A previously unreleased duet with Johnny Cash is among the special tracks to be found on the Waylon Jennings boxed set "Nashville Rebel," due Sept. 26th via RLG Nashville/Legacy.
"The Greatest Cowboy of Them All" was recorded in 1978, the same year the late Jennings' duet with Willie Nelson, "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys," spent four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's country chart.
Beyond such hits as "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way," "Good Hearted Woman," "I Ain't Living Long Like This," "Highwayman" and "Rose in Paradise," the four-disc collection includes two early period tracks that have never been released in the U.S.: "It's Sure Been Fun" and "People in Dallas Got Hair."
"Nashville Rebel" was created in tandem with Jennings' widow Jessi Colter and their son Shooter Jennings. Liner notes were penned by Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye and country historian Rich Kienzle.
Though the late Waylon Jennings has had numerous greatest-hits compilations, this four-disc box that encompasses almost half a century of music making is his first comprehensive, career-spanning anthology. While the 1970s and early '80s were plainly Jennings's commercial and creative heyday--when the Outlaw movement christened by his recording of "Ladies Love Outlaws" was in full swagger--highlights here extend from his 1958 revival of the Cajun classic "Jolie Blon" (produced by Jennings's mentor Buddy Holly) through his swan-song recordings with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson as the Highwaymen. The trademark lope of Jennings's music and his penchant for self-mythologizing material give him a strong signature sound, but the anthology shows just how much musical territory he covered--from his folkish reading of Gordon Lightfoot's "(That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me" and his bluesy transformation of Little Richard's "Lucille" through his dips into the songbooks of Neil Young ("Are You Ready for the Country"), Jimmy Webb ("MacArthur Park"), and Los Lobos ("Will the Wolf Survive?"). The 140-page booklet provides thorough credits and annotation, as well as an abundance of photos of Waylon with friends, fellow musicians, and every famous person he ever met (from Muhammad Ali to Metallica's James Hetfield). --Don McLeese
