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| Leather and Lace | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 1981 | |||
| Recorded | Pantheon Recording Studio | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer |
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| Waylon Jennings chronology | ||||
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| Jessi Colter chronology | ||||
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Leather and Lace is a duet album by Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter,released on RCA Records in 1981.
Jennings and Colter met and married in 1969. As Jennings recalled in the audio version of his autobiography Waylon,"I went through my marriages like Grant went through Richmond. I finally gave up. I said,'Hell,I ain't ever gonna be able to be married.' And when I thought it was just about all over,when I quit looking,that's when I found the right one." In a 1973 article with Chet Flippo of Rolling Stone ,Jennings confessed,"When I met Jessie,I was pretty well at my lowest point. I weighed 138 pounds and I was bent on self-destruction. Wallerin' in self-pity was the biggest part of it,stayin' depressed all the time and stoned. Jess was the best thing that ever happened to me." Jennings and Colter recorded several duets,the most successful being "Suspicious Minds," which reached #25 on the country singles chart in 1970;it was re-released when it appeared on Wanted! The Outlaws in 1976 and rose all the way to #2. Colter often sang background vocals on Jennings' albums and scored her own smash hit with "I'm Not Lisa" in 1975. In May 1979,Jessi gave birth to the couple's only child,Waylon Albright Jennings (better known as Shooter Jennings) but,by 1981,Waylon was severely addicted to cocaine and nearly broke,despite coming off one of the most successful periods of critical and commercial success that country music had ever seen. It was in this state that the couple recorded their first LP together.
Although Jennings was,at the time of the album's release,most famous for his involvement with the outlaw country movement,Leather and Lace abandons the outlaw image in favor of calmer selections consisting partly of love songs. The medley of "The Wild Side of Life"/"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" (originally 1952 hits for Hank Thompson and Kitty Wells respectively) was released rather successfully as a single,reaching #10 on the country charts. Waylon sings solo vocals on "What's Happened to Blue Eyes",a song Jessi wrote and originally recorded on her 1975 album, I'm Jessi Colter . The Colter composition "Storms Never Last" had appeared on Jennings' previous 1980 album, Music Man ,and is presented here as a duet for the first time. "You Never Can Tell (C'est la Vie)" is a well-known Chuck Berry song (with a country version having charted a few years prior by Emmylou Harris). "I Ain't the One" is a reprise of an earlier duet that had been the B-side to their 1970 duet cover "Suspicious Minds". The album closes with Jennings' solo vocals on the song,"You're Not My Same Sweet Baby",written and originally recorded by one of his favorite songwriters,Mickey Newbury.
Stevie Nicks had been commissioned by Jennings to write a single for this album which would have been the title cut,although the song did not appear on the album. Nicks went on to record the song as a duet with Don Henley on her 1981 album, Bella Donna ,and it would become a top-ten U.S. hit later that year. Jennings had recorded the Nicks composition "Gold Dust Woman" for his 1978 duet album with Willie Nelson entitled Waylon and Willie .
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Leather and Lace peaked at No. 11 on Billboard's country albums chart. AllMusic:"The outlaw movement had run its course by the time Leather and Lace was made,so Colter and Jennings were free to make their overdue duet album without having to prop up that particular facade. The result is an enjoyable half-hour of husband-and-wife music,comfortable as an old shoe." [1]
| Chart (1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 11 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 43 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA) [2] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
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.
Mirriam Rebecca Joan Johnson,known professionally as Jessi Colter,is an American country singer who is best known for her collaborations with her husband,country musician Waylon Jennings,and for her 1975 crossover hit "I'm Not Lisa".
First performed by Al Montgomery as "Did God Make Honky Tonk Angels on the Feature label which was owned by songwriter J.D. Miller.
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 "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.
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.
Waylon and Company is an album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings,released on RCA Records in 1983.
Ol' Waylon is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings,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.
Music Man is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings,released in 1980 on RCA Victor.
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.
Turn the Page is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings,released on RCA Records in 1985.
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.
The Very Best of Jessi Colter:An Outlaw,a Lady is a compilation album released by Capitol records;the collection features Country music singer Jessi Colter's biggest hits from the 1970s and 1980s.
The discography of American country singer Jessi Colter consists of eleven studio albums,three compilation albums,twenty six singles,fourteen other appearances,and one other charted song. After marrying guitarist Duane Eddy in 1961,Colter recorded two singles and toured with Eddy until divorcing in 1968. The following year,she met country artist Waylon Jennings who helped her secure a recording contract with RCA Victor. Her debut studio album entitled A Country Star Is Born was released in 1970. The pair would collaborate on a cover of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds during this time. Colter signed with Capitol Records in 1975 and released her debut single off the label "I'm Not Lisa". The song became her commercial breakthrough,reaching the number one position on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and crossing over to the Billboard Hot 100 where it reached the top five. That same year,Colter's second studio album I'm Jessi Colter was issued,which also produce the Top five country hit,"What's Happened to Blue Eyes." In 1976,Colter released two more studio albums:Jessi and Diamond in the Rough.
Diamond in the Rough is the fourth studio album released by American country artist Jessi Colter. It was the second album issued by Colter in 1976;the previous was Jessi,released earlier in the year. Diamond in the Rough was issued under Capitol Records and was produced by Ken Mansfield.
Mirriam is the fifth studio album released by American country artist,Jessi Colter. It was issued in July 1977 on Capitol Records.
A Country Star Is Born is the debut studio album by American country music artist,Jessi Colter. The album was released April 1970 off of RCA Victor,and was produced by Chet Atkins and Waylon Jennings.
"What's Happened to Blue Eyes" is a song by American country music artist Jessi Colter. It was released on August 4,1975,as a single from her album I'm Jessi Colter,peaking as a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Country Chart and a minor hit on the pop chart.