1.
Album
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Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
2.
Waylon Jennings
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Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Jennings began playing guitar at eight and began performing at 14 on KVOW radio and his first band was The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a DJ on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI, in 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jenningss first recording session, of Jole Blon and When Sin Stops. Holly hired him to play bass, in Clear Lake, Iowa, Jennings gave up his seat on the ill-fated flight that crashed and killed Holly, J. P. Richardson, Ritchie Valens, and pilot Roger Peterson. Jennings then worked as a DJ in Coolidge, Arizona, and he formed a rockabilly club band, The Waylors. He recorded for independent label Trend Records and A&M Records before succeeding with RCA Victor after achieving creative control, during the 1970s, Jennings joined the Outlaw Country movement. He released critically acclaimed albums Lonesome, Onry and Mean and Honky Tonk Heroes followed by hit albums Dreaming My Dreams as well as Are You Ready for the Country, in 1976, he released the album Wanted. The Outlaws with Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, and Jessi Colter and that success was followed by Ol Waylon and the hit song Luckenbach, Texas. Jennings was featured in the 1978 album White Mansions performed by various artists documenting the lives of people in the Confederacy during the Civil War. The songs on the album were written by Paul Kennerley, by the early 1980s, Jennings was struggling with a cocaine addiction, which he quit in 1984. Later, he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen with Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash, during that period, Jennings released the successful album Will the Wolf Survive. He toured less after 1997 to spend time with his family. Between 1999 and 2001, his appearances were limited by health problems, on February 13,2002, Jennings died from complications of diabetes. Jennings also appeared in films and television series and he was the balladeer for The Dukes of Hazzard, composing and singing the shows theme song and providing narration for the show. In 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, in 2007, he was posthumously awarded the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award by the Academy of Country Music. Waylon Arnold Jennings was born on June 15,1937, on the G. W and he was the son of Lorene Beatrice and William Albert Jennings. The Jennings family line descended from Irish and Black-Dutch, meanwhile, the Shipley family moved from Tennessee and settled in Texas. The Shipley line descended from Cherokee and Comanche families, the name on his birth certificate was Wayland, meaning land by the highway
3.
Country music
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Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the genre of United States, such as folk music. Blues modes have been used throughout its recorded history. The term country music is used today to many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe and Africa along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon, Bristol, Tennessee, has been formally recognized by the U. S. Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music, based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. Prior to these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a musical heritage. The first generation emerged in the early 1920s, with Atlantas music scene playing a role in launching countrys earliest recording artists. Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records in 1924, many hillbilly musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville, during the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Bob Wills was another musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a hot string band. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had played at Carnegie Hall. Gospel music remained a component of country music. It became known as honky tonk, and had its roots in Western swing and the music of Mexico. By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres
4.
RCA Records
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RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. It is one of SMEs three flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, blues, jazz, the companys name is derived from the initials of the labels former parent company, the Radio Corporation of America. It is the second oldest recording company in US history, after sister label Columbia Records, RCAs Canadian unit is Sonys oldest label in Canada. It was one of only two Canadian record companies to survive the Great Depression, kelly, Enrique Iglesias, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Kesha, Miley Cyrus, Giorgio Moroder, Jennifer Hudson, DAngelo, Pink, Tinashe, G-Eazy, Pitbull, Zayn and Wizkid. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, then the worlds largest manufacturer of phonographs and phonograph records. The company then became RCA Victor but retained use of the Victor Records name on their labels until the beginning of 1946 when the labels were finally switched over to RCA Victor. With Victor, RCA acquired New World rights to the famous Nipper His Masters Voice trademark, in Shanghai, China, in 1931, RCA Victors British affiliate the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI. This gave RCA head David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board, in September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33⅓ rpm records sold to the public, calling them Program Transcriptions. In the depths of the Great Depression, the format was a commercial failure, during the early part of the depression, RCA made a number of attempts to produce a successful cheap label to compete with the dime store labels. The first was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931 sold at Montgomery Ward, in 1932, Bluebird Records was created as a sub-label of RCA Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a blue label. In 1933, RCA reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label, another cheap label, Sunrise, was produced. The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and Bluebird Records still survives eight decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued, RCA also produced records for Montgomery Ward label during the 1930s. Besides manufacturing records for themselves, RCA Victor operated RCA Custom which was the leading record manufacturer for independent record labels, RCA Custom also pressed record compilations for The Readers Digest Association. RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1935, but EMI continued to distribute RCA recordings in the UK, RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV classical recordings on the RCA and HMV labels in North America. During World War II, ties between RCA and its Japanese affiliate JVC were severed, the Japanese record company is today called Victor Entertainment and is still a JVC subsidiary. From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the American Federation of Musicians recording ban, virtually all union musicians could not make recordings during that period
5.
Kris Kristofferson
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Kristoffer Kris Kristofferson is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He wrote and recorded the songs Me and Bobby McGee, For the Good Times, Sunday Mornin Comin Down, Kristofferson composed his own songs and collaborated with Nashville songwriters such as Shel Silverstein. In 1985, Kristofferson joined fellow country artists Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, in 2004, Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is also known for his roles in Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore and A Star Is Born. Kristoffer Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann and Lars Henry Kristofferson and his paternal grandparents emigrated from Sweden, while his mother had English, Scottish-Irish, German, Swiss-German and Dutch ancestry. Kristoffersons paternal grandfather was an officer in the Swedish Army, when Kristofferson was a child, his father pushed him towards a military career. At the age of 17, Kristofferson took a job with a dredging contractor on Wake Island. He called it the hardest job I ever had, like most military brats, Kristofferson moved around frequently as a youth, finally settling down in San Mateo, California, where he graduated from San Mateo High School. An aspiring writer, Kristofferson enrolled in Pomona College in 1954 and he experienced his first dose of fame when he appeared in Sports Illustrateds Faces in the Crowd for his achievements in collegiate rugby union, football, and track and field. He and his classmates revived the Claremont Colleges Rugby Club in 1958, Kristofferson became a member of Delta Kappa fraternity at Pomona College, graduating in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in literature. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year, in a 2004 interview with Pomona College Magazine, Kristofferson mentioned philosophy professor Frederick Sontag as an important influence in his life. Kristofferson earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, where he studied at Merton College, while at Oxford, he was awarded his Blue for boxing, played rugby for his college, and began writing songs. At Oxford, he was acquainted with fellow Rhodes scholar, art critic. With the help of his manager, Larry Parnes, Kristofferson recorded for Top Rank Records under the name Kris Carson and this early phase of his music career was unsuccessful. In 1960, Kristofferson graduated with a B. Phil in English literature, the following year he married his long-time girlfriend, Frances Mavia Beer. Kristofferson, under pressure from his family, ultimately joined the U. S. Army and he became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. During the early 1960s, he was stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division, during this time, he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, when his tour of duty ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English literature at West Point, instead, he decided to leave the Army and pursue songwriting
6.
Shel Silverstein
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Sheldon Allan Shel Silverstein was an American poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of childrens books. He styled himself as Uncle Shelby in some works, translated into more than 30 languages, his books have sold over 20 million copies. He was the recipient of two Grammy Awards, as well as a Golden Globe and Academy Award nominee. Born into a Jewish family, Silverstein grew up in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, attended Roosevelt High School and, later and he then enrolled in Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where he was attending when he was drafted into the United States Army. He served in Japan and Korea and he had one daughter, Shoshanna Jordan Hastings, born June 30,1970, with Susan Taylor Hastings of Sausalito, California. Susan died on June 29,1975, one day before Shoshannas fifth birthday, and Shoshanna died April 24,1982, at age 11, of a cerebral aneurysm. He also had a son named Matthew, born November 10,1984, with Sarah Spencer of Key West, Florida, Sarah drove the conch train, on May 10,1999, Silverstein died at age 68 of a heart attack in Key West, Florida. He is buried in Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge, Illinois, Silverstein began drawing at age seven by tracing the works of Al Capp. He told Publishers Weekly, When I was a kid—12 to 14, Id much rather have been a baseball player or a hit with the girls. Luckily, the didnt want me. Not much I could do about that, so I started to draw and to write. I was also lucky that I didnt have anybody to copy, I had developed my own style, I was creating before I knew there was a Thurber, a Benchley, a Price and a Steinberg. I never saw their work til I was around 30, by the time I got to where I was attracting girls, I was already into work, and it was more important to me. Not that I wouldnt rather make love, but the work has become a habit and he was first published in the Roosevelt Torch, a student newspaper at Roosevelt University, where he studied English after leaving the Art Institute. During his time in the military, his cartoons were published in Pacific Stars and Stripes and his first book, Take Ten, a compilation of his military Take Ten cartoon series, was published by Pacific Stars and Stripes in 1955. He later said his time in college was a waste and would have been spent traveling around the world meeting people. After returning to Chicago, Silverstein began submitting cartoons to magazines while also selling hot dogs at Chicago ballparks and his cartoons began appearing in Look, Sports Illustrated and This Week. Mass-market paperback readers across America were introduced to Silverstein in 1956 when Take Ten was reprinted by Ballantine Books as Grab Your Socks, the edition included a foreword by Bill Mauldin
7.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
8.
Ricky Nelson
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Eric Hilliard Ricky Rick Nelson was an American actor, musician, and singer-songwriter. He recorded 19 additional Top 10 hits and was inducted into the Rock, in 1996, he was ranked #49 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time. Nelson began his entertainment career in 1949 playing himself in the sitcom series The Adventures of Ozzie. In 1952, he appeared in his first feature film, Here Come the Nelsons, in 1957, he recorded his first single, debuted as a singer on the television version of the sitcom, and released the #1 album entitled Ricky. In 1958, Nelson released his first #1 single, Poor Little Fool, a few films followed, and when the television series was cancelled in 1966, Nelson made occasional appearances as a guest star on various television programs. Nelson and Sharon Kristin Harmon were married on April 20,1963 and they had four children, Tracy Kristine, twin sons Gunnar Eric and Matthew Gray, and Sam Hilliard. Nelson was born on May 8,1940, in Teaneck and he was the second son of entertainment couple Harriet Hilliard Nelson and Ozzie Nelson. His father Ozzie was half Swedish, the Nelsons older son was actor David Nelson. Harriet, normally the vocalist for Ozzies band, remained in Englewood, New Jersey, with her newborn, meanwhile, bandleader Ozzie toured with the Nelson orchestra. In November 1941, the Nelsons bought what would become their permanent home, Ricky joined his parents and brother in Los Angeles in 1942. Ricky was a small and insecure child who suffered severe asthma. At night, his sleep was eased with a vaporizer emitting tincture of evergreen and he was described by Red Skeltons producer John Guedel as an odd little kid, likable, shy, introspective, mysterious, and inscrutable. When Skelton was drafted in 1944, Guedel crafted the radio sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie, the show debuted on Sunday, October 8,1944, to favorable reviews. Ozzie eventually became head writer for the show and based episodes on the fraternal exploits, in 1952, the Nelsons tested the waters for a television series with the theatrically released film Here Come the Nelsons. The film was a hit, and Ozzie was convinced the family could make the transition from radios airwaves to televisions small screen. Nelson attended Gardner Street Public School, Bancroft Junior High, and and he played football at Hollywood High and represented the school in interscholastic tennis matches. Twenty-five years later, Nelson told the Los Angeles Weekly he hated school because it smelled of pencils, Ozzie Nelson was a Rutgers alumnus and keen on college education, but eighteen-year-old Ricky was already in the 93 percent income-tax bracket and saw no reason to attend. At age thirteen, Ricky was making over $100,000 per annum, Nelsons wealth was astutely managed by his parents, who channeled his earnings into trust funds
9.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
10.
Dreaming My Dreams (Waylon Jennings album)
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Dreaming My Dreams is the twenty-second studio album by country music singer Waylon Jennings. The album was co-produced with Jack Clement and recorded at Glaser Sound Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, Jennings recorded the critically acclaimed Honky Tonk Heroes and the commercial success This Time. Jennings left the studios of RCA and moved his operation to the Glaser Sound Studio. Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from publications such as Rolling Stone. Dreaming My Dreams was released in June 1975, it topped the albums chart. It was certified gold by the RIAA and Jennings won the Male Vocalist of the Year Country Music Association award, the singles Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way and Dreaming My Dreams with You peaked at numbers one and ten respectively on Billboards Hot Country Songs. In 1972, Jennings new manager Neil Reshen renegotiated the contract with RCA Records. Under the new deal, Jennings received complete artistic control over his output, to follow the start of the Outlaw movement, Jennings changed his image. He grew his beard and started to wear jeans, a hat, Jennings produced his next album, 1973s Lonesome, Onry and Mean, himself. The same year he released the acclaimed album Honky Tonk Heroes. Recording at RCAs Nashville studios with the labels personnel did not please Jennings, during the sessions for the album This Time, he moved his operation to Glaser Sound Studio. RCA initially refused to release the record, citing their agreement with the Engineers Union, the deal established that RCA artists could only record in the companys studio with label engineers. In a September 1973 interview with The Tennessean, Neil Reshen said RCA Records had violated Jennings contract, RCA Nashville director Jerry Bradley and New York-based label executive Mel Ilberman decided to allow Jennings to record at Glaser Sound, and broke RCAs deal with the Engineers Union. Citing Jennings as a precedent, RCA artists requested to be allowed to record in external facilities, eventually, the label sold its Nashville studios. This Time topped Billboards Top Country Albums chart, to him, even the most whimsical or uncommon ideas were worth trying. Like Phillips, he favored an approach, recording singer and musicians together, live, in the studio. Anything else, he felt, robbed a performance of soul, after Jack Clement married Waylon Jennings sister-in-law, Clement invited him to a Thursday night demo session in his personal studio. Clements friend, Allen Reynolds, gave Jennings his recently written song I Recall a Gypsy Woman, the latter inspired Jennings to record an album
11.
I've Always Been Crazy
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Ive Always Been Crazy is a country album by Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1978. By 1978, Jennings was getting burned out on the outlaw country movement, far more concerning, however, was Jennings spiral into cocaine addiction. By his own admission, his appetite for the drug was monstrous, I was doing them constantly. Id do them until I collapsed, then Id get up and start right doing them again. Id definitely hit bottom with it, Id stay up six or seven days or nights at a time, and I wouldnt go home. My health was bad, I had dizzy spells where I could hardly drive, I had cars strewed all over town, because Id get somewhere. The officials had traced a package that had sent there from his manager Neil Reshens office in New York City. The package did indeed contain cocaine, but drummer Richie Albright managed to flush the drug down a commode before the officers could find it and they charged Jennings anyway but the singer was never convicted of the crime due to critical faults in the legal process against him. Still, Jennings was shaken by the bust, remarking in the version of his autobiography. - it gets to you a little bit. It was a media feeding frenzy, I couldnt go anywhere without a cluster of reporters swarmin around me. Jennings added that the case cost him about $100,000 in legal fees, the publicity did not hurt his sales, however, with author Michael Striessguth noting, Waylons public cocaine troubles only fueled his record sales. His five solo singles after the arrest rushed to the top five, on the surface, his two solo albums released after the bust - Ive Always Been Crazy and What Goes Around Comes Around - communicated defiance. Ive Always Been Crazy was produced by Jennings and Waylors drummer Richie Albright with a cast of players that included Tony Joe White, Ralph Mooney, Carter Robertson, Reggie Young, the song peaked at #5 on the country singles chart. Despite the fiery spirit of the LPs hit singles, many the album tracks have a subdued, the sentimental mood is also apparent on the LPs closing tracks, the heartfelt Girl I Can Tell and the Shel Silverstein ballad Whistlers and Jugglers. Even Waylons cover of Johnny Cashs I Walk the Line is reinvented as a ballad, Jennings also pays tribute to his late friend and mentor Buddy Holly with a medley of the fellow-Texans hits. Jennings had famously given up his seat on the flight that claimed the life of Holly, Richie Valens. In the liner notes to The Essential Waylon Jennings, Wade Jessen quotes the singer and he was a rhythm guitar picker, and thats basically what I am. He taught me that you can take country songs and put different rhythms to em. But mainly and he loved music, and he taught me that it shouldnt have any barriers to it. The cover of Merle Haggards honky tonk classic The Bottle Let Me Down was a choice for Jennings who, despite his fondness for pills and drugs
12.
Black on Black
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Black on Black is an album by Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1982. By 1981, Jennings excessive lifestyle had caught up to him financially, despite a string of #1 albums and sellout concerts, the overhead of keeping his show on the road combined with his cocaine habit had drained nearly all of his resources. People were hanging out and gettin paid for it and we had close to fifty bodies on our payroll, and I was not sure of what any of em were doing. Jennings slowly crawled out of debt by trimming down his organization and touring heavily, unfortunately, Jennings money woes came at a time when his health and creativity were flagging primarily due to his continued reliance on cocaine. Jennings reunited with Chips Moman for Black on Black, recording the album at Momans studio in Nashville, Moman had also just produced the phenomenally successful Willie Nelson album Always on My Mind. The albums big hit was Just to Satisfy You, recorded as a duet with Willie Nelson, the song had originally been a regional hit for Jennings in Arizona in 1964 and helped bring him to the attention of RCA. Jennings had also recorded the song as the track for a 1969 LP. The album would produce two other Top 5 singles, both written by Jennings, Shine, which reached #4, and Women Do Know How to Carry On. The song Shine appears in the 1981 film The Pursuit of D. B, as on his most recent LPs, Jennings relied on well known covers to round out the album, including Johnny Cashs Folsom Prison Blues and Hank Williams Honky Tonk Blues. Perhaps the albums most moving performance is Jennings rendition of Song for the Life, originally recorded by Rodney Crowell, instead, the album closes with the Bobby Emmons brazen Get Naked With Me, which Jurek deems a stupid song in the old, tired outlaw frame. Emmons and Moman, who wrote Luckenbach, Texas, contribute two songs to Black on Black, May I Borrow Some Sugar from You and We Just Couldnt Make It as Friends. Despite mixed reviews, Back on Black was another success for Jennings, reaching #3 on the Billboard country albums chart
