Title: Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson - Waylon & Willie
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1978, Outlaw Country, Progressive Country, Country, Austin, Texas 9/26
Matrix #: AFLI - 2686
Condition: VG+ (sounds great) (LM) | Members: Waylon J (37' - 02'), Willie N (33' - ) | Producer: Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson
Cultural Facts:
- Industry Revolt: Waylon spent years frustrated by Nashville's system of producers choosing musicians, arrangements and material for singers. He eventually forced RCA to give him far more control over his sessions, while Willie left Nashville entirely for Texas. Their success helped prove that major country artists could make records outside the old assembly-line system.
- Real Friendship: Waylon and Willie were friends long before Waylon & Willie became a blockbuster pairing. They shared songs, stages and the same circle of Texas and Nashville outsiders, and Willie had already appeared on Waylon's 1977 hit "Luckenbach, Texas." Their partnership worked because the friendship existed before the marketing campaign did.
- Personal Struggle: Behind Waylon's seemingly invincible outlaw image was a severe drug addiction. He later said he had spent 21 years using drugs, and his cocaine habit eventually reached roughly $1,500 a day before he quit in the early 1980s, describing the addiction as something that had nearly destroyed both his career and his life.