Waylon Jennings
Performance Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976
No one personified the hard-living, honky tonk
life tas much as Waylon did. Born in Littlefield, Texas, in 1937,
he played bass with rock-and-roll legend Buddy Holly in the 1950s,
roomed and misbehaved with Johnny Cash in the 1960s, and had dozens
of top-ten hits along the way—including 1978’s "Mama
Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." But it was as an
"Outlaw" that Waylon made his biggest contribution. Along
with co-conspirators Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, Billy Joe Shaver,
and others, the Outlaws streamlined arrangements, eschewed clichéd
lyrics, and modernized country music by looking back to its soulful
roots and mixing in a shot of rock-and-roll. |
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