| Music Man | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1980 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 32:13 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer |
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| Waylon Jennings chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Music Man | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Music Man is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released in 1980 on RCA Victor.
The new decade brought another #1 album for Jennings, his fifth since 1976. Produced by the singer and Waylon's drummer Richie Albright, the mood is lighter than it had been on Jennings' previous release, the ballad-heavy What Goes Around Comes Around . Jennings later said of both records, "Virtually identical in cover look and personnel, the two albums revolved around his resolute bass drum, while the guitars swirled, traded licks, and I rode the rhythm section like a palomino." [2]
It contains the popular "Theme from "The Dukes of Hazzard" (Good Ol' Boys)", which became Jennings' tenth solo #1 hit. As the narrator for the 1975 movie Moonrunners , Jennings was tapped to serve in the same capacity for The Dukes of Hazzard which premiered on CBS in 1979 and was based on Moonrunners. Jennings wrote the theme song for the show and recorded two versions: the television theme version and a slightly different version made commercially available on both single and album which received radio airplay. [3] The television show version features a banjo which the commercially available version does not, as well as a bridge which follows the first verse and chorus. Following the second chorus, Jennings makes a tongue-in-cheek reference to his faceless appearance in the credits by singing, "I'm a good ol' boy, you know my mama loves me, but she don't understand why they keep showing my hands and not my face on TV!", a statement referring to the opening shot in the television theme version where Jennings is only shown below the neck playing guitar. As Andrew Dansby of Rolling Stone wryly noted in 2002, "In 1980, another generation discovered Jennings, albeit only a third of him." The song was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America with over 2 million in sales. [4]
Jennings' other songwriting contribution, "It's Alright," is a simultaneous tribute to Oklahoma rocker J.J. Cale (Music Man opens with a cover of Cale's song "Clyde") and George Jones ("If we could all sing like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones"). Waylon also mentions his wife Jessi Colter on "It's Alright" and recorded her song "Storms Never Last" for the LP, which they would reprise on their duet album Leather and Lace . In the liner notes to The Essential Waylon Jennings, Wade Jessen quotes the singer: "Jessi had this song and she threw it away. Like Lash Larue I brought it back. She said, 'I have a silly song for you.' There was not a rhyming line it, every line in the song standing on its own. At first the chorus went, 'Storms never last/Do they, Waylon?' She wrote it for me." The singles "Clyde" and "Storms Never Last" reached #7 and #17 respectively.
Jennings relied on covers heavily for Music Man, which may have been an indication of his dampened creativity due to years of touring, recording, and drug abuse. In addition to Cale, he also covers songs by Kenny Rogers, whose 1979 album Kenny had kept Waylon's previous album out of the #1 spot, and Jimmy Buffett. One of Jennings most unexpected recordings is his surprisingly credible version of Steely Dan's 1972 song "Do It Again", although for some purists his propensity for remaking songs well outside the realms of country music was in danger of becoming schtick. Jennings was far more at home on the Ernest Tubb classic "Waltz Across Texas" and the Harlan Howard's lascivious "Nashville Wimmen." Jerry Reed, Johnny Rodriguez, and Randy Scruggs play on the album.
AllMusic: "...in retrospect it's easy to hear that Waylon was on some unsteady ground around this time. Not that this is a bad record, but it does show signs that he was relying a little too much on polish and that his ear for material is slightly off...It's an album that, once again, doesn't quite add up to the sound of its parts, and in retrospect, those parts do seem to point toward his commercial and artistic collapse a few years away, but even with these flaws, Music Man is a pretty entertaining latter-day Waylon album."
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Clyde" | J. J. Cale | 2:39 |
| 2. | "It's Alright" | Waylon Jennings | 3:00 |
| 3. | "Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys)" | Jennings | 2:06 |
| 4. | "Nashville Wimmin'" | Harlan Howard | 3:32 |
| 5. | "Do It Again" | Walter Becker, Donald Fagen | 3:45 |
| 6. | "Sweet Music Man" | Kenny Rogers | 3:34 |
| 7. | "Storms Never Last" | Jessi Colter | 2:49 |
| 8. | "He Went to Paris" | Jimmy Buffett | 3:19 |
| 9. | "What About You?" | Jack Anglin, Johnnie Wright | 3:33 |
| 10. | "Waltz Across Texas" | Ernest Tubb | 3:56 |
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA) [8] | 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.
Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings is an American musician and record producer. He is the son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. In a career spanning three decades, Jennings has explored a variety of genres as part of his sound.
Waylon is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released in 1970 on RCA Victor.
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.
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.
Leather and Lace is a duet album by Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, released on RCA Records in 1981.
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.
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.
Black on Black is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1982.
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Never Say Die: Live is a live album by Waylon & The Waymore Blues Band, released on Sony Records through the Lucky Dog imprint in 2000. Jennings' third live album – after Waylon Live (1976) – and his last record of original material to be released during his lifetime, it was recorded at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium on January 5 and 6, 2000. At that time, Jennings was battling both emphysema and severe diabetes that had forced him to give up the sort of long tours he had always done. The album is credited to "Waylon & The Waymore Blues Band", referring to the singer's backing band, actually a mix of many of his original road band, the Waylors, and additional musicians. The album features a host of guests, including Waylon's wife Jessi Colter and three artists then on Sony: Montgomery Gentry, John Anderson and Travis Tritt. The songs themselves are a mix of original Jennings hits, tracks from his more recent albums and compositions he had never covered. Like 1998's Closing in on the Fire, Never Say Die: Live reached #71 on the country charts. The original 2000 release did not by any means constitute the complete concert, which ran an hour and forty minutes and was recorded by Sony in video. On July 24, 2007, Legacy Recordings, the Sony BMG reissue specialists, released the complete concert including all twenty-two tracks on two CDs and on DVD as well.
Out of the Ashes is the 11th studio album by American country artist Jessi Colter, released in 2006 on Shout! Factory Records. It was Colter's first album in 10 years, and her first country music album in 22 years since 1984's Rock and Roll Lullaby. It was also her first release since 1981 to chart on the Top Country Albums chart, where it reached #61. It was the first album by Colter to be released following the death of her husband and country artist, Waylon Jennings. The title of the album, Out of the Ashes, explains the message that she has remained an artist without the help of Jennings.
Jessi is the third studio album released by American country music artist Jessi Colter. It was her second release for Capitol Records and was produced by Ken Mansfield and husband, Waylon Jennings. It was recorded September–October 1975 at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville and released in January 1976, becoming one of two albums issued by Colter in 1976.
The "Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Waylon Jennings. It was released in August 1980 as the second single from the album Music Man. Recognizable to fans as the theme to the CBS comedy adventure television series The Dukes of Hazzard, the song became a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1980.
That's the Way a Cowboy Rocks and Rolls is the fifth studio album by American country artist Jessi Colter. The album was released in November 1978 on Capitol Records and was produced by Richie Albright and Waylon Jennings. The title track was written by Tony Joe White.
Ralph Eugene Mooney was an American steel guitar player and songwriter, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983. He was the original steel guitarist in Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers and Waylon Jennings's band, The Waylors.
Goin' Down Rockin': The Last Recordings is a posthumous album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on September 25, 2012. The release includes eight unreleased songs written and recorded by Jennings along with his bassist Robby Turner during the last years of his life, as well as eight songs never released before in any version.
