Waylon: An Autobiography

by Waylon Jennings, Lenny Kaye

Overview

Equal parts outlaw, renegade, and legend, Waylon Jennings enjoyed a stellar music career for four decades and this no-holds-barred autobiography reveals the story of a man who infused conservative country music traditions with the energy of rock and roll to rewrite the rules of popular music in America. It chronicles all the chapters of Jennings’s incredible life, including his beginnings as a dirt-poor son of a farm laborer; his role as Buddy Holly’s protégé; his influential friendships with such luminaries as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and George Jones; the stunning success ushered in by his platinum 1976 anthology album, Wanted: The Outlaws; the drug habit that nearly destroyed him; and his three failed marriages and the journey that lead him to Jessi Colter, the woman who would become his wife for 25 years. With anecdotes, portraits, and little-known facts about Jennings’s fellow country music stars, this book overflows with the honesty, true humor, and down-home charisma of an authentic honky-tonk hero.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613744697
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/01/2012
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	110,403
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Waylon Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Lenny Kaye is an acclaimed music writer whose work has appeared in Crawdaddy, Creem, Hit Parader, Rolling Stone, and Village Voice. He is the author of You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon and has been playing guitar for Patti Smith since 1971. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 West Texas Rain 3

2 Buddys 43

3 Phoenix, Arize 74

4 From Nashville Bum ... 102

5 ... To Nashville Rebel 138

6 "There's Another Way of doing things and that is Rock 'N' Roll" 168

7 Country Modern 192

8 This outlaw shit 220

9 Busted 238

10 I'm about to sing in my pants; i've been dry-humming all day and i'm gonna get the tune-aches 271

11 Will the Wolf Survive? 292

12 The Trojan Hoss 320

13 The Four Horsemen 341

14 I do believe 363

Epilogue 379

Selected Discography 383

Acknowledgments 401

Permissions 404

Index 407

What People are Saying About This

Chet Atkins

What a life! And what a wonderful story....A "must read" for everyone.

Johnny Cash

Vast, revealing, exciting, and entertaining....You'll love it.

From the Publisher

"As good a book about American popular music as one is likely to find."  —Washington Post

 

"Folksy, funny, spirited. . . . There are plenty of Waylon moments to be enjoyed . . . loving, insightful . . . filled with backcountry humor. . . . Unflinchingly, the book reads true to the man: if you like Waylon, you'll love Waylon."  —Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"Well-turned, sometimes salty . . . refreshing . . . candid . . . poignant . . . An honest spotlight on a passel of colorful characters . . . . One of the best of country's tell-alls, as warm, peculiar, and individualistic as Jennings's music itself."  —Entertainment Weekly

“What a life! And what a wonderful story of a country boy who despite hardships unimaginable attained success and stardom. A 'must read' for not anyone, but everyone."  —Chet Atkins

 

"Finally, here is the autobiography we've all been waiting for!"  —Willie Nelson

 

"Read Waylon if you love country music. And read it if you admire renegades who throw away the formula and play it the way they hear it in their heads . . . . Eminently readable . . . . Mr. Jennings tells his tales with humor and detail."  —Dallas Morning News

 

"A no-holds-barred, tell-it-all story, overflowing with the honesty, true humor, and down-home charisma of an authentic honky-tonk hero down to the very last page."  —Music City News

 

"Essential reading for country fans."  —Publishers Weekly

 

Kris Kristofferson

Truly inspiring...a beautiful story.

Willie Nelson

Finally, the autobiography we've all been waiting for!

Editorial Reviews

"As good a book about American popular music as one is likely to find."  —Washington Post

 


"Folksy, funny, spirited. . . . There are plenty of Waylon moments to be enjoyed . . . loving, insightful . . . filled with backcountry humor. . . . Unflinchingly, the book reads true to the man: if you like Waylon, you'll love Waylon."  —Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"Well-turned, sometimes salty . . . refreshing . . . candid . . . poignant . . . An honest spotlight on a passel of colorful characters . . . . One of the best of country's tell-alls, as warm, peculiar, and individualistic as Jennings's music itself."  —Entertainment Weekly

“What a life! And what a wonderful story of a country boy who despite hardships unimaginable attained success and stardom. A 'must read' for not anyone, but everyone."  —Chet Atkins

 

"Finally, here is the autobiography we've all been waiting for!"  —Willie Nelson

 

"Read Waylon if you love country music. And read it if you admire renegades who throw away the formula and play it the way they hear it in their heads . . . . Eminently readable . . . . Mr. Jennings tells his tales with humor and detail."  —Dallas Morning News

 

"A no-holds-barred, tell-it-all story, overflowing with the honesty, true humor, and down-home charisma of an authentic honky-tonk hero down to the very last page."  —Music City News

 

"Essential reading for country fans."  —Publishers Weekly

 

From the Publisher

Well turned, sometimes salty...refreshing...candid...poignant....An honest spotlight on a passel of colorful characters....One of the best of country's tell-alls, as warm, peculiar, and individualistic as Jennings's music itself.

Entertainment Weekly

As good a book about American popular music as one is likely to find.

Washington Post

As one of the original "outlaw" country music stars, Jennings (b. 1937) has done his best to live up to the image of the hard-living honky-tonker who doesn't take crap from anybody. With the help of writer and rock guitarist Kaye, an older, calmer, drug-free Jennings now relates his life story, from his childhood in a dirt-floored house in West Texas, through his busted marriages and hard-partying days, to his current existence as happily married man (to country star Jessi Colter) and member of the Highwaymen, the country music supergroup made up of Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. The narration reads as if Jennings is relating stories over a beer. There are wonderfully evocative accounts of playing bass for Buddy Holly on his last tourJennings gave up his seat on the plane that crashed, killing Holly and the Big Bopperand of Jennings and Johnny Cash sharing an apartment in Nashville in the early '60s. There's a little more than most readers need to know about Jennings's money troubles, sex life, personal feuds and various drug habits, and there are a few too many testimonials from younger performers (e.g., Billy Ray Cyrus telling Jennings, "You're like a god to me"). As a raconteur, Jennings is by turns self-deprecating and self-indulgent, but never less than entertaining, and almost always charming. This soulful book should interest most anyone curious about the life of a pop musician, and is likely to be essential reading for country fans. A selected discography of Jennings's recordings is included. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A country music star tells of his poor childhood and rise to stardom.

Library Journal