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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Lonesome, On'ry and Mean:
Tribute to Waylon Jennings (Dualtone)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz
Take your pick on whether Guy Clark's rendition of "Good Hearted Woman" or Junior Brown's spot on take of "Nashville Rebel" capture the core values of the late Waylon Jennings. The man was living the high hard life as the quintessential iconoclast at a time when the country and western industry was rife with them. Jennings is in the fraternity of Nashville performers with Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson who wrote and recorded tough skinned cowboy songs from the familiarity of personal experience.
Theirs wasn't lifestyle music - it was life music.
Dualtone's album Lonesome, On'ry and Mean stands up as a solid, consistent tribute to Waylon Jennings, who died February 13th 2002 at 64 years old. His legacy of substance abuse and stabs at personal redemption are industry fables. Over his life, Jennings saw it all, from poverty stricken beginnings in the small west Texas town of Littlefield to high school drop out to the very pinnacle of his profession. His childhood home had dirt floors. He was in Buddy Holly's band The Crickets as a bass player and integral part of the fateful winter plane crash that took the life of the spectacled legend along with teenage Richie Valens. Shortly before takeoff, Waylon in a joking tone told Buddy "I hope your ol' plane crashes." An early roommate of Johnny Cash, Jennings fought hard early against the failure of his folk singles and the desire for a glossy 'Nashville Sound.' Eventually, he won ultimate musical control from RCA records, a privilege that allowed him to simplify his music to the essential guitar, drum and bass. When in 2001 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, he did not attend the ceremony. Music was what the ailing master believed in, not awards.
His legacy is as much a tribute to his tenacity as it is his talent.
In assembling the roster of artists for Lonesome, On'ry and Mean Dualtone has done well in keeping true to the essence of Jennings music. Clark's and Brown's renditions are by far and away the standouts of an album that includes both standard and obscure tunes. Norah Jones brings her bluesy, flint toned sexuality to "Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want To Get Over You)" and former collaborator Kris Kristofferson's take on "I Do Believe" is haunting and tender and ultimately, frighteningly appropriate. Henry Rollin's psycho-country morphing on the album's title track strays as far as is necessary, combining the late artist's ultimately punk rock attitude with one of the movement's forefathers. The ascension of Rollins and Jennings respectively in their fledgling musical genres after all might be seen as mirrors of one another, parted by a generation.
Waylon Jennings' life and music, in retrospect, seem to be in direct opposition to what his legacy created in the industry. The line between contemporary pop and country croonsters is dull; everyone seems grayed by the overwhelming aspect of lifestyle. For one who fought so hard for his life's salvation and the integrity of his craft, one tribute album seems to be hardly sufficient; this one, however, comes dangerously close.
© 2003 - Erick Mertz