What a joyous surprise it is to hear brand new music from country legend Waylon Jennings. Waylon’s son, three-times GRAMMY Award-winner Shooter Jennings, explored his father’s tape recordings and unearthed enough previously unheard songs to compile three new albums. With finishing touches added by members of Waylon’s original band The Waylors, Shooter mixed the original and newly recorded material, “…in a purely analog fashion,” on Sunset Sound Studio 3’s custom 1976 DeMedio API mixing board, creating a sound that takes us back in time.
This is Jennings’ delicate version of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Songbird’, which brilliantly showcases his smooth, warm country tones, elevated by angelic backing from contemporary country singers Elizabeth Cook and Ashley Monroe. In the video, we see a compilation of footage, including The Waylors hearing the new material for the first time and recording their parts for the new songs. Additionally, there’s footage from Waylon’s birthday party back in 1981, images that, alongside the classic music, truly transport us to another time. ‘Songbird’ is the title track from the first of the three albums, due out on 3rd October 2025.
Shooter says: “What became very apparent to me was that my dad was recording constantly with his band The Waylors between tours. Just having won the David-and-Goliath battle against RCA for creative control and artistic freedom, Waylon was awarded the ability to record his music on his terms in his own studios, with his touring band, and without label oversight and without any outside influence. There was just so much inside, my mind was blown! These weren’t demos, these were songs that were cut with the intention of releasing, and as time went on, not all of them found places on the albums that Waylon and the Waylors were releasing at the time. ‘Songbird’ is the beginning of Waylon’s return to the modern world. This is the first of three gifts from me to you: the fans that have kept my father’s voice, songs and legacy alive all these years. The next few years are going to be full of some of the most exciting musical moments that the world never knew they were going to hear. I hope that these records bring the kind of joy to you that they have brought me. This project has given me an entirely new chapter in my relationship with my father and working on this music has brought a whole new understanding about how, when and why my dad made music. The hard work is there on the tapes and the passion and the soul within is as alive today as it was the day it was recorded.”
For fans of Waylon Jennings and classic country, this new material really is a gift. Enjoy.
