THE TRUTH ABOUT WAYLON JENNINGS

These days the truth doesn’t seem to matter. Many spout lies and call them truth. Many use truth and say that they are lies. Today’s country music today is nothing more than regurgitated classic rock.  

The truth about Waylon Jennings is that he based the songs he wrote on things that real consumers of his music could relate to. Yes real country boys and girls all enjoy a drive to the creek in the old four wheel drive.  
They also enjoy a bonfire and a few beers while watching the girls shaking things in the moonlight. But really, every song does not have to have a rock and roll beat, beer, trucks and girls in them to be a hit.
  
The truth about Waylon Jennings is that he was capable of writing and recording his music. That went against the grain in Nashville at the time.  
Back then an artist was given a song picked by an artist and repertoire (A&R) person who then went into the studio where an engineer and producer would work their magic and apply the “Nashville sound” to the tune. 
The truth about Waylon Jennings is that he did most of it himself. If he heard a song he liked he had no problems putting it on his album regardless of who the composer was. 
 
That got him into hot water a time of two by picked non-Nashville approved writers like Neil Young or covering the Marshall Tucker Bands hit “Can’t You See.” 

The truth about Waylon Jennings is that the man would write when something moved him. For example, on the road driving from home to the recording studio he took out pen and found an old envelope and her scribbled out the song “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way.” When he got to the studio his drummer Richie Albright was there and they laid the song down and the rest is history as they say.
 
The producers auto-tune the crap out of it, throw it in a blender with some 80s pop, a little soul, some hip-hop and spiced with a little rap. They then pour it into some way too tight jeans and cram it down the throat of the consumer and call it good. 
I mean let’s consider the truth about Waylon Jennings and the impact it made on the world. Not just the country music world specifically but the world in general. 
 
Before he started to be known as an outlaw in the industry, country concerts were more of a small gathering of people. Waylon was the first to bring together huge amounts of fans into shows which later became Stadium shows. You know the things usually reserved for rock bands. 
 
I remember one of the first was Waylon’s Midwest Jamboree on July 04, 1978. The show started out scheduled to be held at the Coronado Theatre in Rockford, Illinois which held 2,400 people and soon had to be moved to the Rockford Speedway. 
 
There over 16,000 fans of the new music style descended on the city to show the older generation that outlaw country music was here to stay. The show started at noon and ran until done after dark. 
At that time the crowd spent $10.00 each or $12.50 at the gate to see Waylon Jennings, Jessie Colter, Hank Williams Jr., Elvin Bishop, Pure Prairie League, Heartsfield and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. 
  
The truth about Waylon Jennings is that he and the musicians and writers of their day actually could do it all without the blender. The music and lyrics were the core, the heart and soul of the song if you will and not the electronics.
 
Today you can spend a day on a computer without any musical knowledge and create a song from top to bottom without knowing how to play a note or ever leaving your CPU box. The result is a homogenized mixture of sampled noise that passes as country music today.
 
Don’t get me wrong, the music industry is growing in advancements by leaps and bound. The need to have a $5,000 microphone, several thousands of dollars of gear and tape machine worth 10s of thousands of dollars taking up several rooms is gone. 

Today a laptop with a decent microphone costing a hundred dollars and a good laptop with the appropriate software can do much the same. That is great for musicians. They used to have to save and try to gather enough money for a recording session to get a demo of the song to try and shop to artists. 

Now for the cost of one good session in a top studio you can own what you need and have it available when you want it. That is one of the good points. Another good point is that studios are free to larger projects and get more specialized in what they do. 

The major downside, as noted is the lack of the human touch and creativity. Yes sampled sounds can sound authentic. Drums can sound like drums, pianos sound like pianos etc. But they lose the soul and the feel of a real musician playing real instruments. 

All the items like the microphones and the computers are the tools of the trade today. A carpenter needs a hammer and nails; a songwriter needs a microphone and a guitar. Tools are tools only the trade is different. 

The truth about Waylon Jennings is when you heard a song he song you knew who it was. It’s the same with Willie Nelson or Cash or Kristofferson.  
How many times have you walked into a Honky Tonk Bar and heard “Good Hearted Woman” or “Folsom Prison Blues” blaring off the juke box? Even today some 50 years after the release it still happens. 

The truth about Waylon Jennings is that even with deteriorating health he took the stage in January 2000 and at 62 years old he still looked like Waylon Jennings sitting there on stage and sounded like himself singing those hits. 
Can you even imagine someone like Luke Bryan shaking his bunns in way too tight jeans singing “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” in 50 years after the release which would be in 2061? I just can’t see it.
 
The truth about Waylon Jennings is that he was more than a man yet he was every man. The truth about Waylon Jennings is that long after Luke and the current “outlaw” country musicians have deteriorated to dust and long gone memories. You will still hear Waylon Jennings on whatever media platform is around at that time.
 
The truth about Waylon Jennings is that even today musicians in the genre aspire to be like him and attain the bar he set.  I guess in the end the truth about Waylon Jennings is that he and his style of music still ring as day one and as true today and through the future. See you on the other side hoss.