Songbird is the 47th studio album by American country music singer Waylon Jennings, released on October 3, 2025 by Thirty Tigers and Son of Jessi. The release includes previously unreleased full-length songs recorded by Jennings along with the Waylors from 1973 to 1984, during the height of their careers.[7][8]
Remastering, mixing, and engineering process; and further production
In 2008, Shooter Jennings began the process of digitizing some of the audio files of the tracks featured on Songbird. Later in 2014, he would have a significant update further restoring the tracks, however with no actual digital alteration to any of the files. Up until the summer of 2024, he did not have the ability or time to fully access and explore the archives he had in his possession, therefore they remained unheard. What he would come to find, was hundreds of full-length and full band recordings of Waylon and the Waylors from a span of a little over a decade, during their downtime from touring. Using a 1976 DeMedio Custom API Console he had at his disposal at Snake Mountain studio (Sunset Sound Studio 3), he finished the tracks with fully analog production, and had very minimal production past what was already on the tapes.[8][9][10][11]
Initial recording process
Track 2 on the album, "The Cowboy (Small Texas Town)", was recorded on April 13, 1978 during the I've Always Been Crazy sessions with two later overdubs by Fred Carter Jr. on guitar on April 14 and June 9 of that year. One other track was also recorded during these sessions, a cover of JJ Cale's "I'd Like to Love You Baby", the album's third track, being recorded in April 1978. It would later receive an overdub by Jessi Colter in December 1980.[citation needed]
Release
On June 15, 2024, it was revealed by Shooter Jennings on social media that he had in his possession, a "treasure trove" of unreleased Waylon Jennings full-band and full-length recordings from the 1970s through the 1980s.[12]
On June 11, 2025, the album's first single, a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird", was released via an unlisted YouTube video on the YouTube channel Wizard's Rainbow, Shooter Jennings' gaming channel. Along with the single's leak it was confirmed through the description of the video that two albums would directly follow this album at a later date, all being released under the Black Country Rock Media label through their Son of Jessi imprint, alongside Thirty Tigers.[13]
On June 15 at midnight, the single was officially released to streaming, marking Waylon's first new solo batch of work released since 2012, and the album was put up for pre-save and pre-order.[14][8]
On August 15, the album's second and final single, "The Cowboy (Small Texas Town)", co-written with fellow Texan Johnny Rodriguez, was released.[15]
↑ A lean collection of blues and ballads accentuated by discreet overdubs by the surviving members of Waylon's backing band The Waylors, along with some occasional new blood. [Nov 2025, p.101]
↑ It all sounds like prime Jennings, all twinkling swagger on such upbeat tracks as "After The Ball", and bruised pride on the exquisite ballads. [Nov 2025, p.47]
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