Nashville Rebel
Label: RLG Nashville / Legacy
Length: LP
Rated: NONE
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Nashville Rebel
Like Rick Nelson’s Legacy, Waylon Jennings’ Nashville Rebel chronologically follows a talented singer from catchy standards to self-penned honky-tonk numbers. But while Nelson’s rejection of his teen-idol past alienated fans, Jennings’ decision to shun Nashville’s factory system made him a successful iconoclast. Featuring scores of session musicians, the 25 songs on Disc One (1958-1969) sound jukebox-fresh, but they don’t announce Jennings as a distinctive presence. By ‘Lonesome, On’ry and Meanâ?� on Disc Two (1970-1974), he’s booted the hired hands, ushered his touring group, the Waylords, into the studio and assumed the production reins. Disc Three (1974-1980), the collection’s most compelling, ranges from brilliant ballads (‘The Wurlitzer Prizeâ?�) to law-flouting romps (‘Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Handâ?�). Disc Four (1980-1995) can be slow-paced and synthesizer-smothered, but Jennings’ weary delivery fits the material. The set shares its name with a failed 1966 film in which Jennings starred; he spent the next three decades earning that title on his own terms.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2006.