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| I've Always Been Crazy | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 1978 | |||
| Recorded | March 13–May 1978 | |||
| Genre | Outlaw country | |||
| Length | 36:55 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer |
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| Waylon Jennings chronology | ||||
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| Singles from I've Always Been Crazy | ||||
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I've Always Been Crazy is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1978.
By 1978, Jennings was getting burned out on the outlaw country movement. Despite enormous critical and commercial success, including a run of three #1 studio albums, a #1 live album, a #1 duet album (with Willie Nelson), and ten Top 10 solo singles (including five chart toppers), he was irritated at the hype surrounding his music and resented how Nashville had co-opted what had started out as a musical rebellion against Music Row in the name of artistic freedom. Far more concerning, however, was Jennings' spiral into cocaine addiction. By his own admission, his appetite for the drug was monstrous:
I wasn't just doing a little drugs. I was doing them constantly...I'd do them until I collapsed, then I'd get up and start right doing them again. I was killing myself. I'd definitely hit bottom with it. I would never sleep. I'd stay up six or seven days or nights at a time, and I wouldn't go home. My health was bad, I had dizzy spells where I could hardly drive, I had cars strewed all over this town, because I'd get somewhere, and I'd have to leave 'em and have somebody else take me home. [1]
On August 23, 1977, Jennings was busted by federal drug enforcement officers at American Sound Studios, where he was laying down harmony vocals on "Storms Never Last" during a session for a Hank Williams, Jr. album that he was co-producing. The officials had traced a package that had been sent there from his manager Neil Reshen's office in New York City. The package did indeed contain cocaine, but drummer Richie Albright managed to flush the drug down a commode before the officers could find it. They charged Jennings anyway but the singer was never convicted of the crime due to critical faults in the legal process against him. Still, Jennings was shaken by the bust, remarking in the audio version of his autobiography, "When you see yourself spread across the front pages - 'Waylon Jennings Arrested for Possession of Cocaine!' - it gets to you a little bit...It was a media feeding frenzy, like sharks smelling blood in the water. I couldn't go anywhere without a cluster of reporters swarmin' around me." Jennings added that the case cost him about $100,000 in legal fees, but his cocaine use continued unabated as he began to further isolate himself. The publicity did not hurt his sales, however, with author Michael Striessguth noting, "Waylon's public cocaine troubles only fueled his record sales. His five solo singles after the arrest rushed to the top five, and his albums sailed just as swiftly. On the surface, his two solo albums released after the bust - I've Always Been Crazy and What Goes Around Comes Around - communicated defiance." [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [4] |
At the time of its release, Nick Toches stated that I've Always Been Crazy tolled Waylon's "farewell to outlawry." [5] Thom Jurek of AllMusic insists that the LP "smokes... In all, I've Always Been Crazy is a solid recording, still possessing the piss and vinegar of Jennings' best work with a deeper lyrical edge on most tracks...this is necessary for any fan of outlaw country in general and Jennings in particular." [3]
| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 48 |
| Canadian RPM Country Albums | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Top Albums | 71 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA) [6] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement in country music.
David Allan Coe is an American singer and songwriter. Coe took up music after spending much of his early life in reform schools and prisons, and first became notable for busking in Nashville. He initially played mostly in the blues style, before transitioning to country music, becoming a major part of the 1970s outlaw country scene. His biggest hits include "You Never Even Called Me by My Name", "Longhaired Redneck", "The Ride", "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile", and "She Used to Love Me a Lot".
Outlaw country is a subgenre of American country music created by a small group of iconoclastic artists active in the 1970s and early 1980s, known collectively as the outlaw movement, who fought for and won their creative freedom outside of the Nashville establishment that dictated the sound of most country music of the era. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and David Allan Coe were among the movement's most commercially successful members.
Country-Folk is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings featuring the Kimberlys on vocals. It was released in 1969 on RCA Victor.
Waylon is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released in 1970 on RCA Victor.
Ladies Love Outlaws is an album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Nashville in 1972. Together with Jennings' previous album Good Hearted Woman, it marks his transition toward his Outlaw Country image and style. "Ladies Love Outlaws" coined the use of the term "Outlaw" to refer to the country music subgenre, which was developing at the time of its release.
Lonesome, On'ry and Mean is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1973. It was, after Good Hearted Woman and Ladies Love Outlaws, the third in a series of albums which were to establish Jennings as one of the most prominent representatives of the outlaw country movement. Photographer Mick Rock shot the album's cover.
Honky Tonk Heroes is a country music album by Waylon Jennings, released in 1973 on RCA Victor. With the exception of the final track on the album, "We Had It All", all of the songs on the album were written or co-written by Billy Joe Shaver. The album is considered an important piece in the development of the outlaw sub-genre in country music as it revived the honky tonk music of Nashville and added elements of rock and roll to it.
This Time is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1974, at the peak of the outlaw country movement. It was produced by Jennings and Willie Nelson.
Dreaming My Dreams is the twenty-second studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. The album was co-produced with Jack Clement and recorded at Glaser Sound Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, between February and July 1974.
Wanted! The Outlaws is a compilation album by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser, released by RCA Records in 1976. The album consists of previously released material with four new songs. Released to capitalize on the new outlaw country movement, Wanted! The Outlaws earned its place in music history by becoming the first country album to be platinum-certified, reaching sales of one million.
Never Could Toe the Mark is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1984.
Are You Ready for the Country is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1976.
What Goes Around Comes Around is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1979.
Black on Black is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1982.
It's Only Rock & Roll is an album by Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1983.
Rides Again is an album released by country musician David Allan Coe. It was released in 1977 on Columbia.
Never Say Die: The Final Concert is a 2000 concert film featuring Waylon Jennings. Jennings, his health failing, played his last major concert at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium in January 2000. He was backed by the all-star Waymore Blues Band, whom Jennings called "the band I always wanted," and joined onstage by his wife Jessi Colter, and by guests John Anderson, Travis Tritt and Montgomery Gentry.
"Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. It first released in October 1978 as the second single from his album I've Always Been Crazy. The song peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It also reached number 1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada. Waylon redid the song specifically as well as several others in a session in the mid-1990s in a much slower and more regretful tone towards his previous actions dubbing it 'Outlaw Shit' and it would be released on the 2008 album Waylon Forever, Waylon's first posthumous studio album release.
Son of the South is an album released by country musician David Allan Coe. It was released in 1986 on Columbia.
