Texan and American music owes so much to Waylon Jennings, an artist who has given away dozens of fundamental records that have inspired so many musicians that listing them all would become absolutely redundant and not strictly related to the disc I want to talk about. God, disco’s not really the right noun for this New Stuff, released for Record Store Day in 2017 and then a limited edition by definition, plus the publication of a notebook of notes by a unique and inimitable artist, sketches and sketches of songs recorded live on a tape. No mixes, no bands, just acoustic guitar and his iconic voice. The tape in question, consisting of 11 pieces, was found by his son Shooter (now an established musician and producer) after the death of his father occurred due to the consequences of diabetes on February 13, 2002 at 65 years. Few, very few for an artist who had continued to record until the last, to have innovative ideas as early in his career, where along with friends Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson had upset the country of Nashville, diverting traditional american music from the road that had always led the productions, contaminating it with rock, blues and folk and creating a movement commonly known as Outlaw Country. A name that over the years even the good Waylon came almost to hate, because the audience misunderstood that name outlaw that had nothing to do with the law, guns or other but only with the fact of having disobeyed the traditional rules to create the music they wanted to create. No rules, just their talent to lead them. After the death of Jennings his son found several tapes and songs in his father’s archives, some have been released over the years and have given us exceptional albums as Goin’ Down Rockin’ (2012) with the latest completed recordings giving an example of the rock contamination that Waylon was following, or as The Lost Nashville Sessions (2016) that makes us listen to recordings from the early ’70s that were believed lost with crazy versions of songs become famous. But here’s this New Stuff that Shooter Jennings has decided to release for the so-called independent record store party, which is Record Store Day, a day dedicated to record stores in which artists of all types and genres give fans limited edition albums or unreleased, all strictly vinyl. A choice that fits well to the disc in question, a demo tape for fans and fans, a jewel edition in orange vinyl marbled and with a cover with a portrait of the artist and reproduced the image of the original cassette with the calligraphy of Waylon who had named the pieces just above the tape. A jewel in the jewel, found by his son in the room he occupied in his father’s house when he lived there and that had become a small studio used to compose and think music. There remains the regret of never having heard these finished pieces, which promised to continue the trail of masterpieces of his career, just listen to the first Good Time with that powerful and dark voice, a ballad melancholy about the moments spent with Willie Nelson, or the country with a hint of honky tonk of The Best Side of Me, who knows what song would have flowed out with the whole band, what a pity! But even so dry and sparse the song emanates a charisma and a feeling that only the great can give to a demo that lacks almost everything, even if it was not yet thought of the full text and almost whistling harmony. The most beautiful and unsettling piece is definitely dedicated to his great friend and great champion Muhammed Ali, a friendship really incredible but true if we think that the boxer was one of the first invited to the baptism of his son Shooter. A piece so important that it would certainly become a classic of american music, a sincere dedication that emphasizes the importance of Cassius Clay in the America of the 70s. This piece was released, again for Record Store Day, a separate single disc called Here’s The Champion (Muhammad Ali) with the sparse demo version and reinterpretations of the piece by his wife Jessi Colter, Kris Kristofferson, Jaime Wyatt, Shooter Jennings and Jesse Dayton, all produced by Midas King of country Dave Cobb. In short, another jewel that every Waylon fan should have in their collection, although, being the discs in question numbered, will now be difficult to find. A record that is a window on the musical mind and the way to create music, of one of the greatest artists that the United States have ever given to the world, never banal, never aligned, always himself even in the years where electronic music had taken over. A little treasure that is added to a truly unique discography and full of masterpieces, a collection of 11 very autobiographical and melancholic pieces that make us imagine being sitting next to the great Waylon, in that small room: only him, his guitar, his unforgettable voice and his stories so true and intense. When posthumous records are of this quality we thank the Lord for having given them to us and when the unpublished ones are so unique and true, without any external intervention, we feel a little less alone and a little closer to Paradise, where we imagine him and his friend Johnny Cash cheer those present with their stories of outlaws, as they did down there on the streets of Nashville.
Good listening,
Trex Willer by http://www.magazzininesistenti.it
(you can find the original italian article at this link : http://www.magazzininesistenti.it/waylon-jennings-new-stuff-2017-di-claudio-trezzani/ )
