings's career, while "Good Ol' Boys," the theme to the TV series THE DUKES OF HAZZARD, remains probably his best-known song.

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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