Waylon Jennings
was one of the first heroes of the outlaw country movement, famed for his swaggering attitude and edgy, rock-influenced music, which is curious when one considers how gentle his music could be.
Waylon
could sound fearsome when he wanted, and yet a large amount of his catalog was devoted to songs that were wistful meditations on love, life's unexpected detours, and chasing one's dreams. In 2024,
's son
Shooter Jennings
began exploring his father's archive of unreleased recording sessions, most from the late '70s, and pleased by the quality of what he expected to be rough demos, he set to work mixing the tapes and readying them for release. 2025's
Songbird
is the first in a projected series of three albums drawn from these archival sessions, and it's a collection of ten songs that lean to
's thoughtful side, not kicking up much dust but finding him in fine voice and leading his longtime road band,
the Waylors
, with easygoing passion and superb feel. While
was a fine songwriter when he chose to pick up his pen, plenty of his best songs were written by others, and nine of the ten tracks on
are covers; whether or not that was
Shooter
's intent, he's made
into a splendid tribute to his father's gifts as an interpretive vocalist. His rich baritone captures the emotional textures of
Jesse Winchester
's "Brand New Tennessee Waltz,"
Hank Williams, Jr.
's "I Don't Have Any More Love Songs," and
Fleetwood Mac
's "Songbird" with unaffected grace and heart, and the sole original, "The Cowboy (Small Texas Town)," which he co-wrote with
Johnny Rodriguez
, is a meditation on his outlaw image that's proud but not arrogant. The accompaniment by members of
is superb, the work of musicians who know very well what best serves their bandleader, and this material stands with
's best work of the era, short on frills but long on soul. In the tradition of vintage country albums, it clocks in at just over 30 minutes.
doesn't tell us much new about
, but it reaffirms that he was one of the strongest and most compelling country singers of his generation, and this is a welcome gift for fans who wish there was another fine 1970s
album they'd never heard. ~ Mark Deming