| Highwayman | ||||
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| Released | May 6, 1985 | |||
| Recorded | 1984 | |||
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| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 33:43 | |||
| Label | Columbia Nashville | |||
| Producer | Chips Moman | |||
| The Highwaymen chronology | ||||
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| Johnny Cash chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Highwayman | ||||
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Highwayman is the first studio album released by country supergroup The Highwaymen,comprising Kris Kristofferson,Johnny Cash,Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Highwayman,released on Columbia Records in 1985,was the group's first and most successful album.
All four musicians had long been admirers of each other's work. Cash,who got his start at Sun Records in the mid-fifties,shared an apartment with Jennings between marriages in the late sixties,a time when both Jennings and Nelson were growing weary of Nashville’s stale recording practices. When Kristofferson emerged as a new voice for progressive country songwriting around this time,all three covered his songs,with Cash’s version of "Sunday Morning Coming Down" becoming a smash,and heralded the younger musician as a unique talent. Jennings,Nelson,and Kristofferson would go on to enjoy immense success as part of the Outlaw movement in the seventies,with Waylon and Willie recording several albums and embarking on lucrative tours. By the mid-eighties,Nelson remained the most relevant on the charts while the careers of the other three had lulled somewhat. As Nelson biographer Joe Nick Patoski puts it,"The strength-in-numbers collaboration aimed to bolster the careers of four giants old enough to be regarded as legends but who were no longer considered suitable for contemporary country radio." [1] In his 1996 memoir Waylon,Jennings recalled:
In contrast to his close relationship with Jennings and Kristofferson,Cash barely knew Nelson,but within days,the foursome were in a Nashville studio with Moman (who had produced Nelson's two previous albums) trying out some material. [3] Kristofferson later marvelled,"I always looked up to all of them and felt like I was kind of a kid who had climbed up on Mount Rushmore and stuck his face out there." [4]
Highwayman,consisting of ten tracks,was released as a follow-up to the successful single of the same name and the title track of the album itself. "Highwayman",a Jimmy Webb cover,hit the top of the country charts and was followed up by the Top 20 hit "Desperados Waiting for a Train",whose original version was released by Guy Clark. The album was entirely produced by Chips Moman. Marty Stuart also played guitar and mandolin on the sessions. [3] From the first playback,there was magic in their collective voices,and with Moman's encouragement,the group,which they called The Highwaymen,assembled some other songs that spoke to the nostalgic appeal of these four veteran talents coming together. [5] Nelson later admitted,"You wouldn't think our four uneven voices would blend. But they did. They fit together like a jigsaw puzzle." [6] The version of "Big River" on this album is significant because it includes a Jennings-sung verse that Cash omitted from the original recording. The album is also notable for the song "The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over," written by Steve Goodman,who had died of leukaemia the year before,and John Prine,who Kristofferson in particular had been a fan and supporter of for years.
The group wasn't named "The Highwaymen" from the beginning. On their first two albums,they are credited as "Nelson,Jennings,Cash,Kristofferson". The official name which came to be widely recognized began to be used only in later years,and their last collaborative effort, The Road Goes on Forever ,was already credited to "The Highwaymen".
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [7] |
Robert Huffman rated the album 5 out of 5 stars. According to MNN news network. Robert was quoted by Nancy Wolfe saying "I can't stop listening to this album" Also rating it 4 out of 5 stars,William Ruhlmann of Allmusic wrote that "the rest of the record...lives up to the leadoff hit." [7] Kristofferson biographer Stephen Miller writes,"At times Highwayman sounded over-produced,not least because of the occasional presence of synthesizers,and while it had a definite country feel,at times it leant towards an AOR style." [4]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals [8] | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Highwayman" | Jimmy Webb | Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash | 3:00 |
| 2. | "The Last Cowboy Song" | Ed Bruce, Ron Peterson | Jennings, Nelson, Cash, Kristofferson | 3:08 |
| 3. | "Jim, I Wore a Tie Today" | Cindy Walker | Cash, Nelson | 3:20 |
| 4. | "Big River" | Johnny Cash | Jennings, Nelson, Cash, Kristofferson | 2:45 |
| 5. | "Committed to Parkview" | Cash | Cash, Nelson | 3:18 |
| 6. | "Desperados Waiting for a Train" | Guy Clark | Jennings, Nelson, Cash, Kristofferson | 4:34 |
| 7. | "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" (with Johnny Rodriguez) | Woody Guthrie, Martin Hoffman | Cash, Nelson, Johnny Rodriguez | 3:45 |
| 8. | "Welfare Line" | Paul Kennerley | Jennings, Nelson, Cash, Kristofferson | 2:34 |
| 9. | "Against the Wind" | Bob Seger | Cash, Nelson, Jennings | 3:46 |
| 10. | "The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over" | Steve Goodman, John Prine | Cash, Nelson | 3:33 |
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) [13] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| United States (RIAA) [14] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
From Highwayman liner notes. [8]
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman was an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is known for working in R&B, pop music and country music, operating American Sound Studios and producing hit albums like Elvis Presley's 1969 From Elvis in Memphis and the 1985 debut album for The Highwaymen. Moman won a Grammy Award for co-writing "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song", a 1975 hit for B.J. Thomas.
Class of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming is a collaborative studio album by Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. It was released on May 26, 1986, by America/Smash Records, a subsidiary of Polygram Records. The album was produced by Chips Moman.
The Highwaymen was an American country music supergroup, composed of four of country music's biggest artists who pioneered the outlaw country subgenre: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Between 1985 and 1995, the group recorded three major label albums as The Highwaymen: two on Columbia Records and one for Liberty Records. Their Columbia works produced three chart singles, including the number one "Highwayman" in 1985.
Highwayman 2 is the second studio album released by American country supergroup The Highwaymen. This album was released in 1990 on the Columbia Records label. Johnny Cash had left Columbia several years earlier, making this a "homecoming", and ultimately his final work for Columbia as the next Highwaymen album would be issued on another label.
Rainbow is the 70th album by American country singer Johnny Cash, his last for Columbia Records, released in 1985. "I'm Leaving Now", which was re-recorded 15 years later for Cash's American III: Solitary Man, was released as a single rather unsuccessfully, but the album's signature song is a cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Here Comes That Rainbow Again", which also appeared on Cash's 1995 collaboration with Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings - known as The Highwaymen - entitled The Road Goes on Forever, though it was sung solo by Kristofferson on the latter. Also included is a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?," from Pendulum. The album also includes the song "Love Me Like You Used To," which was later recorded by fellow country singer Tanya Tucker, and became a country hit for her. Following the release of this album and a duet album with Jennings in 1986, Cash moved to Mercury Records as a result of Columbia's fading interest in his music, though he later returned to Columbia for the second Highwaymen album.
Rockabilly Blues is an album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1980. Highlights include "Cold Lonesome Morning," which had some minor chart success, "Without Love," by his son-in-law, Nick Lowe, and a cover of the witty "The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over." The first two of the aforementioned songs were the only singles from the album, though "Without Love" hardly enjoyed any chart success, peaking at No. 78. "The Twentieth Century is Almost Over" was re-recorded five years later by Cash and Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, collectively known as The Highwaymen, on their first album entitled Highwayman, though it was, in essence, a duet with Nelson.
I Would Like to See You Again is an album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1978. The title track peaked at No. 12 on the singles chart, while "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" reached No. 2; the album peaked at No. 23. The album features a pair of duets with Waylon Jennings, one of which was the "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" single; it was one of Cash's first collaborations with Jennings, and the two recorded songs together throughout the 1980s, including a separate album entitled Heroes. Cash and Jennings would also work together as the Highwaymen with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.
One Piece at a Time is the 54th album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released in 1976 on Columbia Records. "One Piece at a Time," which was a #1 hit, is a humorous tale of an auto worker on the Detroit assembly line who puts together a car out of parts he swipes from the plant. "Sold Out of Flag Poles" also charted as a single, reaching #29 on the country singles charts. "Committed to Parkview", a Cash original, would be re-recorded in 1985 by Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, collectively known as The Highwaymen, on their first album, Highwayman; it is one of the few country songs sung from the perspective of a patient at a mental hospital.
Heroes is a duet studio by American country music singers Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, released on Columbia Records in 1986.
Repossessed is an album by Kris Kristofferson, released on Mercury Records in 1986. It was Kristofferson's first full-length solo album since 1981's To the Bone, although the singer did collaborate with other artists in the meantime, most notably on Highwayman with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
WWII is a duet album by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, released on RCA Victor in 1982.
Ol' Waylon is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. It was released on RCA Victor in 1977. It eventually became one of Jennings' highest-selling albums, due in no small part to the phenomenal success of the chart-topping "Luckenbach, Texas ." It was also the singer's fourth solo album in a row to reach the top of the country charts, remaining there for thirteen weeks and becoming country music's first platinum album by any single solo artist.
Nashville Rebel is a box set by Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Nashville through Legacy Recordings in 2006. According to AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, it is "the first comprehensive, multi-label Waylon Jennings retrospective ever assembled," comprising ninety-two songs recorded between [1958 and 1994, with selections from the majority of the singer's recording career. The first track of the box set is the Buddy Holly-produced "Jole Blon," released in 1958, while the last is "I Do Believe," a song produced by Don Was that was included on The Highwaymen's 1995 release, The Road Goes On Forever. The other material on the box set covers Jennings' career chronologically, with songs ranging from his years on RCA's roster to later compositions from his short-lived stay at Epic Records; it ignores, however, the tracks from Jennings albums released on independent labels. The majority of the singer's charting singles are included in the package, as are collaborations such as "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" with Willie Nelson and "Highwayman" with The Highwaymen. A notable addition is the previously unreleased "The Greatest Cowboy of Them All," a 1978 duet with Johnny Cash which was later recorded by Cash alone for A Believer Sings the Truth (1979) and The Mystery of Life (1991); two others, "It's Sure Been Fun" and "People in Dallas Got Hair," had never been released in the United States. Nashville Rebel was released on four CDs, with a 140-page booklet and liner notes by Rich Kienzle and Lenny Kaye.
"Highwayman" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history: as a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a captain of a starship. Webb first recorded the song on his album El Mirage, released in May 1977. The following year, Glen Campbell recorded his version on his 1979 album Highwayman.
Always on My Mind is the 27th studio album by country singer Willie Nelson. It was the Billboard number one country album of the year for 1982, and stayed 253 weeks on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts, peaking at number one for a total of 22 weeks, as well as spending 99 weeks on the all-genre Billboard 200, peaking at number two for 3 weeks.
The Complete Columbia Album Collection is a box set by country singer Johnny Cash, released posthumously in 2012 on Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings.
"Silver Stallion" is a song written by Lee Clayton and originally released by him on his 1978 album Border Affair.
"Born and Raised in Black and White" is a song written by Don Cook and John Barlow Jarvis, and originally recorded by The Highwaymen on their 1990 album Highwaymen 2. Mark Collie covered it for his 1991 album Born and Raised in Black & White, and Brooks & Dunn on their 1998 album If You See Her.
"American Remains" is a song written by Rivers Rutherford and originally recorded by the Highwaymen for their 1990 album Highwaymen 2. The song follows the stories of 4 historically fictional men in a similar vein to their cover of "Highwayman". Unlike in Highwayman, however, none of the characters are implied dead; their legacies are instead emphasized.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)| Studio albums |
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