Waylon Jennings: The Only Popular Music Artist To Improve During the 1970's

Many trends contributed to making the decade of the 1970's a period of exhaustion and retrenchment in world cultural and political life. Most of these trends would, at first glance, seem to be outside the scope of an essay on Country music legend Waylon Jennings.

Still, one is left to wonder why, out of all the solo artists and bands who had public careers prior to 1970, but who attempted to carry on thereafter, Waylon Jennings is almost literally the only performer in any genre of popular music whose 1970's music could be said to be an enormous improvement over his work from the prior decade. Willie Nelson and Stevie Wonder, among possibly a few others, did their best known work in the 70's; however Willie Nelson did his best songwriting, and much of his best performing, in the decade prior to that (Stevie Wonder is a different case: he established himself as a performer in the '60's, but came into his own as a writer in the 70's -- he absolutely transformed himself during the '70's, but could not be said to have become 'better' in the sense that I am trying to define here).

In the 60's, Waylon Jennings shared a label, producer, and probably most of the same session musicians with Willie Nelson. Though Chet Atkins' productions were at times misguided in Willie Nelson's case, they were often brilliantly in tune with the dark compositions and stark musical delivery of the artist -- many of Willie Nelson's records on RCA from 1965-68 are, in my opinion, masterpieces, however overlooked they may remain. Atkins recognized the formality and delicacy of Nelson's songs, and gave that quality perfect expression in his arranging.

Waylon Jennings was never the writer that Nelson was; he was more an interpreter. Nashville session players from that era could be brilliant, especially with original material being done for the first time, but they were less reliable with music that was made well known by other artists, especially from outside the country field. Jennings had eclectic tastes: a series of live tapes from 1964, before he was nationally known (recently released commercially on CD, under the title "Live at JD's"), shows him equally at home with folk, country ballads, and rock and roll -- an unusual trait for this time period. With the 4-piece band on this early recording, he was brilliant. But when it came time to make recordings of his favorite Dylan, Beatles, Roy Orbison, and other cover songs at RCA under Chet Atkins' directorship, the results were usually dreadful, the arrangements, instrumental performances and Waylon's singing overwrought or stilted. Over the next few years, Waylon recorded some great singles, but usually second-rate albums.*

*If you wish to see the potential that lay within Waylon Jennings, there are some TV performances from the '60's on YouTube with Waylon's road band, the Waylors. These live clips are everything Waylon's studio records from that time were not.

The mannered presentation of much of the country music of the 1960's was advantageous to some singers (Tammy Wynette comes to mind), but completely unsuitable to Waylon Jennings. (At that time, only the California-based artists --Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and the other, less well-known performers in their orbit -- were allowed enough artistic independence to have a say in shaping their own sound on record). However, the 1970's unleashed cultural forces that made the musical dictatorship of 1960's Nashville no longer possible (or at any rate, not completely possible). A looseness, an openness was seeping into Pop music, as it was into the day-to-day lives of Americans. In society, norms could be and were questioned, even at times by the middle Americans who had always adhered to them so loyally. The Outsider was no longer a freak, a threat, but a figure almost to be admired, or at least tolerated. Conformity was a much weaker social unifier by the 70's than it ever was in the 60's. The 'Culture War' that social conservatives have kept on fighting all the way up to the present time had really been lost by the early years of the '70's-- the social values of the 1950's and earlier that had formed the world view of the older generation were everywhere undermined by the new relaxed, all-accepting sensibility of the 70's. What were seen as the misdeeds of the parents' and grandparents' generations undermined any right older people might have claimed to stop the young from pursuing their projects of individual fulfillment.

This new, open atmosphere, in which wayward habits no longer had to be kept hidden, in which an anti-authoritarian stance was often seen as honorable, was the ideal one for Waylon Jennings. He dyed his hair black and let it grow; he adopted an 'outlaw' clothing style. More significantly, his music became completely transformed. He began to interpret the new songwriters of the 70's, like Billy Joe Shaver and Steve Young. His songs became at once looser rhythmically and more focused and hard-driving -- no more stodgy rhythm sections and 'ooh' and 'aah' choruses. During this time he did the work for which we will remember him: 'Lonesome, On'ry and Mean', 'Amanda', the 'Honky Tonk Heroes' album, etc., etc.

Other than Waylon Jennings, I can't think of a single country music star from the 50's and 60's who did not suffer a decline (and often an embarrassing one) over the course of the 70's. A similar generalization would hold true for the larger pop world, as well**. The best rock and other pop artists of the 70's are those who could comfortably embrace the various cultural strains of that era: Elton John, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, etc. -- nearly every one of these was a virtual non-entity during the previous decade.

The case of Waylon Jennings illustrates the role of the larger popular culture in alternately stifling, then encouraging pop music talent.

**unless you feel the 70's music of the individual Beatles, the Hollies, the Kinks, and so forth compares favorably to their '60's work.

Upfront and Down Low: A Review by Dan Schorr

Upfront and Down Low is singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson's album of country songs from the 50's and 60's, along with one original...

The songs of country music's classic era are maddeningly difficult for contemporary performers to interpret. Our ways of musical thought and practice often work against our efforts to perform the music of Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, and other country songwriters of the 40's, 50's, 60's, and (to some degree) the 70's. Their songs just don't come naturally to people from our time, even to that steadfast group of musicians that is devoted to preserving and protecting classic country music from the depredations of modern musical culture, especially as exemplified by "Nashville".

Teddy Thompson is famously the son of Richard Thompson, but he is a truly talented perfomer in his own right. His voice is rich-timbred, confident -- I wish my own voice had the supple richness of Teddy Thompson's. He obviously loves this music and is well versed in it: he has chosen very well known songs, as well as more obscure gems.

I'm not sure what his goal was in making this album. However, I see two possibilities: one, he wanted to expose his own fans, and maybe the larger base of modern folk listeners as well to classic country songwriting; two, he thought he had an interpretation of this music that could stand up to the originals, and was worth devoting an album to.

He might well be able to succeed in the first aim. Stylistically, the arrangements are a bridge between the originals and contemporary singer-songwriter practice. Many of the tracks feature chamber-style string arrangements -- on his version of "She Thinks I Still Care", he is accompanied only by a string quartet. I don't know if listeners to such radio stations as WFUV in New York City and WXPN in Philadelphia would appreciate these songs as much if they were performed with more conventional country arrangements.

To listeners such as myself who are already familiar with the work of the original performers, this record is harder to enjoy. In the hands of a Lefty Frizzell or George Jones, the narrator of these songs is a completely credible character whose plight is existential. As strong as Thompson's voice may be, it does not inhabit the songs; it presents them, as it were, academically, with none of the panache of the original singers who performed them. A certain amount of self-consciousness seems almost unavoidable in an effort such as Upfront And Down Low, and Thompson's renditions do strike me as a bit self-conscious at times.

I don't regard the original versions of "All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers", "The Worst Is Yet To Come" (a great album track from Merle Haggard's second album on Capitol Records), and others from Upfront as sacred, as some people no doubt do. I just can't help noticing that they were much more spontaneous and fun -- lighter -- than Thompson's versions; the original singers did not strive so hard for authenticity, and they would never have dreamed of taking themselves too seriously. I don't think Thompson is taking himself with excessive seriousness either, but there is an atmosphere of reverence on this album that is a bit alien to the original spirit of the songs he is performing.

I don't want to single Thompson out for condemnation here. Again, this record and others like it could do much to open classic country music to a broader audience -- currently, it is something of a cult music. The brilliant songwriting of country music's classic era ought indeed to be exposed to the general public. Also, most contemporary bluegrass and alternative country singers don't fare a great deal better with this body of music, in my opinion. It is impossible to turn back the clock musically and be convincing, though many have tried and will continue to do so. Thompson also deserves credit for trying a more creative approach, as he does on many of the tracks -- most notably, on "She Thinks I Still Care". I believe artists should always be acknowledged for trying a new angle on old songs.

If I know one thing about making records as a solo performer, it is that there is no predicting how well your backing musicians will cohere. Much of the dissatisfaction I felt while listening to Upfront I had to attribute to the rhythm section, not to the singer. The bassist and drummer play over-interpretively, as if the fragility of the individual notes and beats had to be protected. I have never found this approach to work in country music -- the music should be played with drive and even a kind of force, if it is to be played at all. I know that I just praised the use of strings as an idea (and I emphasize that on this count, my opinion is not the one that matters, for the string arrangements are perhaps the one thing above all that would create a broader audience for this CD). But to my ears, the strings lend an irony to the songs, however unintended. In country music, humor is a great tool, in the right measure. But irony should be avoided, if possible.

I confess I miss the world that brought the original versions of the songs from Upfront and Down Low into being. I know many others do as well, and try to recreate the past of country music, in various ways. I don't believe Teddy Thompson was trying merely to recreate the past -- he had higher ambitions. But the mixed result of his effort is a reminder of how unamenable some popular music is to reinterpretation.