She Who Must Be Obeyed and I spent a great day in Nashville today, touring the Country Music Hall of Fame and actually enjoying a gift shop for once. Found a Sundazed LP release of Waylon Jennings' Goin' Down Rockin' - The Last Recordings in a record bin in the gift shop. That and the new Guy Clark record. Still have to listen to that one, but I pulled the plastic cover off ol' Waymore's last effort before his death in 2002 (has it been that long?) and was forcefully reminded why I am such a huge fan of Waylon Jennings. This album is recorded honesty. In that regard, it's in the same category as Johnny Cash's last four "American" recordings.
Waylon was the first country artist I found I could listen to - not just play - as a 20 year old college disc jockey working at a 1000 watt daytime country music station 20 miles north of Chattanooga in the summer of 1974. Slow Rollin' Low; Lonesome, O'nry & Mean; and Slow Movin' Outlaw are still burned into my mind. This was country that wasn't "country". These were real stories, told in as musically honest a fashion as any I'd heard before, or have heard since. And tonight, I heard that magic again.
There are two versions of this album. The analog multi-track recording was released on CD in 2012 and features full instrumentation, added by Waylon's long-standing backup band - the Waylors - after he recorded the initial tracks in Robby Young's Nashville studio between 1999 and 2002. Robby waited ten years to finish the production, with the full support of Waylon's wife Jessi Colter and his son, Shooter. But this album, which got Sundazed's full 180 gram quiet vinyl treatment in 2013 is nothing but the original 3 tracks mixed to stereo with very tasteful reverb: Waylon's vocals, his acoustic guitar, and Robby's very subdued bass. This recording is absolutely magnificent in its intimacy. While not all of the songs are "great", there are a number of true gems on this 12-song album, and the presentation conveys as honest a look at a man's mind as he contemplates his mortality as any I've ever heard.
A truly bad-ass album, in every good way possible. If you like country music at all, snag a copy of this one.
Waylon was the first country artist I found I could listen to - not just play - as a 20 year old college disc jockey working at a 1000 watt daytime country music station 20 miles north of Chattanooga in the summer of 1974. Slow Rollin' Low; Lonesome, O'nry & Mean; and Slow Movin' Outlaw are still burned into my mind. This was country that wasn't "country". These were real stories, told in as musically honest a fashion as any I'd heard before, or have heard since. And tonight, I heard that magic again.
There are two versions of this album. The analog multi-track recording was released on CD in 2012 and features full instrumentation, added by Waylon's long-standing backup band - the Waylors - after he recorded the initial tracks in Robby Young's Nashville studio between 1999 and 2002. Robby waited ten years to finish the production, with the full support of Waylon's wife Jessi Colter and his son, Shooter. But this album, which got Sundazed's full 180 gram quiet vinyl treatment in 2013 is nothing but the original 3 tracks mixed to stereo with very tasteful reverb: Waylon's vocals, his acoustic guitar, and Robby's very subdued bass. This recording is absolutely magnificent in its intimacy. While not all of the songs are "great", there are a number of true gems on this 12-song album, and the presentation conveys as honest a look at a man's mind as he contemplates his mortality as any I've ever heard.
A truly bad-ass album, in every good way possible. If you like country music at all, snag a copy of this one.
