Waylon Jennings’ Last Recordings to Be Released September 11
In February, we reported that legendary country outlaw Waylon Jennings‘ family had determined to celebrate the singer’s life and career with a new album of primarily unreleased material. This week, the release date and track listing of ‘Goin’ Down Rockin’: The Last Recordings’ was finally announced. Due out September 11, 2012, the record will feature 12 songs, 11 of which Jennings wrote.
All 12 songs on the new project were recorded by the country legend during the last few years of his life, before his death in 2002. During those years, Jennings and accompanist Robby Turner recorded all of the tracks in the studio with the legend on guitar and Turner on bass. Though they had plans for how they wanted to fill out the rest of the tracks instrumentally, Jennings’ death cut the process short. And while the country star’s wife and son, Shooter Jennings, knew about the recordings but originally didn’t want to capitalize on the death of their loved one.
But now, 10 years later, the younger Jennings (who was just 22 at the time of his father’s death) says he’s ready to honor his father by letting the public hear his final works.
“A lot of it is maybe where I am in my life, with my kids and everything,” he said. “I’m at a place where I really appreciate my dad and I really appreciate his part of my life and my kids knowing who he is even though he’d never met them. I felt like I’d grown into a place where it was time for me to take over getting his name back out there in the right way.”
Mike Jason, senior VP of retail at Saguaro Road Records, says he thinks the time is right as well, especially since the passing of time has raised up a generation of people who may not be as familiar with his music.
“I remember when Waylon was revolutionizing country music and when we heard about these recordings, I knew we had to have them,” he said in a press release. “To me, this is classic Waylon music every bit as good as his ’70s classics but his singing bears a vulnerable and deeply personal touch. Waylon still has many fans, but with these recordings I’m confident that we’ll introduce him to a new generation in the same way that Johnny Cash’s last recordings found him an entirely new audience.”
Waylon Jennings’ ‘Goin’ Down Rockin’: The Last Recordings’ Track Listing:
1. ‘Goin’ Down Rockin”
2. ‘Belle of the Ball’
3. ‘If My Harley Was Runnin”
4. ‘I Do Believe’
5. ‘Friends in California’
6. ‘The Ways of the World’
7. ‘Shakin’ the Blues’
8. ‘Never Say Die’
9. ‘Wasting Time’
10. ‘Sad Songs & Waltzes’
11. ‘She Was No Good for Me’
12. ‘Wrong Road to Nashville’