Waylon

Background

Waylon is best remembered for the cover of Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," which climbed to #3 on the Billboard country charts, Jennings third Top 5 solo hit. Jennings would perform the song as part of a medley on The Johnny Cash Show. Aside from "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man", none of the other songs on this LP were released as singles. The version of "Yes, Virginia" presented here is different from the one originally issued on The One and Only in 1967. According to Waylon's autobiography, the song "Yellow Haired Woman" was written about Barbara Rood, his third wife. The album also includes a duet with Anita Carter on the Merle Haggard composition "All of Me Belongs to You."

Waylon is also significant for its version of "The Thirty-Third of August," written by Texas songwriter Mickey Newbury, a key figure among a new generation of country songwriters that would contribute to the outlaw country movement in country music, of which Jennings would be a central focus. As Tom Jurek observes in his AllMusic review of the album:

"This self-titled album signifies the real beginning of Waylon Jennings' discontent with his career. He is making efforts in the studio here to stretch its boundaries and include material very foreign to Nashville...But it's with Mickey Newbury's "33rd of August" that the pokiness of Waylon's mission becomes apparent. In the slow dirge, complete with gorgeous layers and textures of strings, aberrant percussion, and backing vocals that whisper rather than chorus, Jennings offers another dimension to not only this sad story, but the direction of his musical muse, somewhere in the groove but outside the confines of the studio."

Despite chart success, Jennings had grown frustrated with the Nashville Sound that had been imposed on his records by RCA and especially resented being told what to record. As Joe Nick Patoski notes in his memoir Willie Nelson, "In addition to doing more and more of the songs he wanted to do rather than what the producer chose, Waylon wanted to produce himself and was demanding control of where the records were made, the song selection, and the artwork that decorated the album cover." Relations between Jennings and RCA became increasingly strained during this period.

Reception

Waylon reached #14 on the Billboard country albums chart. AllMusic: "Waylon is an overlooked gem in the transition period of Jennings' career."

Track listing

1. "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" (Chuck Berry) – 2:03
2. "Just Across the Way" (Red Lane) –
3. "Don't Play the Game" (George Pollock) – 2:55
4. "Shutting Out the Light" (Woody Starr, Claude Brown) –
5. "I May Never Pass This Way Again" (Ray Buzzeo) – 2:49
6. "The Thirty-Third Of August" (Mickey Newbury) – 3:28
7. "Yellow Haired Woman" (Waylon Jennings, Red Lane) – 1:51
8. "Where Love Has Died" (Jim Owen) – 2:16
9. "All of Me Belongs to You" (Merle Haggard) –
10. With Anita Carter
11. "Yes, Virginia" (Liz Anderson) –
12. "This Time Tomorrow (I'll Be Gone)" (Joe Maphis, Rose Lee Maphis) – 1:48